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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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

  • ma [Italian] “But”.
  • no chord A directive placed over a note (or a series of notes) signifying that the note(s) should be performed without accompaniment. Typically found in popular music notation.
  • 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.
  • largo [Italian] A slow and solemn tempo marking, usually around 40–60 BPM.
  • tone A sound of definite pitch and duration, as distinct from noise. Tone is a primary building material of music.
  • polonaise [French] Stately Polish processional dance in triple meter.
  • meantone temperament Temperament yielding acoustically pure thirds by decreasing the natural fifth by 16 cents. Due to the non-circular character of this temperament, only a limited set of keys are playable. Used for tuning keyboard instruments for performance of pre-1650 music.
  • ambitus [Latin] A range of pitches for a given voice in a part of music. It may also denote the pitch range that a musical instrument is capable of playing.
  • major Term referring to a sequence of notes that define the tonality of the major scale. This series consists of seven notes: the tonic, followed by the next note a whole step up from the tonic, the third is a whole step from the second, the fourth is a half step from the third, the fifth is a whole step from the fourth, the sixth is a whole step from the fifth, the seventh is another whole step, followed by the tonic, a half step above the seventh.
  • pensoso [Italian] Thoughtful, pensive.
  • clos [French] The second ending of a repeated section.
  • gymel A Medieval technique of splitting one voice part into two parts, both with the same range. In most cases the voices would start and end together, but would diverge in the middle of the composition.
  • modal Having to do with modes; this term is applied most particularly to music that is based upon the Gregorian modes, rather than to music based upon the major, minor, or any other scale.
  • ad libitum [Latin] Literally, “at will”. At the discretion of the performer. At pleasure, changing the tempo of a particular passage. Sometimes, a part that may be omitted if desired.
  • sonata-allegro form The opening movement of the sonata cycle, consisting of themes that are stated in the first section (exposition), developed in the second section (development), and restated in the third section (recapitulation).