| E |
(Italian) and; the third note in the scale of C
major; in 'fixed do' solfeggio the note called mi;
the name of a string on the violin and guitar |
| E |
after Eisen the cataloguer of the symphonies of
Johann Georg Leopold Mozart (1719-1787) |
| Early music |
a generic term for music written from the Middle
Ages to about 1750 |
| Earth bow |
a single-stringed instrument of Cameroon, which uses
the earth itself as a sound box. A hole is dug and a
thin piece of wood is placed over it and is pegged down
firmly. A springy sapling is driven into the ground,
bent over and attached to the center of the wooden board
with a strong cord |
| Ebenfalls |
(German) likewise, in the same way |
| Ebenso |
(German) just as |
| Ebonite |
a name given to a hard black rubber |
| Ecclesia |
(Latin) church; church related |
| Ecclesiastical modes |
church modes |
| Echappee |
literally 'escaped note'; an ornamental figuration
between notes proceeding in a step-wise fashion where
the ornamental note goes in the opposite way to the
progression, followed by the proper note in the
progression |
| Écharpe |
(French) scarf |
| Échelle |
(French) scale (although Gamme is the more
usual word for the musical scale) |
| Échelette |
(French) xylophone |
| Echo |
an effect possible on certain instruments where the
tone can be suddenly muted |
| Echo organ |
a keyboard (or manual) on certain large organs that
can produce echo effects |
| Éclatant |
(French) brilliant, gorgeous, piercing |
| Eclecticism |
a term applied to a composer's style when he is
writing in an atypical manner; can be a derogative term
suggesting that one composer's work is unoriginal and
inspired by the work of others |
| Ecologue |
short pastoral poem, a short piece of music in in
pastoral style |
| Eco |
(Italian) echo |
| École |
(French) school |
| Écossaise |
(French) a 2-in-a-bar contredanse with no known
Scottish connections, from the late eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries |
| Ed |
(Italian) and |
| Edel |
(German) noble |
| Edo-bayashi |
(Japanese) festival music from Edo |
| Effleurer |
(French) to touch very lightly |
| Effretto |
(Italian) the effect of music on an audience |
| E flat Horn |
a transposing instrument of the French horn family
which when the player reads 'C' sounds 'E flat' |
| Égal, Égale |
(French) equal |
| Également |
(French) equally |
| Egbong |
a wooden drum with a baritone voice used by the
Igede people of Nigeria, it forms a set of three with
okpirih and ubah |
| Églogue |
(French) ecologue |
| Eguale |
(Italian) equal |
| Egualemente |
(Italian) equally |
| Egualità, Egualezza |
(Italian) equality |
| Eifer |
(German) zeal, ardour |
| Eifrig |
(German) zealous, in an ardent style |
| Eighth |
an interval of an octave |
| Eighth note |
 |
a quaver, one eighth the time value of a
whole note or semibreve
|
|
| Eighth rest |
 |
a quaver rest, a rest one eighth the time
value of a whole rest or semibreve rest |
|
| Eile |
(German) haste |
| Eilen |
(German) to hurry, as in nicht eilen meaning
do not hurry |
| Eilend |
(German) accelerando |
| Eilig |
(German) speedy |
| Ein, Eine |
(German) a, one |
| Einfach |
(German) simple, single |
| Eingang |
(German, literally 'entrance') introduction, preface
or prelude |
| Einige |
(German) some |
| Einlenken |
(German) to turn back, a turning back |
| Einmal |
(German) once |
| Einschlafen |
(German) slacken the time and diminish the tempo and
the tone; die away |
| Einstimmig |
(German) for one part, for one voice |
| Eintritt |
(German) entrance, beginning |
| Einzeln |
(German) single |
| Eis |
(German) the note 'E sharp' |
| Eisa-daiko |
(Japanese) Okinawan style of bon dancing,
known for its spirited drumming, often by dancers who
carry the drums as they dance |
| Eisis |
(German) the note 'E double sharp' |
| Eisteddfod |
(Welsh, literally 'assembly') a competitive festival
often including music and/or verse |
| Ekpiri |
a rattle formed by a set of shiny seeds strung on a
wooden or string handle, or on a grass belt. These
