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

Hint: Don't worry about accents over letters, just skip them.

Found a word you don't know? No problem. Look it up in the Music Glossary!

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

You may browse the glossary alphabetically, or directly search for a term by using the search box above.

If you are looking for a symbol, check out our Guide to Musical Symbols.

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

  • lusingando [Italian] Caressing, flattering.
  • dump A slow, melancholic old English dance, usually in 4/4 time.
  • tempo giusto [Italian] A directive to perform in exact, strict time.
  • acoustical instrument Any musical instrument not relying on external power for operation.
  • penny whistle A folk wind instrument similar to the recorder, but usually made of tin. It generally has six finger holes, and is prominent in British and Irish folk music.
  • verse A single line in a metrical composition, e.g. a poem. However, the word has come to represent any division or grouping of words in such a composition, which traditionally had been referred to as a stanza.
  • gig A term commonly applied to a musical engagement of one night's duration only.
  • codetta [Italian] Literally, “little tail”. A passage similar to a coda, but on a smaller scale, concluding a section of a work instead of the work as a whole.
  • répertoire [French] A list of compositions that an individual or ensemble is prepared to perform or that are available for performance.
  • siciliana [Italian] A type of aria or instrumental movement in the late 17th and 18th centuries, normally written as a dance in a slow 6/8 or 12/8 time with short phrases.
  • cent A logarithmic unit used in measuring the difference between two pitches in an equal-tempered scale. One cent is one one-hundredth of an equal-tempered semitone.
  • sequence Restatement of an idea or motive at a different pitch level.
  • con forza [Italian] “With force”, vigorously.
  • adagietto [Italian] A slow tempo marking, slightly faster than adagio.
  • un pochettino [Italian] A little bit.