Multilingual Music Glossary

# A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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We are currently providing explanations for 2484 terms from 12 languages, including English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Latin…

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Please note: a music glossary is just like a dictionary. It contains explanations to musical terms. If you are looking for a piece, please go here instead: search tunes.

Some random terms

  • piece A term for any composition that is a complete work in itself. This could be a self-contained movement of a larger composition, such as an aria of an opera, or the entire composition.
  • genre Term used to identify a general category of music that shares similar performance forces, formal structures and/or style.
  • sordamente [Italian] Softly, gently, or in a muffled or damped style.
  • impetuoso [Italian] Impetuous, vehement.
  • springer An ornament consisting of the main tone followed by the tone above it followed by the tone above that, then returning to the original main tone.
  • reprise [French] Repetition.
  • krakoviak A syncopated Polish dance in 2/4 time.
  • funk American musical style that originated in the 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, soul jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music.
  • canticle A sacred hymn or song.
  • ma [Italian] “But”.
  • riff In pop and jazz compositions, a short ostinato, two to four bars long. A prominent feature of jazz music.
  • con [Italian] “With”.
  • pasticcio [Italian] A composition assembled from passages taken from numerous other sources by various composers.
  • loure [French] A slow, dignified French dance of the 17th and 18th centuries usually in 3/4 or 6/4 time.
  • flamenco [Spanish] A genre of dance and music characterized by its use of modes, its unusual rhythm patterns and its use of guitar accompaniment.