A Cappella - singing without an instrument accompanying
A Tempo - go back to the original tempo
Accelerando - (accel) steadily get faster
Accent - to emphasise a note
Accidental - alters the pitch of the note it is next to
Accompaniment - music played to support a melody line
Accordion - wind instrument played by expanding and contracting bellows to vibrate reed organs. Has a keyboard for melody notes and buttons for bass notes and chords.
Adagio - a slow tempo; quarter note = 66-76
Agitato - agitated
Alla Breve - cut time; 2/2 time; half note gets the beat
Allargando - (allarg) steadily get louder and slower
Allegretto - a fast tempo; quarter note = 112-128
Allegro - a fast tempo; quarter note = 120-168
Alto - the second highest part in a four-part choir
Alto Saxophone - single-reed woodwind instrument popular in bands
Anacrusis - note(s) before the first full measure; also called pick up note(s)
Andante - a medium tempo; quarter note = 76-108
Animato - animated
Appoggiatura - one kind of ornamentation; also called a grace note
Apprentice - someone who works with a professional to learn their trade
Arco - for stringed instruments - play the passage with the bow
Arpeggio - the notes of a chord played one at a time
Arrangement - changing an original composition to work on different instruments
Ars Antiqua - (ancient art) term used to define French music written from 1160-1320
Ars Nova - (new art) term used to define French music written from 1316-1377
Articulation - how a note is begun, how long it lasts, and how it ends
Ascending - moving from low notes to high notes, without large skips
Assai - means "very" or "rather" when added to a tempo marking such as "adagio assai" very slow
Atonal - a system of writing music not around a center tone
Attack - how a note is begun
Audition - how a musician applies for a position in a band or orchestra
Bagpipe - ancient wind instrument made of a bag of air, several pipes, and a double-reed pipe with finger holes
Ballad - simple song with several verses
Ballade - French poetic love songs
Ballet - tells a story through dance accompanied by music
Band - a group of musicians who perform together using different instruments, but does not usually have string instruments
Banjo - stringed folk instrument which originated in Africa
Bar Line - the lines on the music staff that divide music into measures
Barline - the lines on the music staff that divide music into measures
Baroque - music era approximately 1600-1750AD
Bass - the lowest part in a four-part choir
Bassoon - a large double reed instrument in the woodwind family
Beat - the "heartbeat" of music; the underlying pulse
Binary - a piece of music with two sections
Bongo Drum - small drums with "skin" on one side and open on the other
Bordun - instrumental accompaniment played on the first and fifth pitches of the scale
Bow - made of horsehair and wood; pulled across the strings of an instrument to create a sound
Brio - vigor or spirit; example "con brio" means with spirit
Cadenza - near the end of a solo piece, the soloist improvises and adds ornamentation to show off their ability
Canon - each part in the music starts at a different time and sings or plays exactly what the first part did and the parts overlap
Cantabile - gracefully with expression
Cantata - a poem, or religious verse set to music and performed by voices and instruments
Cantor - the director of the choir and music at a school or church
Carol - song form in which different words are sung to the same melody with a repeated part sung in between
Cello - the second largest instrument in the string family
Chanson - multi-melody song set to courtly or popular poetry
Chant - a sacred song
Choir - a group of singers
Chorale - a hymn usually written for four voices with the melody in the top voice and harmony in the lower voices
Choristers - members of a choir
Chorus - in some songs the part that comes back after each verse; also a large group of singers
Clarinet - a small single reed instrument in the woodwind family
Classical - music era approximately 1750-1820AD
Claves - two small round pieces of wood that are struck together, part of the percussion family
Clavichord - Renaissance keyboard instrument
Clavier - a general term for any keyboard instrument (piano, harpsichord, organ)
Coda - the final measures of a piece of music
Compose - the act of writing music
Composer - someone who writes music
Composition - a piece of music
Con - with
Concerto - a composition written to show off a specific instrument with the orchestra playing the accompaniment
Concerto Grosso - music written for a small group of solo instruments with a large ensemble playing the accompaniment
Conductor - the person who leads a music group
Consort - group of two to eight instrument players
Cornet - brass instrument, the direct predecessor of the trumpet
Countermelody - a melodic line that supports the main melody
Counterpoint - how melodies are woven together in a piece of music
Crescendo - (cresc) gradually get louder
Cymbal - thin round brass plate, either struck together, or struck with a mallet, part of the percussion family
Da Capo - (D.C.) go back to the beginning, literally means "from the top"
Dal Segno - (D.S.) go back to the sign, literally means "from the sign"
