| M |
after Carl H. Mennicke the cataloguer of
music by Carl Heinrich Graun (1701-1759), Karl
Heinrich Graun (1704-1759) and Johann Adolph
Hasse (1699-1783); meta-catalogue of music by
Vagn Holmboe (1909-96) prepared by Paul
Rapoport; reference to the catalogues of music
by Johann Melchior Molter (1696-1765) prepared
by Hafner; after Gian Francesco Malipiero the
cataloguer of music by Antonio Vivaldi
(1678-1741) (sometimes denoted 'R'); after
Frederick Marvin the cataloguer of music by
Antonio Soler (1729-1783); after F. Munter the
cataloguer of music by Ignaz von Beeke
(1733-1803) ; after Murray the cataloguer of
music by Francesco Antonio Rosetti-Rösler
(1750-1792) |
| Ma |
(Italian) but, as in allegro ma non
troppo meaning 'fast but not too fast' |
| Macchina |
(Italian) machine, mechanism |
| Mace |
the large ornamented tapered rod or baton
used by a drum major in a marching band or
military band |
| Machicotage |
extemporized ornamentation of plainsong by
the celebrant |
| Machine à vent |
(French) wind machine |
| Machine head |
a system of worm gears used to control the
tension of the strings on string instruments,
used since the eighteenth-century in particular
on guitar and double bass |
| Mächtig |
(German) mighty, powerful |
| Macumbo |
an Afro-Brazilian ritual dance |
| Maddalam |
barrel drum from Indonesia |
| Madiba |
a Mandinka wrestling rhythm |
| Madrigal |
(1) a fourteenth-century Italian style of
setting secular verse for two or three
unaccompanied voices, in two sections, the first
being repeated two or three times, the second
performed only once, where the top line
generally more florid than the line(s) below;
(2) a sixteenth- and seventeenth-century
contrapuntal setting of verse (usually secular)
for several equally important voice parts,
usually unaccompanied and unrelated to the
earlier form
more...
|
| Madrigalism |
the use of illustrative devices including
'text painting', for example, through changes in
texture, tone, range, or volume to musically
mirror what the text is describing, used
particularly in madrigals |
| Madrileña (Sp.), Madrilène (Fr.) |
a dance from the province of Madrid |
| Maelzel |
the inventor of a mechanical metronome |
| Maestà, Maestade |
(Italian) majesty, dignity |
| Maestoso |
(Italian) majestic, dignified, noble |
| Maestro |
(Italian) master, teacher, conductor |
| Maeta |
`Are`are (Malaita, Solomon Islands) wood
blocks |
| Magadis |
(ancient Greece) a harp with 20 strings |
| Magadi vina |
a simple bamboo-stick zither. It's image may
be found on the walls of ancient temples. This
instrument appears to be the progenitor of
classical instruments such as the rudra vina.
Today this instrument is very rare |
| Maggiolata |
(Italian) a May song, a Spring song |
| Maggiore |
(Italian) major |
| Maggot |
a fancy |
| Magna |
(Italian) great |
| Magnificat |
since the fourteenth-century part of the
Roman Catholic vespers service, a setting of the
Biblical hymn of the Virgin Mary (as given in
St. Luke) |
| Magno |
(Italian) great |
| Magnus liber organi |
(Latin, literally 'great book of organum') a
collection of Notre Dame organa for special
occasions throughout the Church year believed
composed by Leonin with additions by Leonin's
pupil, Perotin |
| Magu |
Aboriginal Australian term for the
didjeridu |
| Mahabharata |
the story of the struggle between the five
Pandawa brothers, Yudistira, Bima, Arjuna,
Nakula and Sadewa, who rule the country of
Amarta and the hundred Korawa brothers of
Ngastina, led by Suyodana, Sakuni, Dorna and
Karna, the dissident half-brother to the
Pendawa, which ends with the disatrous battle
(Baratayuda) lasted eighteen days during which
the champions from each side face one another;
this story provides one of the subjects for
wayang
theatre |
| Mahagita |
(Burmese, literally 'the great or royal
songs') a rich source of songs from the days of
the Burmese kings (1800's). The Mahagita
contains many different song types of which the
Co, Bwe and Tahein ghan are
the oldest. In addition, there are the more
recent Patt Pyou songs, the Yodaya
songs modeled on a musical style drawn from the
Kingdom of Ayuthia in Thailand and many others;
songs that formed the basis of the repertoire of
the hsaing ensembles of Burma |
| Mahandja |
leg-rattles from Mozambique, made from
little packets of leaf fibres filled with seeds |
| Mailloche |
(French) stick of bass drum |
| Main, Mains |
(French) hand, hands; for example, main
gauche meaning 'left hand' or main droite
meaning 'right hand' |
| Mainstream |
twentieth-century music, in particular,
jazz, swing and pop; music that is currently
popular |
| Mais |
(French) but |
| Maître |
(French) master |
| Maîtrise |
a French choir school |
| Majestätisch |
(German) majestic, majestically |
| Majestueux, Majestueuse |
(French) majestic |
| Majestueusement |
(French) majestically |
| Majeur |
(French) major |
| Major triad |
see
triads |
| Major scale |
see
major scale |
| Makossa |
Cameroonian dance rhythm from the Duala
region; Cameroon's most popular pop style |
| Makusé |
Pygmy music designed to bring luck to a
hunting camp |
| Makuta |
large, barrel-shaped African drums |
| Mal |
(German) time, occasion |
| Malagueña |
a flamenco style, a variation of the
fandango |
| Malinconia, Malinconico |
(Italian) melancholy |
| Malizia |
(Italian) malice |
| Mallet |
a beater used to strike percussion
