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

  • music Broadly speaking, sounds organized to express a wide variety of human emotions.
  • dotted note A note that has a dot placed to the right of the notehead, indicating that the duration of the note should be increased by half again its original duration.
  • sforzando [Italian] Literally, “forcing”. Dynamic marking indicating a strong, sudden accent.
  • pas [French] “Not”.
  • serenade [French] Night music; a classical instrumental genre that combines elements of chamber music and symphonic music.
  • di molto [Italian] “By much”.
  • placido [Italian] Calm, placid.
  • retransition In sonata-allegro form, the last part of the development which leads to the tonic of the main key and usually emphasizes it.
  • fandango [Spanish] A lively folk and flamenco couple-dance, usually in triple meter, traditionally accompanied by guitars and castanets or hand-clapping.
  • acoustics The science that deals with the study of sound. Also, the art of optimizing sound in a room or other enclosed space, considering reverberation and other acoustical qualities.
  • sharp An accidental symbol that raises the pitch of a note by a semitone.
  • drone A harmonic or monophonic effect or accompaniment where a note or chord is continuously sounded throughout much or all of a piece, sustained or repeated.
  • augmentation Statement of a melody in longer note values, often twice as slow as the original.
  • elegy A funeral song; a mournful or plaintive composition.
  • lentezza [Italian] “Slowness”.