Dampen - muffle the sound, usually with a mute
Decrescendo - (decresc) gradually get quieter
Descant - type of harmony which came from organum
Descending - moving from high notes to low notes, without large skips
Didjeridu - (Didgeridoo) wood or bamboo instrument from Northern Australia, played by blowing and singing into it at the same time
Diminuendo - (dim) gradually get quieter
Divisi - tells a group of players to play different parts when two parts are written on the same staff
Djembe - African drum shaped similar to a mushroom
Dogfight - section of music usually in marches and piano rags where the high instruments play a phrase followed by the low instruments
Dolce - sweetly
Dolcissimo - more sweetly than dolce
Double Bar - two thin parallel lines that signify the end of one section of music and the beginning of another or a thin and a thick parallel lines that signifies the end of the composition
Double Bass - a large stringed instrument
Double Flat - accidental symbol that means to lower a note by two half steps
Double Reed - two pieces of cane that are attached and when blown on make a "quacking" sound, used to play a double reed instrument such as the oboe
Double Sharp - accidental symbol that means to raise a note by two half steps
Double Stop - two notes played at the same time using two different strings on a stringed instrument
Double Tonguing - a way to tongue quickly on an instrument
Down-bow - indicates a bowed string instrument player should play a note by moving the bow from the frog toward the tip
Downbeat - the first beat of a measure
Drone - a sustained bass note common during in Medieval Era music
Drum - a round percussion instrument originally with animal skin stretched over the top and struck with hands or sticks
Drum And Bugle Corps - a group of percussion and brass instrument players
Duet - a composition written for two players
Dulcimer - stringed instrument shaped like a trapezoid
Dynamics - how loud or quiet music is played
Détaché - in a detatched manner
Early Music - sometimes used to refer to music written during the Medieval and Renaissance Eras
Electric Guitar - shapped similarly to the acoustic guitar, but has a solid body with no soundbox and requires an amplifier to increase the sound
Elegy - a funeral song
Energico - with energy
English Horn - a double reed instrument in the woodwind family slightly larger than an oboe
Ensemble - a group of musicians who perform together, can be used for a band, orchestra, quartet, any "group"
Espressivo - expressively
Ethnomusicology - the study of cultural or folk music
Etude - a composition written so a musician can work on technicality and musicality
Euphonium - a brass instrument shaped like a small tuba and pitched higher than a tuba
Expression Marks - refers to the combination of articulation, dynamics, and tempo to create "expression" in a performance
Falsetto - a technique male singers use to reach notes higher than they usually sing
Fanfare - short composition for brass instruments and timpani
Fantasia - during the Baroque Era it introduced a fugue; during the Romantic Era it is a broad composition with no specific form, the composer just uses their imagination
Fermata - symbol above a note or rest which means to hold the note or rest as long as the conductor chooses
Fine - after a section repeats "fine" marks the end of the piece
Flat - accidental symbol that means to lower a note by one half step
Flute - a woodwind instrument made out of metal today held horizontally and played by blowing across a hole
Flutter-tonguing - technique of rolling an "r" sound while playing an instrument, usually a flute
Folk Music - cultural music learned by repetition and memorization not written down
Form - the structure of music
Forte - (f) loud
Fortepiano - an early version of the piano
Fortissimo - (ff) very loud
Forza - forcefully
French Horn - round brass instrument
Frog - the lower part of a stringed instruments bow, close to where it is held
Frottola - secular song, direct predecessor of the madrigal
Fugue - a musical form in which the melody is introduced in one part and then other parts enter with the same melody, instrumental, or vocal
Galliard - lively dance usually following a pavan
Glissando - playing a scale up or down very quickly
Glockenspiel - a percussion instrument that has metal bars on a wooden box; the bars are struck with a mallet
Gong - a round metal percussion instrument suspended in the air and struck with a padded mallet
Grace Note - a quick note added to a melody for ornamentation
Grand Pause - also called a general pause; used to create a silent pause in music for as long as a solo performer or conductor chooses
Grand Piano - a large keyboard instrument in which the strings run horizontally; pushing a key causes a hammer to strike a string, thus causing a note
Grandioso - in a majestic or grand style
Grave - very slow tempo, or perform in a solemn manner
Grazioso - graceful, smooth, or elegant
Guiro - a percussion instrument played by scraping a wooden stick across wooden grooves in the instrument
Guitar - a stringed instrument which has six strings and is played by strumming or plucking the strings
Hand Bell - a percussion instrument; each bell sounds a different note and a group of musicians are required to play them
