Musical Terms Glossary
Accelerando: gradually increase tempo
Accent: stress specific notes
Accidental: sharps or flats added to the notes
Agitato: excitedly, i.e. with agitation
Alla breve: cut time (2/2)
Allegretto: quickly (but allegro is quicker)
Allegro /əˈleg.roʊ/: quickly, lively
Allegro agitato: quickly, with agitation
Allegro con molto spirito: quickly, with a lot of spirit
Allegro energico: quickly, with energy
Allegro Moderato: faster than moderato but slower than allegro
Andante /ɑːnˈdɑːn.teɪ/: walking, slow tempo
Andantino: a bit quicker than andante
Animato: in an animated, energetic style
Appassionato: with deep feeling
Attacca: begin the next piece immediately
Ben marcato: well accented
Brillante: brilliant, bright
Cadence: chord progression that means the end of a section
Canon /ˈkæn.ən/: a round
Cantabile: in a singing style
Chord: three or more notes played together
Clef: a symbol at the beginning of the staff to show which notes go on the lines and spaces (e.g. treble clef, bass clef, alto clef, soprano clef, mezzo-soprano clef, baritone clef)
Coda: concluding section of a piece of music
Common time: time signature of 4/4
Con amore: with warmth and feeling
Con fuoco: with fire
Con moto: with motion
Con spirito: with spirit
Crescendo /krɪˈʃen.doʊ/: gradually get louder
Da Capo or D.C.: from the beginning
Dal Segno or D.S.: go back in the music to the sign
Diminuendo: gradually get softer
Divisi: divided, i.e. two or more notes notated, where each note is played by a different performer
Dolce: sweetly
Dotted note: a note plus half of its value
Finale: last movement of a piece of music
Forte: loudly
Fortissimo: very loudly
Giocoso: playfully
Glissando: slide from one pitch to another
Grace note: a quick note that comes before the main note
Grandioso: in a grand, elegant style
Grave: slow and solemn
Grazioso: with grace
Harmonic: notes played at the same time
Interval: distance between two pitches
Langsam: slowly
Larghetto: slowly (bur largo is slower)
Largo: slowly
Largo ma non troppo: slowly but not too slowly
Ledger lines: extra lines added to the staff to write additional lower and higher notes on
Legierro or Leggero: lightly
Maestoso: majestically
Marcato: strongly accented
Melodic: notes played after each other
Meno: less
Mesto: sadly
Mezzo /met.soʊ/: medium
Mezzo forte: medium loud
Mezzo piano: moderately soft
Middle C: the note C found around the middle of the piano/keyboard
Moderato: at a moderate tempo
Molto: very much
Mosso: motion
Octave: interval of eight notes
Pesante: heavy (i.e. play each note long and emphatically)
Piano: softly
Piu adagio: slower
Poco a poco: “little by little”
Poco lento: a little slower
Poco piu mosso: a little faster
Pomposo: majestically
Presto: very quickly
Prestissimo: as quickly as possible
Quasi /kweɪ.zaɪ/: in the style of
Rallentando: slow down gradually
Religioso: religiously, with reverence
Rest: silence in music
Ritardando: slow down
Rubato: play with free tempo
Satz: movement
Scale: a certain pattern of notes going upward or downward by steps
Scherzo /ˈskert.soʊ/: playful composition
Scerzando: play an instrument playfully, jokingly
Score: a piece of music that shows all instrumental parts
Semitone: the shortest distance between notes
Semplice: simply
Senza: without
Sforzando: strongly emphasize a note
Sordino: mute
Staccatto /stəˈkɑː.toʊ/: short, detached notes
Staff: 5 lines and 4 spaces used for writing and reading sheet music
Stringendo: gradually gain energy by increasing tempo
Subito: immediately
Tacet: be silent
Tempo: speed of music
Tempo di Valse: in a waltz tempo
Tempo primo: original tempo
Tenuto: hold the notes for their full value
Tie: a curved line which shows that we have to add up the value of the tied notes
Tonality: key
Tranquillo: peacefully, with tranquility
Transpose: move all pitches up or down by the same number of notes
Triad: three-note chord consisting of a root, a 3rd, and a 5th note
Triplet: three notes in cases where normally only two notes would be found
Tutti: all instruments play
Unison: the same pitches played together
Vivace: very quickly
Waltz /wɑːlts/: dance in 3⁄4 time
Whole note: two semitones, i.e. two half notes
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