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

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

  • word painting Musical depiction of words in text. Using the device of word painting, the music tries to imitate the emotion, action, or natural sounds as described in the text.
  • minimalist music Contemporary musical style featuring the repetition of short melodic, rhythmic and harmonic patterns with little variation.
  • penny whistle A folk wind instrument similar to the recorder, but usually made of tin. It generally has six finger holes, and is prominent in British and Irish folk music.
  • rock A loosely defined genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the mid 1950s, characterized by a hard, driving duple meter and amplified instrumental accompaniment.
  • eight note A note having the time duration of one eighth of a whole note.
  • dance Any physical movements done to music.
  • duplet A group of two notes played in the time usually taken to play three.
  • stretto [Italian] In a fugue, that situation in which the subject and answer overlap one another, or when two subjects enter in close succession.
  • comma [Italian] Difference in pitch between a note derived from pure tuning and the same note derived from some other tuning method.
  • part In instrumental or choral music, the music for a single instrument or voice.
  • affabile [Italian] Affable, pleasant.
  • bluegrass A form of American country music, inspired by the music of immigrants from the United Kingdom and Ireland as well as jazz and blues. In bluegrass, as in jazz, each instrument takes its turn playing the melody and improvising around it, while the others perform accompaniment.
  • sereno [Italian] Serene, calm.
  • fluttertonguing Wind instrument technique in which the tongue is fluttered or trilled against the roof of the mouth.
  • open fifth A chord comprised of the tonic and the fifth, with no third present.