Harmony - chords that support the main melody
Harp - a stringed instrument with vertical strings which are plucked to make sound
Harpsichord - a keyboard instrument popular during the Rennaisance and Baroque Eras
Hi-hat - a pair of cymbals played with a pedal or drum stick and are usually part of a drum set
Homophony - two or more parts moving together on different notes but with the same rhythm
Horn - short for French Horn; can also be used to refer to any instrument
Hornpipe - an English dance popular during the Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical Eras
Hymn - religious songs usually sung during a church service
Impressionism - a compositional style which focuses on musical color
Impromptu - a short piano composition from the Romantic Era that has a free style
Improvise - music created without preparation and not written down
Interlude - a piece of music performed between larger works
Interval - the space between two pitches or notes
Introduction - a short movement before a large composition
Jazz - a 20th century style of music characterized by improvisation, syncopated rhythms, and specific harmonies
Jig - an energetic dance
Kapellmeister - the director of music in a town or noble's court
Kettledrum - a bowl-shaped drum with a definite pitch; timpani are kettledrums
Key Signature - the sharp or flat signs at the beginning of a piece of music
Keyboard - the black and white keys on a keyboard instrument used to play the instrument
Keyboard Instrument - an instrument with a keyboard such as a piano, organ, and harpsichord
L'istesso Tempo - the same tempo
Lament - a sad song written to remember the dead
Langsam - a slow tempo similar to lento
Larghetto - a slow tempo; quarter note = 60-66
Larghissimo - a very slow tempo; quarter note = 40 or less
Largo - a slow tempo; quarter note = 40-60
Ledger Lines - the lines added to a note that is above or below the five-line staff
Legatissimo - a smooth and connected style
Legato - a smooth graceful and connected style
Leggiero - a light delicate style
Leitmotif - a recurring theme that represents a person, emotion, or idea
Lentissimo - a very slow tempo; quarter note = 40
Lento - slow
Libretto - the printed words that go with a piece of music
Lied - song written for a singer with accompaniment, usually piano
Lieder - songs written for a singer with accompaniment, usually piano
Ligature - the metal piece used to hold a reed on a clarinet or saxophone mouthpiece
Loco - cancels 8va; instruction to perform a passage as usual
Lute - stringed instrument similar to the guitar
Lute Song - song written for a singer with lute accompaniment
M.m. - Metronome Marking, a tempo marking sometimes found at the beginning of a piece of music
Ma - but
Madrigal - secular songs for voice, generally not accompanied
Madrigale Spirituale - religious vocal songs for voice generally not accompanied
Maestoso - in a majestic style
Maestro - a master musician, a term of respect
Mallet - used by a percussion player to strike an instrument such as the marimba, xylophone, and orchestra bells
Mandolin - Renaissance string instrument similar to the lute; the strings are plucked, not bowed
Manuscript - music written on paper
Maracas - a percussion instrument; usually made out of wood and filled with dried seeds and shaken when played
Marcato - in a marked or stressed style
March - a song usually written in 2/4, 6/8, or 4/4 time and originally played during parades or processions
Marching Band - a group of musicians who perform together using different instruments while marching; usually represents an organization such as a high school or college
Marimba - a percussion instrument; a large wooden instrument comprised of bars and pipes; the bars are struck by a mallet to create sound
Mass - part of the Roman Catholic Church service, sung
Measure - the space between bar lines in music which contain a specific number of beats
Medieval Era - music era approximately 476-1430AD
Medley - a composition containing melodies from several different songs
Melody - the part of a song that gets stuck in your head
Meno - less
Meno Mosso - less motion; slower
Metallophone - a percussion instrument; an instrument with metal bars and pipes or sound boxes; the bars are struck by a mallet to create a sound
Meter - how beats are organized in music
Mezzo - medium
Mezzo Forte - (mf) moderately loud, not as loud as forte
Mezzo Piano - (mp) moderately soft, not as soft as piano
Mezzo Soprano - a female vocal range between the soprano and alto ranges
Middle C - the note in between the bass and treble clefs on the grand staff
Midi - Musical Instrument Digital Interface; allows computers and other electronic equipment to create music and communicate with each other
Minimalism - a compositional style which features little variation of short repeated melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic patterns
Minstrel - a court musician during the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque Eras
Minuet - a dance from the Classical Era in a slow triple meter
Misterioso - in a mysterious style
Moderato - a moderate tempo; quarter note = 108-120
Modulate - when music changes from one key to a different key
Moll - minor
Molto - much
Monophonic - music with only one voice or part
Monotone - one tone, sound, or pitch
