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

  • grosso [Italian] Large, great, grand.
  • conjunct Smooth, connected, moving in stepwise motion.
  • common time 4/4 time.
  • morendo [Italian] Literally, “dying away”. Gradually diminishing in volume and tempo, fading away.
  • episode Interlude or intermediate section in the baroque fugue, which serves as an area of relaxation between statements of the subject.
  • blue note In blues or jazz, a note that for expressive purposes is sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than usual.
  • uguale [Italian] Equal, the same.
  • response Short choral answer to a solo verse; an element of liturgical dialogue.
  • zu [German] Shown as zu2, zu3, etc., it is a directive to indicate the number of musicians to perform the indicated passage of music.
  • mezzo [Italian] Half, medium.
  • march A military piece characterized by strongly accented duple meter and clear sectional structures.
  • tremolo [Italian] A rapid alternation between two notes.
  • 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.
  • Abendmusik [German] Evening music, usually religious in nature, originating in the 17th century.
  • impetuoso [Italian] Impetuous, vehement.