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

  • jota [Spanish] A type of Spanish dance song characterized by a quick triple meter and guitar and castanet accompaniment.
  • echo A repetition or mimicking of a certain passage, usually with less force and volume than the original statement.
  • hocket A Medieval practice of composition in which two voices would move in such a manner that one would be still while the other moved and vice-versa.
  • Wiederholung [German] Repetition.
  • funk American musical style that originated in the 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, soul jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music.
  • semitone A minor second; the smallest interval in the system of Western music.
  • conjunct Smooth, connected, moving in stepwise motion.
  • vocal range The range of notes that a singing voice can encompass.
  • luttuoso [Italian] Mournful.
  • 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.
  • toujours [French] Always.
  • lieblich [German] Charming, lovely.
  • suono [Italian] Sound.
  • new age Style of popular music of the 1980s and 1990s, characterized by soothing timbres and repetitive forms that are subjected to shifting variation techniques.
  • quadruple counterpoint Counterpoint in four parts.