Multilingual Music Glossary

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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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Some random terms

  • giusto [Italian] A directive to perform in an equal, steady, exact tempo.
  • Anlaufen [German] To open, to increase in volume.
  • Leichen-musik [German] Funeral music.
  • close harmony Harmony written so that the parts are as close together as possible, usually with the upper voices very tight together, and the bass somewhat more distantly spaced.
  • string quintet Standard chamber ensemble made up of either two violins, two violas and cello, or two violins, viola and two cellos.
  • monotone A single sustained, unvarying tone, or a succession of notes of the same tone. Often used in the recitation of liturgical texts.
  • baroque The music of the period circa 1600–1750, directly following the Renaissance and preceding the Classical era. Its style is characterized by rich ornamentation.
  • spiccato [Italian] Very separated, detached.
  • clef In musical notation, a symbol at the beginning of a staff that determines the pitches of the lines and spaces. The most common clefs are treble, for indicating pitches mostly above middle C, and bass, for indicating pitches mostly below middle C.
  • dump A slow, melancholic old English dance, usually in 4/4 time.
  • ska A music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, combining elements of Caribbean music with American jazz and rhythm and blues. It is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the offbeat.
  • diatonic scale A seven note musical scale, consisting of five whole steps and two half steps.
  • music Broadly speaking, sounds organized to express a wide variety of human emotions.
  • rigaudon [French] A lively French dance, originally a folk dance but also a court dance and an instrumental form, in duple meter.
  • polyharmony Two or more streams of harmony played against each other; common in twentieth century music.