rattles can be played softly, or are capable of
producing a voluminous sound for their size (Nigeria) |
| Ektar |
a simple folk instrument used to provide both a
drone as well as simple rhytmic accompaniment to folk
songs. It may be the oldest stringed instrument in the
Indian subcontinent. The ektar is described in
ancient Sanskrit texts as the ekatantri vina,
literally the 'one stringed lute'. The instrument is
nothing more than a gourd which has been penetrated by a
stick of bamboo. Another piece of bamboo forms the
tuning peg. The bridge is merely a coin, a piece of
coconut, plastic or similar material. Ektars such
as this are common in Southern India. In the north,
their construction is a little more complicated. A
membrane is stretched over the gourd and the bridge is
placed over the taut membrane |
| Ekwe |
two tone Ibo log drum from Nigeria, played with
either a plain wooden stick, or a rubber-tipped beater |
| Elaboration |
development or expansion of a musical idea or theme;
development section of the sonata-allegro form based on
thematic material intorduced in the exposition |
| Élargi |
(French) broadened |
| Élargissant |
(French) broadening |
| Élargir |
(French) to take more slowly, to broaden |
| Élargissez |
(French) broaden! |
| Electric |
a term applied to musical instruments requiring
electrical amplification, for example, an electric
guitar |
| Electro-acoustic music |
the term used now for what used to be called
'electronic' music |
| Electronic |
a term applied to instruments whose sound is
generated electronically, for example, a synthesizer |
| Electrophone |
generic term used for two classes of electronic
instrument, namely, instruments that generate their
sound electronically, and acoustic instruments that have
their sounds amplified and modified electronically |
| Elegante, Elegantemente |
(Italian) elegant, elegantly |
| Elegia, Elegiaco |
(Italian) elegy, elegiac |
| Élégie (Fr.), Elegy (Eng.) |
a lament |
| Elevato |
(Italian) elevated (of spirit) |
| Elevazione |
(Italian) elevation (of spirit) |
| Élève |
(French) pupil, student |
| Eleventh |
a compound interval of an octave plus a fourth |
| Elision |
the shortening of a theme or phrase by removing
particular notes; see also 'interpolation' |
| Elmuahim |
(Arabic) a rhomboid/semibreve, often drawn obliquely |
| Elmuarifa |
(Arabic) plicated rhomboid, described as being
irregular, with a line descending on the left side |
| Éloigner |
(French) to place further away |
| Embairé |
large Ugandan log xylophone |
| Embellishment(s) |
ornament(s) |
| Embilta |
simple Ethiopian one-note flute used in ceremonial
rituals |
| Embouchure |
the relationship of the mouth and lips to a brass or
woodwind-instrument |
| Emozione |
(Italian) emotion |
| Empfindsamkeit |
(German) so-called 'sensitive' style of the
mid-eighteenth century, characterized by melodic
directness and homophonic texture |
| Empfindung |
(German) feeling, sentiment |
| Empfingungsvoll |
(German) feelingly |
| Emphase |
(German) emphasis |
| Emporté |
(French) excitedly |
| Empressé |
(French) eager |
| Ému |
(French) moved, affected, touched |
| En |
(French) in, whilst |
| Enanga |
a six or seven string zither that first entered East
Africa with nomadic cattle keepers who migrated from
what is now Southern Ethiopia |
| Enchaînez |
(French) play two movements 'without a break' |
| Enclume |
(French) anvil |
| Encore |
a universal term of encouragement to a performer to
perform something more, the 'something more' that is
performed, except that in France the call is bis |
| Endere |
Ugandan flute |
| Endingidi |
Ugandan fiddle |
| Energia |
(Italian) energy |
| Energico |
(Italian) energetic |
| Enfasi |
(Italian) emphasis |
| Enfatico, Enfaticamente |
(Italian) emphatic, emphatically |
| Enger |
(German) quicker' |
| English country dance |
for the most part, the development of dance styles
in the seventeenth-century is obscure. Sources for the
first quarter-century are often difficult to understand;
