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

  • woodwind quintet Standard chamber ensemble consisting of one each of the following: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and French horn (not a woodwind instrument).
  • appoggiatura [Italian] Ornamental note, usually taking half of the duration of the main note it precedes.
  • florid Rich, embellished.
  • early music European music from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Baroque.
  • prestissimo [Italian] Extremely fast tempo marking, usually around 200 BPM.
  • signature Key signature or time signature.
  • fife A small flute with a narrower bore, thus producing a higher, more piercing sound than a flute. Generally used in military bands.
  • vivo [Italian] Lively.
  • fado [Portuguese] A type of street song and dance of Portugal, usually accompanied by a guitar.
  • quadruplum [Latin] Polyphony having four voices. Also, the highest of these voices.
  • dal segno [Italian] A directive to go back to a specific place of a composition, marked by a sign.
  • gospel music Twentieth century sacred music style associated with Protestant African-Americans.
  • lento [Italian] Slow.
  • comme ci-dessus [French] “As above”.
  • groove Groove is the sense of propulsive rhythmic “feel” or sense of “swing” created by the interaction of the music played by a band's rhythm section (usually drums, electric bass or double bass, guitar, and keyboards).