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

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

  • fortissimo-piano [Italian] A dynamic marking (ffp) indicating that the marked note should be attacked very loudly, instantly diminishing to a much softer volume.
  • pomposo [Italian] Pompous, stately, or ceremonious.
  • oral transmission Preservation of music without the aid of written notation.
  • unison Interval between two notes of the same pitch; the simultaneous playing of the same note.
  • inflection Small alteration of the pitch by a microtonal interval.
  • bergamasca [Italian] A kind of Renaissance clumsy rustic dance.
  • da capo [Italian] Literally, “from the beginning”. A directive to go back to the beginning of the composition.
  • verse anthem Anglican devotional composition for solo voices with a choral refrain.
  • Schleppend [German] Dragging.
  • nach [German] “After”.
  • chord progression Series of chords played in order.
  • radical bass An bass line produced by linking the fundamentals of the chords in a progression.
  • afflitto [Italian] Sad, melancholy.
  • well-tempered A term applied to an instrument that is voiced and tuned satisfactorily, with the pitches, tone, and timbre having the desired quality of sound.
  • flamenco [Spanish] A genre of dance and music characterized by its use of modes, its unusual rhythm patterns and its use of guitar accompaniment.