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 2453 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

  • zart [German] Tender, delicate.
  • common time 4/4 time.
  • Noël [French] Christmas.
  • trio sonata [Italian] A baroque sonata for two treble instruments and continuo, generally requiring four performers.
  • gospel music Twentieth century sacred music style associated with Protestant African-Americans.
  • cadence A sequence of chords that terminates a musical phrase or section.
  • inquieto [Italian] Restless, uneasy, agitated.
  • string quartet An ensemble consisting of two violins, viola, and cello, or a work composed for such an ensemble.
  • pas [French] “Not”.
  • dynamics The softness or loudness of a sound or note.
  • scale A series of notes in ascending or descending order that presents the pitches of a key or mode, beginning and ending on the tonic of that key or mode.
  • roulade [French] A highly ornamented vocal composition, usually for one voice and accompaniment.
  • doppel [German] “Double”.
  • chromaticism Use of tones extraneous to a diatonic scale (major or minor).
  • Übung [German] Exercise.