instruments, that has a cylindrical or spherical
head that comes in a variety of materials (soft
cloth or yarn - soft or hard rubber - woods of
varying hardness) to produce a wide range of
timbres |
| Mallet instruments |
tuned percussion instruments played with
mallets, for example, xylophone, glockenspiel,
marimba and vibraphone |
| Mambo |
Afro-Cuban dance in 4/4 time, with heavy
accents on two and four, internationally popular
in the 1940s |
| Mancando, Mancante |
(Italian) dying away |
| Mancanza |
(Italian) lack |
| Manchega |
a lively kind of seguidilla |
| Mandobass |
a rare bass mandolin |
| Mandocello |
a large mandolin, larger than a mandola
and tuned an octave below a mandolin. It's also
known as an 'octave mandolin'
more... |
| Mandola, Mandore |
a large mandolin, bearing six to eight
courses of strings, in use during the
Renaissance; a large mandolin that is tuned a
fifth below a standard mandolin |
| Mandolin, Mandoline |
(Italian) a lute-shaped instrument with four
to six pairs of strings, a fretted fingerboard
and played with a plectrum |
| Mandoliny |
homemade lutes from Madagascar |
| Mandolión |
synonym for bandoneón |
| Mandora |
Swedish string instrument, similar to a
mandolin |
| Mandore |
see mandora |
| Mangissa |
a popular Bayaka (Pygmy) dance form |
| Manguaré |
Colombian tuned log |
| Mani |
(Italian) hands |
| Manica |
(Italian) shift (on a fingerboard) |
| Manico |
(Italian) fingerboard |
| Manieren |
(German) ornaments, graces |
| Manjira |
a pair of tiny Indian cymbals |
| Männer |
(German) men |
| Mannerism |
aspects of Renaissance and Baroque music
such as 'madrigalism' and 'text painting', where
the music mirrors textual detail |
| Mannheim, Mannheim school |
in 1720, the court of the Elector Carl
Philipp moved from Heidelberg to Mannheim, where
the orchestra grew, larger than that of any of
the surrounding states, and included some of the
best performers of the day, including Jan Václav
Stamic (Stamitz) (1717-1757) who is regarded as
being the founder of the 'Mannheim school'.
Stamitz arrived in 1741/42 and became the
orchestra's director in 1750. The most notable
of the revolutionary techniques associated with
the Mannheim orchestra were its more independent
treatment of the wind instruments and its famous
whole-orchestra crescendo, a stark
contrast to the dynamics of baroque music which
allowed only for instantaneous changes from
forte to piano and back |
| Mannheim crescendo |
great crescendos and diminuendos
that ranged from pianissimo to
fortissimo |
| Mannheim rocket |
rapid upward arpeggio over a large
range, combined with a crescendo |
| Mannheim roll |
scale passages in measured tremolo,
combined with a crescendo |
| Mano, Mani |
(Italian) hand, hands; for example, mano
destra meaning 'right hand', mano
sinistra meaning 'left hand' |
| Mantra |
Buddhist invocations |
| Manual |
a keyboard played with the hands, for
example, on a harpsichord which can have two
manuals |
| Manualiter |
organ composition for the manual alone, that
is, without the pedals |
| Manuscript |
a document bearing the notation of a
composition, normally sheets of paper (or
parchment) with the composer's handwritten
notation of a composition |
| Manyanga |
a popular percussion instrument from Kenya |
| Maqam |
Arabic scale in which a whole piece may be
played |
| Maqrunah |
Tunisian and Libyan double reed pipe |
| Marabi |
South African 'three-chord' township music
of the 1930s-1960s, which evolved into 'African
jazz' |
| Maracas |
a gourd filled with beans or beads used in
Cuban dance-bands, generally used in pairs |
| Marcando, Marcato |
(Italian) marking, marked, accented |
| March |
instrumental music with a repeated and
regular rhythm such as might appropriately
accompany a marching group
more... |
| Marcha |
(Spanish) march |
| Marche |
(German) march |
| Märchen |
(German) tale, tales |
| Marching machine |
a rare, often home-made, percussion
instrument that simulates the sound of soldiers
marching, used by Morton Gould (1913-1996) and
Fisher Tull (1934-1994) |
| Marcia |
(Italian) march |
| Mariachi |
traditional Mexican ensemble popular
throughout the country, consisting of trumpets,
violins, guitar and bass guitar |
| Marian antiphon |
an antiphon for the Virgin Mary
more... |
| Marimba |
a xylophone-like percussion instrument
fitted with resonators and played with drum
sticks; a thumb piano or mbira |
| Markiert |
(German) marked, accented, emphasized |
| Marimbula |
see 'thumb piano' |
| Marinera |
Peruvian handkerchief dance |
| Marinera peruana |
flirting dance from Peru |
| Markig |
(German) vigorous |
| Marqué |
(French) marked, accented, emphasised |
| Marovana |
a rectangular, box-shaped cousin of the
valiha (Madagascar) |
| Marovany |
a box-shaped zither from Madagascar with
strings on both sides |
| Marrabenta |
a popular roots-based urban rhythm from
Mozambique |
| Marranzanu |
Sicilian Jew's harp, also known as
mariolu, ngannalarruni, and
nghinghilarruni. The marranzanu is
believed to have a North African origin |
| Marsch |
(German) march |
| Marteau |
(French) hammer |
| Martelé |
(French) hammered |
| Martellato |
(Italian) strongly marked, hammered |
| Martinique beguine |
popular ballroom dance of the island of St.
Lucia and Martinique, characterized by the
rocking back and forth of the hips wile the
woman throws her arms around her partner's neck.
