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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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…

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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

  • swing A style of jazz playing whose flexible, improvised rhythms resist notation.
  • Requiem [Latin] A composition to honor the deceased.
  • martial music Music with a military feeling.
  • concert A public musical performance.
  • all'ottava [Italian] Literally, “at the octave”. Directive to perform an indicated passage of a composition one octave higher than notated. Typically, this is indicated by an “8va” or “8” over the passage followed by a dotted line over the top of all the notes to be transposed.
  • close harmony Harmony written so that the parts are as close together as possible, usually with the upper voices very tight together, and the bass somewhat more distantly spaced.
  • klingen [German] To resonate.
  • bestimmt [German] With decision.
  • countermelody A sequence of notes, perceived as a melody, written to be played simultaneously with a more prominent melody.
  • comma [Italian] Difference in pitch between a note derived from pure tuning and the same note derived from some other tuning method.
  • dolce [Italian] Sweet, soft, with tender emotion.
  • acoustical instrument Any musical instrument not relying on external power for operation.
  • klein [German] Literally, “little”. In reference to intervals, “minor“.
  • inflection Small alteration of the pitch by a microtonal interval.
  • sharp An accidental symbol that raises the pitch of a note by a semitone.