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

  • un peu [French] A little.
  • instrumentation The particular combination of musical instruments employed in a composition.
  • einschlafen [German] Literally, “falling asleep”. A directive to slacken the time and diminish the tempo and the tone.
  • allargando [Italian] Growing broader, slowing down.
  • solo [Italian] A passage that is to be performed by a single performer.
  • galop [French] A lively ballroom dance, generally in 2/4 time.
  • tremolo [Italian] A rapid alternation between two notes.
  • non-harmonic note In part writing, a note that is dissonant with other notes in the same chord.
  • double whole note A note twice as long as a whole note. Mainly used in pre-1650 music.
  • fanfare A short, lively, loud, militaristic composition, usually composed for brass instruments and percussions.
  • audition The term used for the try-outs that a musician must go through before his or her acceptance into an ensemble.
  • head joint The top section of a flute, with the tone hole where the player initiates the sound by blowing air across the opening.
  • sospirando [Italian] Sighing.
  • altissimo [German] Term used to indicate the tones of the second octave above the treble staff (G6 to F7), which are said to be “in altissimo”.
  • estampie [French] A type of early instrumental music of the 13th and 14th centuries, consisting of independent sections strung together.