His arms loosely clasp her about the waist |
| Martner |
after Knut Martner the cataloguer of music
by Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) |
| Maruga |
a metal rattle or shaker, often used in
groups which perform Cuban rumba |
| Marzas |
(Spanish) martial songs |
| Marziale |
(Italian) martial, in march style |
| Mascarade |
(French) a masque, a 'masked' ball |
| Mascherata |
(Italian) a sixteenth-century entertainment
with costumed, occasionally masked,
participants, usually members of the nobility
which commonly includes references to Greek and
Roman mythology |
| Maschinenpauken |
(German) mechanically tuned kettledrums |
| Masenko |
an Ethiopian 1-string fiddle, the typical
instrument used by an azmari or
entertaining bard |
| Masenqo |
see masenko |
| Masinko |
see masenko |
| Mask, Masque |
a ceremonial entertainment combining poetry,
music and dance |
| Masonic music |
music used in connection with the functions
of the freemasons |
| Masque |
an aristocratic sixteenth- and
seventeenth-century English theatre form
integrating poetry, dance, music, and elaborate
sets |
| Mass, Messe (French), Missa (Latin) |
the liturgy of the Eucharist, the central
service of the Roman Catholic Church. In the
Middle Ages, the Mass was chanted and this has
proved to be one of the chief sources of music
from that period that has survive to the
present. Many composers throughout European
history have set the Mass to music from the
early middle ages through to the present time.
There are two major categories of the items of
the Mass, the Proper, or the texts that are
variable, and the Ordinary, or the texts that
are fixed. The items of the Mass are as follows:
|
Typical Ordinary Mass
|
Typical Proper Mass
|
| |
Introit |
| Kyrie eleison |
Kyrie eleison |
| Gloria in excelsis Deo |
Gloria in excelsis Deo |
| |
Gradual |
| |
Alleluia Sequence |
| Credo |
Credo |
| |
Offertory |
| Sanctus Benedictus |
Sanctus Benedictus |
| Agnus Dei |
Agnus Dei |
| |
Communion |
| Ita missa est |
Ita missa est |
more...
|
| Mässig |
(German) moderate, moderately |
| Mässigen |
(German) to moderate |
| Massimo, Massima |
(Italian) the greatest |
| Massinko |
see masenko |
| Master of the King's (Queen's) Music |
Master of the Queen's Music (or Master of
the King's Music) is an official post associated
with the British Royal Court. The post is
comparable to that of Poet Laureate. His or her
duties are not clearly stated although the
holder of the post is expected to write music to
commemorate important royal events, such as
anniversaries, marriages and deaths, and to
accompany ceremonial occasions. The title was
created by Charles I as Master of the King's
Musick (a spelling which was used until the
appointment of Malcolm Williamson) and was first
given to Nicholas Lanier. At that time the
holder of the post took charge of the monarch's
private band. Holders of the post are or have
been:
Nicholas Lanier (1625-49 and 1660-66)
Louis Grabu (1666-74)
Nicholas Staggins (1674-1700)
John Eccles (1700-35)
Maurice Greene (1735-55)
William Boyce (1755-79)
John Stanley (1779-86)
William Parsons (1786-1817)
William Shield (1817-29)
Christian Kramer (1829-34)
Franz Cramer (1834-48)
George Frederick Anderson (1848-70)
William George Cusins (1870-93)
Walter Parratt (1893-1924)
Edward Elgar (1924-34)
Walford Davies (1934-41)
Arnold Bax (1942-52)
Arthur Bliss (1953-75)
Malcolm Williamson (1975-2003)
Peter Maxwell-Davies (2004- current) |
| Matassins, Mattachins |
the dance also called Bouffons, a
staged sword fight |
| Matelotte |
(French) a sailor's hornpipe |
| Matepe mbira |
an mbira with thin keys that range in
number from 29 to 34 |
| Matins |
(Latin, from matuninus meaning 'early
morning') the first service of the Divine
Office, usually performed at 3:00 a.m., that
consists of several responsories and psalms
which are sung |
| Matouqin |
see matuqin |
| Matraca |
Spanish ratchet |
| Matracca |
Italian ratchet |
| Matsuribue |
Japanese festival flute |
| Mattinata |
(Italian) a morning song, aubade |
| Matuqin |
a bowed lute adorned with a horse head at
the top of the instrument (China and Mongolia) |
| Maulidi |
a dance from Bushehr (Iran), performed
around the birthday of the prophet Mohammed,
where the dancers sit in a circle and move their
upper torsos in rhythm, gradually entering into
a state of trance |
| Maultrommel |
(German) Jew's harp |
| Maung hsaing |
(Burmese) a set of bronze gongs, lower and
more mellow in tone than those of the kyi
waing, set in a rectangular frame |
| Mauresco (It.), Mauresque (Fr.) |
Moorish |
| Mawwal |
the emotional melodic beginning to an Arabic
song that is sung or spoken over a slow
instrumental section before breaking into the
fast-moving main body of the composition |
| Maxima |
 |
duplex long, one of the symbols in
early Medieval mensural notation
|
|
| Maxixe |
a vigorous Brazilian dance in simple duple
time |
| Mayan or Central American bird whistle |
a clay whistle found throughout Mexico,
Central America and northern South America, that
are made in the shape of animals or birds
more... |
| Mayuri vina |
defined by its peacock shaped body, even the
word mayur means 'peacock'. This
instrument is of the same class as the
dilruba and the esraj. Like the other
members of this family, the differences are so
slight that one may move from one instrument to
another with ease. However, unlike the esraj
and the dilruba, this instrument is
nearly extinct |
| Mazhar |
a very large bass tambourine (North Africa
and Middle East) |
| Mazurka |
a moderately fast, triple-time, traditional
dance from Poland originally sung and danced,
especially popular in England during the
eighteenth- and nineteenth-centuries,in which
the couples follow the leader in circular
formation around the room |
| Mbaire |
a large xylophone from Busoga (Uganda). It
is comprised of twenty large keys arranged in a
pentatonic scale and played by six people |
| M'bal |
a shorter version of the n'der drum
of the Wolof (Senegal) |
| Mbalax |
modernised Senegalese (Wolof) percussion
music, characterized by a combination of
Afro-Cuban rhythms, Wolof drumming and American
pop music |
| Mbaqanga |
a popular dance music style from the South
African townships, its roots dating back to the
1930s, when Zulu and Sotho music were combined
with African-American styles. It became very
popular in the 1960s and 1970s and is also known
as 'township jive' |
| Mbela |
a musical bow composed of an arched branch
and a string cut from a vine. The string is
stretched between the two ends of the branch and
held in front of the half-open mouth. When
struck with a thin stick, the string produces a
fairly faint single note to bring out another
note, the player then touches it with a blade.