Mosso - motion
Motet - polyphonic vocal style originally secular or religious, but during the Renaissance became exclusively religious
Motif - a short easily recognized musical theme
Mouthpiece - part of a wind instrument where the player places his/her mouth
Movement - a self-contained section of a long composition like a symphony
Multiphonics - two or more tones played simultaneously on an instrument that was created to only play one tone at a time, like a flute
Multiple Stopping - playing two or more notes at the same time on a stringed instrument like a violin
Musical - Musical Theater
Musical Saw - a percussion instrument; looks very similar to a hand saw, but sometimes without the teeth; struck or bowed to create sound
Musician - a person who performs, conducts, or composes music
Musicology - the study of music; including music, instruments, people of influence, and the societies that created the music
Mute - used to soften the sound of instruments like the trumpet
National Anthem - songs that symbolize a country; usually in the style of an anthem, fanfare, march, or hymn
Nationalism - a movement during the 19th century when composers put rhythms, melodies, harmonies, and other qualities from the music of their homeland into their new compositions
Natural - accidental symbol that means the play the actual note, not the sharp or flat of the note
Neoclassicism - a compositional style in which composers imitated music from the Classical Era
Neoromanticism - a compositional style in which composers imitated music from the Romantic Era
Niente - perform a passage very quietly with almost no sound
Nobile - in a noble or grand style
Nocturne - originally a composition that was played at night outside; later composers used it in the name of pieces that had to do with night time in some way
Non - not
Non Troppo - not too much
Notation - the visual symbols of music
Note - the symbol in music that represents pitch and duration
Note Value - the duration of a note
Notehead - the round part of a note
Oboe - a small double reed instrument in the woodwind family
Octet - music written for eight instruments
Ode - composition written for a special event usually about an event, object, or person
Opera - a drama set to music and mostly sung, includes costumes, scenery, and acting
Opera Buffa - Italian comic opera
Opera Seria - Italian opera that was heroic or tragic
Operetta - less serious form of opera with more spoken dialog; created during the 19th century; similar to musicals of the 20th century
Opus - work; a musical composition numbered by the publisher in chronological order
Oral Tradition - music passed from person to person orally, not written down
Oratorio - a musical composition performed by vocal soloists and a chorus accompanied by an orchestra that does not have costumes, scenery, or acting
Orchestra - a group of musicians who perform together using different instruments, includes string instruments
Orchestra Bells - a percussion instrument; a small metal instrument comprised of bars and a sound box; the bars are struck by a mallet to create sound
Organ - a keyboard instrument
Organ Music - songs written for the organ alone
Organology - The science of musical instruments; organologists study how instruments produce sound, and the classification and development of instruments in history and cultures
Organum - the first type of polyphonic (multi-part) music
Ornamentation - short decorative notes added to make a melody more interesting
Ostinato - a short repeated pattern
Overture - a piece of music written to introduce themes that will be heard in a following composition such as an opera or oratorio
Passion - a musical setting of the life and death of Christ as it is written in one of the Gospels.
Pavan - slow, dignified court dance usually the first in a song set
Pianoforte - (pf) a dynamic mark which means to begin a note quietly and immediately become loud
Plainsong - music sung with free rhythm in which everyone sings the same notes
Polyphonic - music with more than one melody performed at the same time
Prelude - a short piece of music which introduces the next song to be performed
Program Symphony - a piece written in several parts which is associated with a story or picture
Repertoire - the pieces of music a person or group knows how to play
Royalties - the money an artist receives for the sale and performance of their work
Secular - popular, non-religious, music
Serialism - a compositional style in which the composer puts elements such as rhythm, dynamics, pitch, and tone color in a fixed order
Solo - played by one person
Sonata - a piece of music with several parts written for a single player or a group of players
Soprano - the highest voice in a choir
Suite - a set of dances, instrumental
Symphonic Poem - a piece written in one part for orchestra which tries to recreate a poetic idea, scene, or mood
Symphony - a large composition for orchestra
Tempo - how fast or slow music is played
Ternary - a piece of music with three sections
Toccata - written for a performer to show off on a keyboard instrument
Tonal - a system of writing music around a center tone
Unison - two or more voices or instruments singing or playing the same notes
Virtuoso - a performer who is an expert at their instrument
