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

  • légèrement [French] Lightly.
  • ohne [German] “Without”.
  • sonata da chiesa [Italian] A baroque instrumental work intended for performance in a church, generally in four movements, arranged slow, fast, slow, fast.
  • double trill A simultaneous trill on two notes, usually in the distance of a third.
  • détaché [French] Not slurred.
  • mordent An ornament indicating that a note is to be played in a single rapid alternation with the note above or below.
  • polychord The simultaneous use of two or more simple chords (such as triads), a technique used in 20th century compositions.
  • misterioso [Italian] Mysterious.
  • corps [French] Literally, “body”. May indicate the body of an instrument or a company of performers.
  • well-tempered A term applied to an instrument that is voiced and tuned satisfactorily, with the pitches, tone, and timbre having the desired quality of sound.
  • transposing instrument Those instruments which are notated in one key on paper, yet sound another key when they are performed.
  • severità [Italian] Strictness, severity.
  • krakoviak A syncopated Polish dance in 2/4 time.
  • heptatonic scale Any scale of seven tones.
  • bluegrass A form of American country music, inspired by the music of immigrants from the United Kingdom and Ireland as well as jazz and blues. In bluegrass, as in jazz, each instrument takes its turn playing the melody and improvising around it, while the others perform accompaniment.