The mouth cavity, acting as a natural resonator
of varying shape and volume, amplifies and
modulates the tones (Central African Republic) |
| Mbira |
also known as sanza or thumb piano,
the mbira is a unique kind of tuned
percussion instrument, found primarily in the
Shona culture of Zimbabwe, on which one produces
sound by plucking thin strips or tongues of
metal, wood or cane with the thumbs and fingers.
The strips are attached to a gourd resonator or
wooden box, often with sound holes and,
sometimes, jingles or beads are added to the
keys to create a rich, buzzing tone. The pitch
of each key may be altered by fixing wax to its
free end, or by increasing or decreasing its
length
more... |
| Mbuat |
a free-reed mouth organ of the Meo (Hmong)
people of Vietnam
more... |
| Mbube |
(literally 'lion') an a cappella
choral singing style of South African Zulus,
featuring call and response patterns, close-knit
harmonies and syncopation |
| M'bung m'bung bal, M'bung m'bung tungoné |
a shorter bass version of the n'der,
used to play the accompanying rhythm in a
sabar drum set (Senegal) |
| M.D. |
main droite (Fr.), mano destra
(It.) - right hand on the piano |
| Me |
the lowered third degree of a major scale;
in 'fixed do' solfeggio, me is always the
note 'E-flat' |
| Meane |
in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century
England, the middle voice of a composition,
between the treble and tenor; the middle voice
of a three voice keyboard composition |
| Meantone scale |
see
meantone scale |
| Measure |
bar; English term of the Renaissance and
Baroque eras signifying a group of dance steps
that could be performed to one strain of dance
music |
| Medesimo |
(Italian) same |
| Medial cadence |
medial, meaning 'middle'; an inconclusive
cadence commonly marking the end of the first
musical section in a multi-sectional piece |
| Mediant |
the third degree of the scale, so called
because it is midway between the first degree of
the scale (the tonic) and the fifth degree of
the scale (the dominant) |
| Medieval |
pertaining to the Middle Ages |
| Mediaeval dance |
the Middle Ages are a period for which there
are no known extant choreographies. There is,
however, ample music that clearly is for dance.
Several researchers and practitioners have made
credible new choreographies to suit this music
[taken from
The Early Dance Circle] |
| Medley |
a potpourri of melodies taken from other
compositions and strung together |
| Mehr |
(German) more, many |
| Mehrere |
(German) several |
| Meistergesang |
(German) a songwriting and performance
tradition found in the Germany of the Middle
Ages and early Renaissance |
| Meistersinger |
(German) a guild of German musicians of the
Medieval and Renaissance who saw themselves as
heirs to an earlier aristocratic Minnesinger
tradition then in decline, and who relied on the
guild for their professional status |
| Meleket |
a long Ethiopian trumpet without finger
holes |
| Melic |
(Greek) of or pertaining to song; lyric;
tuneful |
| Melic composition |
a musical composition relating to song |
| Melisma |
(Greek) in vocal music, where one syllable
is set over more than one note, in practise,
eight or more notes |
| Melismatic |
a work containing a number of melismas and
where the setting uses several notes on most, if
not all, the syllables of the text |
| Melismatic organum |
florid or Acquitainian organum (q.v.) |
| Melodeon |
button keyed accordion with ten keys, giving
a twenty-note diatonic range. In England this
term includes all button-keyed accordions. In
Ireland and Scotland it is more specific to the
one row 10-keyed variety
more... |
| Melodic minor scale |
see
melodic minor |
| Mélodie |
(French) melody, song; the French equivalent
of German Lied |
| Melodion |
a keyboard instrument invented by J. C.
Dietz of Emmerich in 1806 in which the sounds
were produced by pressing graduated steel bars
against a rotating cylinder |
| Melodious |
music with a pleasing melody |
| Melodrama |
a dramatic work with music where the
dialogue is spoken; often applied to scenes in
opera characterised in this way |
| Melody |
the horizontal dimension in music, where the
vertical dimension arises from the harmony
more... |
| Meloneras |
Spanish dance from Daimiel. They are
variation of the seguidillas manchegas
and are danced by two or four couples at a slow
pace, accompanied by castanets |
| Mélopée |
(French) the art of composing songs |
| Melos |
(Greek) a term used by Richard Wagner
(1813-83) to denote vocal progressions in some
of his operas that do not have the form or unity
of regular melodies |
| Membranophone |
an instrument that produces sound through
the vibration of a stretched membrane, one of
two forms, the drum and the mirliton |
| Même |
(French) same |
| Men |
(Italian) less |
| Menestrelle |
female minstrel |
| Meno |
(Italian) less |
| Meno mosso |
(Italian) less movement, slower |
| Mensural notation |
see
History of Music Notation |
Menuet (Fr.), Menuett (Ger.)
