Multilingual Music Glossary

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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

  • leading note The major seventh of a scale, so called because it lies a semitone below the tonic and “leads” towards it.
  • triste [Italian] Sad.
  • sideman A slang term for a musician in an ensemble who is not the leader of the ensemble.
  • con disperazione [Italian] Desperately.
  • groove Groove is the sense of propulsive rhythmic “feel” or sense of “swing” created by the interaction of the music played by a band's rhythm section (usually drums, electric bass or double bass, guitar, and keyboards).
  • countertenor A male voice of unusually high range, generally achieved through falsetto. The countertenor has the range of either the female alto or soprano.
  • gracieusement [French] Gracefully.
  • strain A division of a composition between two double bars. It can also be referred to as a section. A strain will typically contain a primary or secondary melody of the larger composition that is often repeated.
  • bis [Latin] Literally, “twice”. A directive to repeat a passage.
  • tonality The organization of a composition around a tonic.
  • gaudioso [Italian] Joyous, joyful.
  • homophony Music in which one voice leads melodically followed by the other voices more or less in the same rhythm. In contrast with polyphony.
  • vamp Short passage with simple rhythm and harmony that introduces a soloist.
  • suono [Italian] Sound.
  • moins [French] “Less”.