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

  • woodwind A family of blown wooden musical instruments. Today some of these instruments are actually made from metal. The woodwind instruments commonly used in a symphony orchestra are flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, and bassoon.
  • quasi [Italian] “Almost”.
  • demi [French] “Half”.
  • strophic form Song structure in which every stanza of the text is sung to the same musical tune.
  • gig A term commonly applied to a musical engagement of one night's duration only.
  • dampen A directive to muffle, deaden or restrain the tone of an instrument.
  • calypso A style of Afro-Caribbean music which originated in Trinidad and Tobago in the beginning of the 20th century.
  • mainstream Music which is currently popular and in demand.
  • binary form Two-part structure of music; usually each part is repeated.
  • larynx The upper part of the trachea in the human throat. It is the mechanism that varies the tone of the voice.
  • reggae Jamaican popular music style characterized by offbeat rhythms and chanted vocals over a strong bass part.
  • zusammen [German] Literally, “together”. A directive to perform a certain passage of music together with other musicians in the section. Typically found after a divisi.
  • 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.
  • Minnesang [German] A tradition of Medieval courtly and secular music in Germany, cultivated by the nobility. The main focus of the music of this tradition was the idea of Minnedienst, servitude to love, often illustrated as the devoted knight entirely loyal to an unattainable lady with no hope of her love in return.
  • recitativo accompagnato [Italian] Recitative accompanied by the entire orchestra.