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

  • appassionato [Italian] Passionate, with intense emotion or feeling.
  • couplet [French] A term used in the 1600s and 1700s for the intermediate sections of a rondeau.
  • squillante [Italian] Ringing.
  • ma [Italian] “But”.
  • equal temperament Tuning system dividing the octave into 12 equal semitones.
  • overblowing A technique employed by woodwind players (flute players in particular) in which the player directs the flow of air to obtain a harmonic tone other than the fundamental.
  • harmonic Any integer multiple of the fundamental frequency of a tone. The fundamental frequency is considered to be the first harmonic; doubling its frequency you obtain the second harmonic, tripling it you obtain the third harmonic, and so on.
  • pop Term born as an abbreviation of popular music, that since the 1950s has been used in the sense of a musical genre, originally characterized as a lighter alternative to rock and roll.
  • circular breathing Technique used by players of some wind instruments to produce a continuous tone without interruption. This is accomplished by breathing in through the nose while simultaneously blowing out through the mouth using air stored in the cheeks.
  • lusingando [Italian] Caressing, flattering.
  • salsa [Spanish] A contemporary Latin American dance music principally of Afro-Cuban tradition.
  • measure The smallest metrical divisions of a composition, containing a fixed number of beats, the first of which bears an accent.
  • cantio [Latin] A religious, monophonic, Latin song of the later Middle Ages.
  • cadence A sequence of chords that terminates a musical phrase or section.
  • temperament The division of an octave into twelve equal parts.