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

  • gentile [Italian] Gentle, kind.
  • larynx The upper part of the trachea in the human throat. It is the mechanism that varies the tone of the voice.
  • responsorial singing Singing, especially in Gregorian chant, in which a soloist or a group of soloists alternates with the choir.
  • transverse flute The regular orchestral flute, as distinct from the recorder.
  • refrain [French] A verse which repeats throughout a song or poem at given intervals.
  • off-beat A rhythm that emphasizes the weak beats of a bar.
  • légèrement [French] Lightly.
  • tune An air or melody, a succession of sounds that has definite character and shape and is pleasing to the ear.
  • alt [German] Term used to indicate the tones of the first octave above the treble staff (G5 to F6), which are said to be “in alt”.
  • placido [Italian] Calm, placid.
  • martellato [Italian] Literally, “hammered”. Strongly marked.
  • Rococo [French] A term applied to French compositions of the 18th century, implying light, airy, graceful, and ornamented style, in response to the rigid, severe lines of the previous era.
  • accent The stress of one tone over others.
  • homophony Music in which one voice leads melodically followed by the other voices more or less in the same rhythm. In contrast with polyphony.
  • madrigal Renaissance secular work originating in Italy for voices, with or without instruments, set to a short, lyric love poem.