by the last quarter the Baroque style has already come
into being. In England, however, the publication of
Playford’s English Dancing Master in 1651 provides our
first major source for the country dance, which soon
achieved lasting popularity in the ballroom and even now
remains England’s principal contribution to the
international repertoire of social dance. In the
eighteenth-century this English style led to the
development of Scottish country dance as we know it
today
[taken from
The Early Dance Circle] |
| English fingering |
keyboard fingering notation now obsolete that used
the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 for the fingers and an (x)
for the thumb. Modern keyboard fingering notation uses a
1 for the thumb, and 2, 3, 4, and 5 for the fingers; a
system of fingering for the recorder also called baroque
fingering |
| English flute |
the recorder |
| English horn, Englisches Horn (Ger.) |
the instrument the English call the 'cor anglais',
an alto oboe that is pitched a fifth lower than the
standard oboe
more... |
| Enharmonic |
the interval between notes notated for example A
flat and G sharp, which on an equal tempered keyboard
instrument are played with the same key, but which on a
flexibly tuned instrument, like a violin, can be
perceptibly different
more... |
| Enigmatic scale |
this scale was invented by Giuseppe Verdi
(1813-1901) and first used in his Ave Maria of
1897
see
table of useful scales |
| Enka |
(Japanese) popular music before and following World
War 11. Nowadays, enka music is most popular
among the older generations. Enka songs are
nostalgic and deal with topics like 'unlucky love'.
Enka singers, especially women, usually perform
wearing a kimono |
| Enkelharpa |
a Swedish fiddle, ancestor to the nyckelharpa,
still played today |
| Enkulurai |
see keluri |
| Enlevez |
(French) remove |
| Ennanga |
Ugandan eight-string harp |
| Enredo |
the theme song for a Brazilian samba parade.
Every samba school writes a new samba enredo
to fit the theme for that year’s carnival |
| Ensalada |
(Spanish) a comic quodlibet; a medley |
| Ensemble |
a group of musicians; a group of musicians
particular skill in playing together, 'with good
ensemble'; an operatic piece in which two or more
singers sing together |
| Entendre |
(French) to hear |
| Entendu, Entendue |
(French) heard |
| Entenga |
a set of 15 tuned drums used in Ugandan court music |
| Entfernt |
(German) distant |
| Entfurnung |
(German) distance |
| Entr'acte |
(French) an interval between acts, the music
performed during such an interval |
| Entrada |
(Spanish) entrance |
| Entrain |
(French) vigour, dash, go |
| Entrata |
(Italian) entrance, beginning |
| Entrechat |
a move in ballet where the dancer jumps all the time
crossing and uncrossing the legs |
| Entrée |
(French) an instrumental piece before a ballet, an
opera in which each act is complete within itself, the
commencing moment of any work |
| Entremes |
(Spanish) a comic musical intermezzo within a play |
| Entrückung |
(German) rapture |
| Entry |
the point in a musical work where a melody starts; a
seventeenth-century term for a prelude |
| Entschieden |
(German) decided, resolute, considerably |
| Entschlossen |
(German) in a determined style |
| Entschlossenheit |
(German) determination |
| Entusiasmo |
(Italian) enthusiasm |
| Entusiastico |
(Italian) enthusiastic |
| Envelope |
an acoustical term referring to the attack, steady
state (or duration) and decay of a sounding note |
| Environmental music |
although not strictly a New Age phenomenon,
environmental music is used for relaxation and
meditation. It includes recordings of tides, brooks, and
birds, although non-purists may be content to sample
synthetic sounds or even pre-recorded orchestral music |
| Envoi, Envoy |
the final section of a troubadour poem; the envoy is
a partial stanza and is sung to the last line or lines
of the musical setting, ending with a clos
cadence |
| Epidiapente |
a canon at the fifth |
| Epigoneion |
a 40 string kithara placed and played on
