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

  • sospirando [Italian] Sighing.
  • fipple The block, typically of wood, that forms the floor of the windway of an edge-blown aerophone.
  • scale A series of notes in ascending or descending order that presents the pitches of a key or mode, beginning and ending on the tonic of that key or mode.
  • fortissimo-piano [Italian] A dynamic marking (ffp) indicating that the marked note should be attacked very loudly, instantly diminishing to a much softer volume.
  • passing note In part writing, A non-harmonic note that appears between two notes in stepwise motion. Usually it is a link between a melodic interval of a third in one of the voices.
  • polka A lively ballroom dance of Bohemian origin in duple meter greatly, popular in the 19th century. Also a short, lyric piano composition.
  • fundamental A base pitch from which a series of harmonics is produced.
  • glee An English part song for three or more voices originating in the 17th century.
  • impromptu [French] A single-movement piano composition of the Romantic era, usually short, with a spontaneous character.
  • très [French] “Very”, “much”.
  • instrumentation The particular combination of musical instruments employed in a composition.
  • flamenco [Spanish] A genre of dance and music characterized by its use of modes, its unusual rhythm patterns and its use of guitar accompaniment.
  • perfect pitch The ability of certain people to identify a given pitch without reference to any other pitch.
  • woodwind quintet Standard chamber ensemble consisting of one each of the following: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and French horn (not a woodwind instrument).
  • Motown A style of music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the late 1960s.