Menuetto (supposedly It.) |
minuet; German composers used menuetto
believing it to be the Italian word for minuet -
in fact the correct word in minuetto |
| Mento |
the most popular native dance of Jamaica,
which resembles a Cuban rumba, played in
slow tempo |
| Merengue |
a spirited dance style from the Dominican
Republic that is normally accompanied by a small
accordion, a two headed drum called the
tambora, and a singer who plays the güiro
(scraper) |
| Messa di voce |
(Italian) a crescendo and a
diminuendo on a single sustained note |
| Messa per i defunti |
(Italian) requiem mass |
| Messe |
(French) mass |
| Messe des morts |
(French) requiem mass |
| Messing |
(German) brass |
| Mesto, Mestoso |
(Italian) mournful, sad |
| Mestizia |
(Italian) sadness |
| Mesure |
(French) measure, beat, time |
| Metà |
(Italian) half |
| Metallophone |
usually an instrument that produces sound by
means of metal bars that vibrate when struck by
mallets |
| Metamorphosis of themes |
Liszt's term for leitmotif (q.v.) |
| Meter, Metre |
the organisation of music or verse into
units of accented and unaccented beats, for
example, duple time alternates accented and
unaccented beats, while triple time, an accented
beat is follwed by two unaccented beats
more... |
| Meter signature |
time signature |
| Metrical psalmody |
see
metrical psalmody |
| Metric modulation |
also called 'tempo modulation', the method
of changing tempos precisely by making some note
value in the first tempo equal to a different
note value (or at least a different proportion
of the beat) in the second tempo, used first by
Elliott Carter (b. 1908) |
| Metronome |
a mechanical or electronic device for
establishing the tempo of a piece of music |
| Mettere (It.), Mettre (Fr.) |
to put |
| Mettez |
(French) put! |
| Mey |
the Turkish name for the Armenian duduk |
| Mezoved |
North African bagpipe |
| Mezza, Mezzo |
(Italian) half, medium; for example, mezzo
soprano, a female voice lying between soprano
and contralto |
| Mezza voce |
(Italian, literally 'half voice') sing in a
quiet, restrained manner |
| Mezzo forte (abbr. mf), Mezzo piano
(abbr. mp) |
(Italian) halfway between forte and
piano (loud and soft) |
| Mezzo-soprano clef |
see
mezzo-soprano clef |
| mf |
see mp |
| M.G. |
main gauche (Fr.) - left hand on the piano |
| Mi |
the third note of the major scale; in 'fixed
do' solfeggio, mi is always the note 'E' |
| Mich. |
after Helga Schölz-Michelitsch the
cataloguer of music by Georg Christoph Wagenseil
(1715-1777) |
| Mi contra fa |
(Italian) tritone |
| Micro-groove recording |
pre-1940 records were made using shellac,
but after World War II, the availability of
polyvinyl chloride PVC), a flexible, more
durable and less expensive plastic, allowed
engineers to increase the density of grooves on
the records surface to 100/centimetre (the
narrower grooves were called 'micro-grooves').
This new technique, combined with PVC's
excellent mechanical properties, allowed for a
greater fidelity (greater frequency response and
dynamic range) and so the rotation speed could
be reduced (from 78 rpm to 33 1/3 rpm) so
extending the 'playing time' to approximately 25
minutes |
| Micropolyphony |
twentieth-century technique encompassing the
complex interweaving of all musical elements,
not just melody |
| Microtones |
intervals smaller than a semitone (a half
step) |
| Microtonal music |
music which makes use of intervals smaller
than a semitone (a half step) |
| Middle ages |
a period, from about 500 AD until about 1430
AD, that is sometimes divided into two, (i) the
early middle ages (500-1100), and (ii) the late
middle ages or Gothic period (1100-1450) |
| Middle C |
see
Why Middle C? |
| Middle eight |
see 'release' |
| Middle voice |
a classically trained female voice has up to
three registers, the chest voice, middle voice
and head voice, each characterised by a
different tone quality and distinct sensations
felt by the singer when she is singing |
| MIDI |
an acronym for Musical Instrument
Digital Interface. MIDI is a
specification for the types of control signals
that can be sent from one electronic music
device to another
more... |
| Midjweh, Midjwiz |
a folk clarinet found in the Nile region of
Egypt that has versions found throughout the
Mediterranean Near East and even as far away as
western China. It is generally made from cane,
and has two pipes of the same length, each
containing a reed and toneholes
more... |
| Mi gaung |
Burmese three stringed instrument in the
shape of a crocodile |
| Mih |
Croatian reed instrument similar to a
bagpipe but without a drone. Also known as
diple and mjeh |
| Mihbaj |
a Bedouin coffee-grinder made of wood. It
has a base that is about 30 cm. tall and a 60
cm. pestle |
| Mjeh |
see mih |
| Mijwiz |
Lebanese double reed pipe |
| Milieu |
(French) middle |
| Militaire (Fr.), Militare (It.), Militär |
military |
| Militärtrommel |
(German) side drum |
| Military band |
a regimental band made up of woodwind, brass
and percussion, a description that can also be
applied to civilian marching bands |
| Milk jug |
percussion instrument used by Hungarian
Gypsy musicians |
| Milonga |
Argentine country dance derived from the
Spanish milonga; Spanish dance first
originated in Andalusia |
| Minaccevole, Minaccevolmente, Minacciando |
(Italian) menacing, menacingly, in a
menacing manner |
| Mina y curbata |
a set of one-headed Afro-Venezuelan barrel
drums made from avocado wood. The mina
drum is about 2 metres long and is played
diagonally, hitting it with sticks. The
curbata is about 1 metre long and it is also
played with sticks |
| Minder |
(German) less |
| Mineur |
(French) minor |
| Minim |
 |
a half note, a note half the value
of a semibreve (whole note)
|
|
| Minima |
 |
in mensural notation, equivalent to
a minim
|
|
| Minimalism |
see
minimalism |
| Minimal process |
repetitive process on a small number of
elements, for example, In C by Terry
Riley (b. 1935) or Koyanisqatsi by
Phillip Glass (b. 1937) |
| Minim rest |
 |
a half rest, a rest half the value
of a semibreve rest (whole rest)
|
|
| Minne |
(German) love |
| Minnelied |
(German) see spruch |
| Minnelieder |
(German) German vernacular love songs of the
twelfth- to fifteenth centuries, generally in
two sections, the first repeated, the second not |
| Minnesang |
(German) courtly and secular music in
Medieval Germany, cultivated by the nobility
although similar in many ways to the troubadour
tradition, focussing on the idea of 'courtly
love' or Minnedienst, the loyality and
devotion of a knight to an unattainable lady
more...
