Free Music Glossary

E

• early music European music from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Baroque.
• easy listening A genre of popular music that is meant to be soothing and relaxing to the listener.
• echo A repetition or mimicking of a certain passage, usually with less force and volume than the original statement.
• eclogue A rustic poem usually having to do with shepherds, springtime and love. In Romantic piano music, a light, lyrical, uncomplicated composition.
• eight note A note having the time duration of one eighth of a whole note.
• eilen To hasten, to accelerate.
• eilig Hurried, hasty, speedy.
• einfach Simple.
• Eingang An introduction, preface or prelude.
• eingestrichenes C See middle C.
• einschlafen Literally, “falling asleep”. A directive to slacken the time and diminish the tempo and the tone.
• elegante Elegant, graceful.
• elegia See elegy.
• elegy A funeral song; a mournful or plaintive composition.
• embellishment See ornament.
• embouchure The placement of the lips, lower facial muscles and jaws in playing a wind instrument.
• emiola See hemiola.
• emiolia See hemiola.
• Empfindung Feeling, sentiment.
• empfindungsvoll Feelingly.
• en élargissant See allargando.
• enarmonico See enharmonic.
• encore “Again”.
• energico With energy, vigorous.
• English flute See recorder.
• enharmonic Two notes, intervals, or scales having different names but equal pitch.
• enharmoninen See enharmonic.
• enharmonique See enharmonic.
• enharmonisch See enharmonic.
• enharmonisk See enharmonic.
• ensemble A group of musicians that perform as a unit.
• entonación justa See just intonation.
• envelope An acoustical term referring to the attack, steady state (or duration), and decay of a sound.
• envoi A short final stanza of a ballade which serves as a summary or dedication.
• envoy See envoi.
• episode Interlude or intermediate section in the baroque fugue, which serves as an area of relaxation between statements of the subject.
• equal temperament Tuning system dividing the octave into 12 equal semitones.
• ernstig See grave.
• erregt “Agitated”.
• escala See scale.
• espressione “Expression”.
• espressivo “Expressive”.
• estampie A type of early instrumental music of the 13th and 14th centuries, consisting of independent sections strung together.
• estinto Literally, “extinguished”. A directive to perform as soft as possible.
• estribillo See refrain.
• estro See verve.
• ettstruket C See middle C.
• étude Study piece that focuses on a particular technical problem.
• etuhele See appoggiatura.
• etwas “Somewhat”.
• exposition The first statement of a theme.
• expression The blend of feeling and intellect brought to a performance by the performer.