one's knees (epi gonatos) |
| Epinette des Vosges |
a French instrument of the dulcimer family, it is
oblong, often with 7 strings, 3 of which are fretted |
| Episode |
a subsiduary part of a work, for example, the music
written between the repeated section of a rondo |
| Episodical form |
the same as rondo form |
| Epithalamium |
a wedding song |
| Éponge, Baguette d' |
(French) a sponge-headed drum stick |
| Equabile |
(Italian) equable |
| Equale (sing.), Equali (plural) |
(Italian, lierally equal) a funeral quartet of
trombones; music for such a quartet |
| Equalmente |
(Italian) evenly, alike |
| Equal temperament |
the modern method of tuning where the interval of an
octave is exact and the interval between each successive
semitone is equal to the twelfth root of 2
more... |
| Équivaut |
(French) is equivalent to |
| Ergriffen |
(German) gripped, emotionally moved |
| Erhaben |
(German) sublime |
| Erhabenheit |
(German) sublimity |
| Er hu |
(Chinese) a Chinese bowed string instrument similar
to a violin but with only two strings which, although
dating back to the Song Dynasty (c.1100 AD), has been
used as a solo instrument only since the early
twentieth-century. The instrument measures around three
feet long with a long neck and a relatively small
soundbox three or four inches in diameter and five to
six inches deep available in several shapes (round,
hexagonal, or octagonal). The scroll is often decorated
with a carving of a dragon's head or a crescent moon and
the soundbox is often decorated. The Er hu is
also used with a metal clamp or silk string clamp that
acts as a capo to change the open pitches of the
strings. The bow is made of bamboo. The sound of the
Er hu is similar to a violin although much thinner
in its timbre |
| Erleichterung |
(German) a simplifed version |
| Erlöschend |
(German) becoming weakened |
| Ermangelung |
(German) lack |
| Ermattend, Ermattet |
(German) becoming tired out, tired out |
| Erniedrigen |
(German) to lower (pitch) |
| Ernst, Ernsthaft |
(German) earnest, serious |
| Eroico, Eroica |
(German) heroic |
| Erotikon |
(German) love-song |
| Ersatz |
(German) substitute |
| Erschüttert |
(German) agitated |
| Erst, Erste |
(German) first |
| Ersterbend |
(German) dying away |
| Erstickt |
(German) stiffled |
| Erweitert |
(German) slower and steadier |
| Erzürnt |
(German) irritated |
| Es |
(German) the note 'E flat' |
| Esaltato |
(Italian) excited, exalted |
| Esatto, Esatta |
(Italian) exact |
| Esattezza |
(Italian) exactness |
| Escape note |
non-harmonic note, the opposite of an appoggiatura,
being approached by a tone (whole step) or semitone
(half step) and resolving to a chord note by a leap |
| Escondido |
an Argentine dance called escondido where the
female partner hides from the male |
| Esecuzione |
(Italian) execution |
| Esercizio, Esercizi |
(Italian) exercise, exercises |
| Eses |
(German) the note 'E double flat' |
| Esoteric music |
specialized music designed for an elite audience
that cannot understand or perform the music without
special training |
| Esotico, Esotica |
(Italian) exotic |
| Espagne |
(French) Spanish |
| Espagnol or Espagnole (Fr.), Espagnolo or
Espagnuolo or Espagnola or Espagnuola (It.) |
Spanish |
| Espirando |
(Italian) dying away |
| Espressione, Espressivo |
(Italian) expression, expressively |
| Esquisse |
(French) sketch |
| Esraj |
North Indian bowed instrument with 20 metal frets
and 12 to 15 sympathetic strings, the base of the
instrument is like a saringda while the neck and
strings are like a sitar. It gives a sound very
much like a sarangi without being as difficult to
play. This instrument is often confused with dilruba
because both are similar in construction and have a
similar playing technique |
| Estampie (Fr.), Estampida (Provençal) |
a poetic and musical genre, from the time of the
troubadour, related to the sequence, it is sometimes
found without words and is believed to have been danced |
| Esterilla |
Colombian percussion instrument that resembles a