|
| Minnesinger |
a medieval poet-musician, usually from the
upper classes, of the Minnesang
tradition, active in Germany between c. 1150 and
ca. 1325, the better known coming from Austria
and Bavaria |
| Minore |
(Italian) minor |
| Minor triad |
see
triads |
| Minor scale |
three scales, the natural minor scale, the
harmonic minor scale and the melodic minor
scale, all having the interval of a minor third
between the first and third degrees of the scale
more... |
| Minsok-ak |
(Korean) folk music |
| Minstrel |
entertainer who covered a wide range of
activities from light farce to the performance
of serious song - also, troubadour, trouvère,
Minnesinger, mastersinger, jongleur |
| Minstrel harp |
see 'celtic harp' |
| Minstrel show |
the minstrel show of the mid- to
late-nineteenth-century United States included
performers who sang songs and danced dances
mimicking blacks (African-Americans) with banjo
and percussion accompaniment, the performers
being both black and white dressed in black-face |
| Minuet |
a graceful French dance in simple triple
time often appearing as a section of extended
works (e.g. dance suites) of the seventeenth-
and eighteenth-centuries
more... |
| Minuel and trio |
an A-B-A form (A=minuet;
B=trio) in a moderate triple meter that
is often the third movement of the Classical
sonata cycle |
| Minuetto |
(Italian) minuet |
| Minyo |
Japanese folk songs |
| Miracle plays |
the use of drama to tell biblical stories,
also: Mysteries, Moralities |
| Mirliton |
a membranophone in which a freely vibrating
membrane distorts the sound used to excite it,
for example, the kazoo |
| Mirror |
a term used to describe a part appearing
upside down, which if set directly below the
original part it would appear like the other
reflected in a mirror lying between the two
lines |
| Mise |
(French) putting |
| Miserere |
psalm of supplication sung in the Roman
Office for the Dead and during Holy Week |
| Misnice |
bagpipe from Dalmatia (Croatia) and
Herzegovina (Bosnia-Herzegovina), made of
goatskin. The chanter is a double pipe with six
holes on each side. One pipe is used as the
drone and occasionally fingered, the other side
used for the tune, in nearly the same register
as the drone |
| Missa |
(Italian) mass |
| Missa brevis |
(Latin, literally 'short mass') a concise
setting of the mass; a setting of the Kyrie
and Gloria only |
| Missal |
a book of the Church containing all the
texts and musical notation necessary for the
celebration of the Mass |
| Missa pro defunctis |
(Italian) requiem mass |
| Missa solemnis |
(Italian) high mass |
| Mistero, Misterio, Misterioso |
(Italian) mystery, mysteriously |
| Mistico |
(Italian) mystic |
| Misura |
(Italian) measure, bar; also 'strict time'
see misurato |
| Misurato |
(Italian) measured; i.e. 'in strict time' |
| Mit |
(German) with |
| Mitbadj |
see mitbaq |
| Mitbaq |
Iraqi double reed pipe |
| Mitleidig |
(German) pitiful |
| Mitte |
(German) middle |
| Mixed chorus, Mixed voices |
a choir formed of both adult male and adult
female voices |
| Mixolydian mode |
see
modes |
| Mixture |
although parallel major and minor scales
have the same tonic, their pitch content is
different. Since these scales share the same
tonics, the same scale degree numbers and
consequently the same or nearly the same
function can be assigned to pitches with
different names. For example, E natural and Eb
are both scale degree 3 in C major and C minor,
respectively. Since these pitches share the same
functional name, they can substitute for one
another. Eb can appear in a piece in C major and
still function as scale degree three and vice
versa. The introduction of pitches from the
parallel scale is called mixture. The minor mode
has a kind of built in mixture, since you can
always introduce the sixth and seventh scales
degrees from the parallel major. Composers have
used mixture for a variety of reasons |
| Miya-daiko |
Japanese shrine or temple drum |
| Mizmar |
Arabic wind instrument with single or double
reed, similar to an oboe |
| Mizwid |
a bagpipe played in the central regions of
Tunisia |
| Mjersnice |
see miesnice |
| Mobile |
(Italian) changeable |
| Modal |
pertaining to modes |
| Modal rhythm |
a description applied to a passage or piece
of music following one of the rhythmic patterns
called 'rhythmic modes'
more... |
| Mode |
see
modes |
| Moderato (It.), Modéré (Fr.) |
moderate (speed) |
| Modern music |
music contempory with the present
generations |
| Modified strophic form |
song structure that combines elements of
strophic and through-composed forms, a variation
of strophic form in which a section might have a
new key, rhythm, or varied melodic pattern |
| Modinha |
sentimental Brazilian dance directly derived
from the Portuguese songs and dances of that
name |
| Modo |
(Italian) manner, mode |
| Modulate, Modulation |
change of key; in electronic music, the term
is applied to a change of frequency, amplitude,
etc. through the use of electronics |
| Modus |
see
mensuration |
| Möglich |
(German) possible |
| Mohr |
after Wilhelm Mohr the cataloguer of music
by César Franck (1822-1890) |
| Moins |
(French) less |
| Moitié |
(French) half |
| Moll |
(German) minor (reference to key) |
| Molle, Mollemente |
(Italian) gentle, gently |
| Molto |
(Italian) much |
| Monochord |
an ancient instrument used for performing
and teaching as well as tuning and
experimentation, the monochord is said to have
been invented by Pythagoras. It consists of a
single string stretched between two fixed
bridges, while a third, movable bridge is so
placed between the two fixed bridges as to
divide the whole string into two parts both
being able to vibrate independently. It is then
possible to relate musical intervals to the
ratio of their sounding lengths which is what
the ancient Greeks did |
| Monodrama |
a melodrama for one character |
| Monody |
a musical composition with only a single
melody line which may have an accompaniment |
| Monophonic, Monophony |
a musical composition that has only a single
melody line, regardless of the number of voices
or instruments in the performance, and has no
accompaniment |
| Monothematic |
a composition based on a single theme |
| Monotone |
a single sustained, unvarying tone, or a
succession of notes of the same tone; liturgical
texts are sometimes recited to a monotone |
| Monter |
(French) to raise |
| Montez |
(French) raise! |
| Montuno |
the call and response section of salsa,
between the lead singer and chorus |
| Moon mandolin |
see yue qin |
| Moqueur |
(French) mocking, waggish |
| Moraharpa |
Medieval ancestor to the Swedish
nyckelharpa, still played today |
| Morality play |
Medieval drama, often with music, intended
to teach proper values |
| Morasco |
moresca |
| Morbido, Morbidezza |
(Italian) 'soft' or 'gentle', 'softness' or
'gentleness' |
| Morceau |
(French) piece |
| Mordent |
see
mordents |
| Morendo |
(Italian) dying away |
| Moresca |
a Renaissance dance simulating a battle
between the Moors and the Christians involving
elaborate makeup and costume |
| Morgenlied |
morning song, aubade |
| Morin huur, Morin khurr |
sometimes called the horse-head fiddle, it
is a bowed string instrument with a trapezoid
body. It normally has the wooden head of a horse
at the top of the neck, and its strings are made
of horsehair |
| Mor khaen |
(Laotian) khaen player |
| Mor lam |
(Laotion) a instrumental band, often
including a khaen |
| Mormorando, Mormorante, Mormorevole,
Mormoroso |
(Italian) murmuring |
| Morna |
a melancholic and soulful genre from Cape
Verde, often sung in Creole-Portuguese,
accompanied by the acoustic guitar,
cavaquinho, violin, accordion and clarinet |
| Morris dance |
a folk dance genre, dating back to the
seventeenth-century, traditionally performed by
men, and usually to pipe and tabor
accompaniment; the women's equivalent genre was
the clog dance |
| Morsing |
Jew's harp from southern India |
| Mosso |
(Italian) moving, animated |
| Motet |
(1) to c. 1400, a piece with one or more
voices, often with different but related sacred
or secular texts, singing over a fragment of
chant in longer note-values; (2) after 1400, a
polyphonic setting of a short sacred text
more...
