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…

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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

  • chest voice The lowest register of the voice.
  • crown The cap at the end of the head joint of a flute that unscrews to expose the cork, and which helps keep the head joint cork positioned at the proper depth of insertion.
  • K Either Köchel or Kirkpatrick.
  • spiritoso [Italian] Spirited, lively.
  • alt [German] Term used to indicate the tones of the first octave above the treble staff (G5 to F6), which are said to be “in alt”.
  • harmony Tones sounding simultaneously.
  • sonoro [Italian] Resounding.
  • zarzuela [Spanish] A Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular song, as well as dance.
  • espressivo [Italian] “Expressive”.
  • con semplicità [Italian] “With simplicity”.
  • non troppo [Italian] Not too much.
  • fife A small flute with a narrower bore, thus producing a higher, more piercing sound than a flute. Generally used in military bands.
  • pochissimo [Italian] “Very little”.
  • afflitto [Italian] Sad, melancholy.
  • immer [German] Ever, always.