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

  • tessitura [Italian] The most musically acceptable and comfortable range for a given singer or, less frequently, musical instrument.
  • comodo [Italian] Comfortable.
  • transcription Either notating an unnotated piece, or rewriting a piece, either simply recopying, as for clarity, or as an arrangement for another instrument.
  • precisamente [Italian] Precisely, exactly.
  • flageolet [French] A simple recorder with four finger holes, popular in the 17th century in England.
  • wind instrument Any instrument that produces sound by means of a column of air.
  • fortepiano [Italian] A dynamic marking (fp) directing the performer to attack the written note at the dynamic level of forte (loud) followed by an immediate decrease in volume to piano (soft).
  • simple meter A meter in which the main beats are subdivided into twos, such as 2/4 or 3/4.
  • piccolo [Italian] Literally, “small”. A small flute that sounds an octave above the regular flute, and also an octave above its written music.
  • affabilmente [Italian] Easily, gently and agreeably.
  • relative pitch The ability to identify any pitch in reference to a given pitch.
  • rhythm and blues An American music style popular between the 1940s and 1960s. Generally played by a lead vocalist or instrumentalist, a rhythm section, and an ensemble of voices, wind instruments, or guitar. Most R&B is vocal, in quadruple time, and in a major key, but characterized by blue notes.
  • partita [Italian] In the 18th and 19th century, a multi-movement composition consisting of dances and non-dance movements or entirely of non-dance movements.
  • lesto [Italian] Quick, swift.
  • dur [French] Literally, “hard”. With a harsh or ungraceful tone.