|
| Motetus |
the line immediately above the tenor in an
early two-part motet, sometimes called the
'duplum' |
| Motif (Fr.), Motiv (Ger.), Motivo (It.),
Motive (Eng.) |
the smallest identifiable self-existent
element of melody or rhythm |
| Motion |
the progress of a melody can be described in
terms of various types of 'motion'.
| conjunct motion: |
a single melody moving by a step |
| contrary motion: |
two melodies moving in opposite
directions |
| disjunct motion: |
a single melody moving by a leap |
| parallel motion: |
two melodies moving so that the
interval between them remains the same |
| similar motion: |
two melodies moving in the same
direction |
|
| Moto |
(Italian) motion, for example, con moto
meaning 'rather quicker' |
| Moto perpetuo |
(Italian) perpetuum mobile,
continuous movement |
| Moto precedente |
(Italian) the same speed as before |
| Motteggiando |
(Italian) bantering |
| Motto theme |
music that recurs and develops in the form
of a quotation |
| Mouth harp |
harmonica |
| Mouth music |
unaccompanied Scottish singing performed at
dances |
| Mouth organ |
see 'harmonica' |
| Mouthpiece |
the part of a wind instrument that is placed
in, on, or by the performer's mouth |
| Mouvement |
(French) movement |
| Mouvementé |
(French) bustling, animated |
| Movable clef |
clefs, such as the 'C' and 'G' clefs, which,
to facilitate writing the notes on the staff
rather than having to resort to ledger lines,
can be moved, for example, French violin clef |
| Movable do |
in solmization, do is the syllable
given to the first degree of the scale. Movable
do means that do is the name given
to the first degree of the scale in the key at
that particular point in the composition. This
is in contrast to a fixed do where,
whatever the key of the piece, do always
represents the pitch of the note 'C' |
| Movement |
a self-contained section from a symphony,
suite, sonata, concerto, etc. |
| Movente |
(Italian) moving |
| Movimento |
(Italian) motion, impulse |
| Moxenos |
family of three wooden flutes of variable
size (large, medium and small) that are always
played simultaneously |
| mp, mf |
(Italian) mezzo piano, mezzo forte
- halfway between piano and forte
('soft' and 'loud') |
| Mridangam |
double-headed barrel-shaped drum used in
Carnatic (South Indian) classical music. It is
played across the lap and legs while in a
sitting position |
| Mrudangam |
see mridangam |
| MS |
reference to the catalogue of music by
Johann Melchior Molter (1696-1765) prepared by
Hafner |
| M.S. |
abbreviation of mano sinistra (It.) -
left hand on the piano |
| Mudbedsh |
Iraqi reed instrument |
| Müde |
(German) tired, languid |
| Muezzin |
the man who calls the Muslims to prayer |
| Muffle |
to reduce the sound of an instrument, for
example, on a drum, by placing a cloth over the
drumhead |
| Mugo-chum |
(Korean) court dance employing a drum |
| Mühelos |
(German) effortless |
| Muiñeira, Muñeira |
a Spanish jig in compound duple time |
| Mukkuri |
a tension jaw harp of the Ainu people of
Hokkaido Island in Northern Japan made from wood
and with a thick tongue
more... |
| Multimetric |
music in which there are changing meters
(time signatures); 4/4 to 5/8 to 6/8, for
example, Stravinsky's La Sacre du Printemps |
| Multiphonics |
performing two or more tones simultaneously
on an instrument or with the voice, both used
normally to produce only one tone at a time |
| Multiple stopping |
performing two or more notes simultaneously
on a violin, etc. |
| Mundharmonika |
(German) mouth organ, harmonica |
| Muñeira |
(Spanish) muiñeira |
| Muñeres |
(Spanish) traditional jigs from Asturias |
| Munggang |
see laras |
| Munnharpe |
Norwegian Jew's harp |
| Munter |
(German) lively |
| Murciana |
a type of fandango |
| Murali |
double clarinet with a wind chamber (India) |
| Murchang |
a Jew's harp from Rajasthan & parts of North
India |
| Murky |
a keyboard playing style where the bass
consists of quick alternating octaves rather
than slower, longer notes, in either case, the
progression would have been the same |
| Murmelnd (Ger.), Murmurando (It.) |
murmuring |
| Muscadin |
a type of hornpipe |
| Muses |
the Nine Muses are the Greek goddesses of
inspiration, learning, the arts, and culture.