small placemat. It is formed by small round pieces of
wood that are woven together. When bent or rubbed, it
makes a percussive sound |
| Estinguendo |
(Italian) dying away |
| Estinto |
(Italian, literally 'extinct') as soft as possible |
| Estompé |
(French) toned down |
| Estravaganza |
(Italian) a composition of erratic type |
| Estremamente |
(Italian) extremely |
| Estudiantino, Estudiantina |
(Spanish) in the style of students |
| Esukuti |
term for both drum and dance in Kenya |
| Esultazione |
(Italian) exultation |
| Et |
(French, Latin) and |
| Éteindre |
(French) to extinguish |
| Éteint |
(French) extinguished |
| Étendue |
(French) compass, range |
| Ethnomusicology |
the study of music as a cultural phenomenon |
| Étouffer, Étouffez |
(French, literally 'damp') to dampen, dampen, mute |
| Étude |
(French) a study, a piece written for the purposes
of practicing or displaying technique |
| Etwas |
(German) some, something, somewhat |
| Eufonio |
(Italian) euphonium |
| EUOUAE |
the vowels from the words seculorum amen the
final words of the doxology |
| Euphonium |
a brass instrument pitched in B-flat with a range
equivalent to the tenor tuba
more... |
| Eurhythmics |
the expression of musical rhythm through bodily
movement, a system developed by Emile Henri Jaques
Dalcroze (1865-1950), who in 1910 founded an institute
to promote the system in Germany |
| Evaded cadence |
a cadence that implies one type of resolution, but
goes instead to another |
| Éveillé |
(French) awakened |
| Even tuning |
equal temperament |
| Exercise music |
the advent of jazzercise and other aerobic exercise
programs, sees music again helping to keep people fit.
To those who dance early dances, the association will
come as no surprise. Elizabeth I of England is known to
have danced before breakfast as an aid to good digestion
and personal fitness |
| Evirato |
(Italian) a man whose boy-like voice has been
preserved by castration |
| Evocación |
(Spanish) evocation, invocation |
| Exactement |
(French) exactly |
| Exalté |
(French) exalted, very excited |
| Exercise |
a piece designed to develop technique, a keyboard
suite |
| Exoteric music |
music meant to be easily comprehended and performed
by anyone with little musical training |
| Exoticism |
music in which the rhythms, melodies, or
instrumentation are intended to evoke the atmosphere of
far-off lands or ancient times |
| Exposed intervals |
in a harmonic progression, hidden fifths or octaves
between the outer voices |
| Exposition |
the part of a work, in sonata form, where the
principal themes are first stated |
| Expressif |
(French) expressive |
| Expressionism |
the term applied to early twentieth-century works of
art, including music, where the work expresses the
artist or composer's state of mind |
| Expression marks |
indications in a musical score where the composer
wish changes in the dynamics (louder or softer), tempo
(quicker or slower) or mood (e.g. sadder, more joyful,
etc.) |
| Extended play |
a vinyl (PVC) 45 revolutions per minute (rpm)
microgroove record, (called EP, for extended play), on
which the normal four-minute per side playing time of
the standard '45' record was extended to eight minutes |
| Extended tertian sonorities |
also called 'tall' chords; 9th, 11th and 13th chords |
| Extension |
 |
an horizontal line placed next to the right
of a lyric syllable, to show that a syllable
must be maintained during the following note or
notes |
|
| Extravaganza |
(Italian, from stravaganza) stage
entertainment with music, written in a free informal
style |
| Extemporisation |
improvisation, the art of composing at sight |
| Extrêmement |
(French) extremely |
| Eye music |
music that is pleasing or puzzling to the eye,
regardless of how it sounds to the ear. In some cases,
the music may make no sense to the ear, but has a secret
puzzle or message when visually analyzed. This music was
most common in the Middle Ages and Renaissance eras |
| Ezcudantza |
a Basque dancet for two performers using the voice
or the pipe and tabor |