According to Hesiod's Theogony, Zeus lay
with Mnemosyne (Memory) for nine days,
and she gave birth to the Muses, who rejoice in
their bright dancing places on Mount Helicon,
"nine voices united in one song". Their
companions are the Graces and Desire, and their
leader is Apollo, the god of music and harmony.
| Name |
Meaning of Name |
Domain |
Symbols |
| Calliope |
The Fair Voiced |
Epic Poetry |
Writing Tablet |
| Clio |
The Proclaimer |
History |
Scroll |
| Erato |
The Lovely |
Love Poetry |
Lyre |
| Euterpe |
The Giver of Pleasure |
Music |
Flute |
| Melpomene |
The Songstress |
Tragedy |
Tragic Mask |
| Polyhymnia |
She of Many Hymns |
Sacred Poetry |
Pensive Look |
| Terpsichore |
The Whirler |
Dancing |
Dancing with Lyre |
| Thalia |
The Flourishing |
Comedy |
Comic Mask |
| Urania |
The Heavenly |
Astronomy |
Celestial Globe |
|
| Musette |
(French) French bellows blown bagpipe with 2
small cylindrical keyed chanters, and a shuttle
drone; a gavotte with a persistent bass drone
imitating the bagpipe; a shawm; an air with
drones in imitation of the sound of the bagpipe |
| Musette bechonnet |
bagpipe from the High Loire (France) |
| Music |
(Greek, from mousike, literally 'the
art of the muses') organised sound |
| Musica falsa, Music ficta |
the sharpening or flattening of notes
prescribed or permitted in modal music for the
purpose of avoiding certain intervals, harmonies
or whatever |
| Musica figurata |
(Italian) contrapuntal music in which time
values are not common through the voices as it
would be in 'note against note' counterpoint,
decorated plainsong |
| Música jibara |
typical Puerto Rican music |
| Música norteña |
northern Mexican popular music |
| Musica parlante |
(Italian) recitative |
| Musica reservata |
serious music |
| Musical |
a popular successor to musical comedy, the
first of which was Showboat
more |
| Musical bow |
an instrument formed of a curved wooden
staff and a gourd shaped resonator with a single
string
more... |
| Musical comedy |
a play with songs and music, catchy, comic
and romantic |
| Musical glasses |
a wine glass filled with water or sand which
is set to produce a musical sound when a
dampened finger is rubbed at an appropriate
speed, and with an appropriate pressure, around
the lip |
| Musical periods |
the periods when Western music was written
are arranged according to the following
convention:
| Mediaeval |
500-1450 |
| Renaissance |
1450-1600 |
| Baroque |
1600-1750 |
| Classical |
1750-1820 |
| Romantic |
1810-1910 |
| Twentieth century |
1900-present |
| Modern |
1945-present |
These dates should be taken only as a guide
because different styles became fashionable in
different countries at different times |
| Musical play |
light stage entertainment that has become
the 'musical' |
| Musical saw |
a wood-saw that when played with a violin
bow will produce musical tones |
| Musical switch |
a medley of popular tunes |
| Music box |
a mechanical device, powered by clockwork,
invented at the end of the eighteenth-century,
in which a rotating cylinder fitted with
suitably placed protruding pins, pluck the teeth
of a chromatically tuned metal comb |
| Music drama |
a term used by Richard Wagner (1813-83) for
opera that includes leitmotif and the melding of
scenery, costume, libretti, music and drama, a
kind of 'total opera' |
| Musico |
a castrato |
| Music of the spheres |
an ancient doctrine originating with the
Greeks that implies that the universe and
everything in it is in harmony |
| Musicology |
the study of music exluding the arts of
performance and composition |
| Music theatre, Music theater |
since the 1960's, a simpler form of staged
drama, better suited to the concert platform |
| Music therapy |
the use of music to cure or to bring
physical or psychological relief |
| Musikwissenschaft |
(German) musicology |
| Musique concrète |
(French) electrically combined sounds
derived from natural sources rather than musical
instruments, a term coined by Peter (Pierre)
Schaeffer in 1948 |
| Musukitarra |
Basque Jew’s harp |
| Muta |
(Italian, literally 'change') a direction to
the timpanist to change tuning or to a wind
instrumentalist to change instrument |
| Mutano |
(Italian) change |
| Mutate, Mutation |
to shift from one hexachord to another,
relaying on a pivot pitch, so D sol in
the hexachord on G could become D re in
the hexachord on C |
| Mutchinga |
medium drum from Mozambique |
| Mute |
a device to reduce or eliminate the sound
coming from an instrument, a person who cannot
speak (i.e. is dumb) |
| Mute cornett |
a variety of the zink or cornett,
particularly favored in Germany, it was
constructed as a straight, tapered, one-piece
instrument which was turned on a lathe and,
instead of having a detachable mouthpiece, a
tiny conical recess was cut into the top to
serve as the mouthpiece. There are holes in the
body for fingering similar to recorders. Its
narrow bore of the mute cornett gives it an
exquisitely soft sound and makes it ideal in
consorts with softer instruments like recorders,
lutes, and viols
more |
| Muth, Mut |
(German) courage, boldness |
| Muthig, Mutig |
(German) bold |
| Muwashhah |
a classical musical form from the Andalusian
school in Medieval Moorish Spain |
| Muye |
a tree leaf or leaf reed (Chinese) |
| Muyu |
Chinese fish-shaped woodblock |
| MvA |
after Erich H. Müller von Asow the
cataloguer of the music of Richard Strauss
(1864-1949) |
| MWV |
Molter-Werke-Verzeichnis catalogue of
the works of Johann Melchior Molter (1696-1765)
by Hafner |
| Myin gin |
(Burmese) musical composition, originally
associated with the court, to which horses were
taught to dance |
| Mysteriös |
(German) mysterious |
