| Nacaire |
(French) a brass drum with a loud, metalic sound,
once much used in France and Italy |
| Nach |
(German) after |
| Nachahmung |
(German) imitation |
| Nach belieben |
(German) ad libitum |
| Nachdruck, Nachdrücklich |
(German) emphasis, emphatic |
| Nachgehend |
(German) following |
| Nachlassend |
(German) slackening speed |
| Nachschlag |
the two notes that sometimes terminate a trill, a
supplementary note that placed after a main note,
'steals' time from it |
| Nachspiel |
(German) postlude |
| Nachtanz |
(German, literally 'after dance') the second of two
contrasting dances, normally a quick dance following a
slower one |
| Nachtmusik |
serenade, for example, Mozart's Eine Kleine
Nachtmusik |
| Nachstück |
(German) nocturne |
| Nach und nach |
(German) 'bit by bit', 'little by little', gradually |
| Nach wie vor |
(German) 'as before' , 'as previously' |
| Nadales |
the name given to Christmas songs in Catalonia and
Galicia (Spain) |
| Nadaswaram |
a South Indian version of the shehnai, it is
also called nagaswaram. It is substantially
larger than the shehnai and has a simple double
reed rather than the more complex quadruple reed. It is
considered an auspicious instrument and is found at
temples and at weddings. It is normally accompanied by a
sur peti, ottu and a tavil. There
is a smaller version of the nadaswaram which is
played in folk music and is known as the mukhavina |
| Naenia (Latin), Nenia (It.) |
dirge |
| Nagado-daiko |
long-bodied Japanese drum |
| Nagahk |
(Korean) a low toned, whistle-like instrument,
introduced to Korea from the Ming dynasty, made of
shells
|
| Nagauta |
(Japanese, also called 'long song') Japanese
classical music form derived from kabuki |
| Naghmeh |
see naymeh |
| Nagkula |
a simple Indian bamboo-stick zither |
| Nahbal |
(Korean) a one-note Korean brass instrument
more... |
| Nahe |
(German) near |
| Nai |
Romanian panpipes, 20 pipes each of different length
and diameter, set in a row |
| Naïf, Naïve |
(French) artless |
| Naïvement |
(French) artlessly |
| Nakers |
small Medieval kettledrums used mainly for marital
music, but also for processionals, dance music and
ensemble music |
| Nallari |
see taepyongso |
| Nämlich |
(German) the same, namely |
| Nana |
Spanish lullaby |
| Nangara |
an Indian two-piece drum played with sticks |
| Nao |
a pair of large Chinese cymbals |
| Ñaøn baàu |
an instrument consisting of a trapezoidal wooden
resonator, on which is stretched a brass string.
Fastened at one end to a peg and at the other to a
flexible bamboo plate, the string passes again and again
through a gourd shaped wooden amplifier. The thin bamboo
plate is used to modulate of pitch |
| Napolitana (It.), Napolitaine (Fr.) |
a light madrigal of Neapolitan origin |
| Naqqara |
North African kettledrums played in pairs |
| Naqqarat |
see naqqara |
| Naqus |
small Egyptian cymbals |
| Narimono |
Japanese term for small, handheld percussion
instruments |
| Narrante |
(Italian) in a declamatory manner |
| Naso, Nasetto |
(Italian) point (or tip) of a bow |
| National anthems |
songs, usually anthems, fanfares, marches, or hymns,
that are used as national symbols, the earliest being
the British, God Save the Queen |
| Nationalism, Nationalist |
music identified with a particular nation, in
particular that inspired by folk music, a term applied
to certain nineteenth-century composers |
| Natural |
a note neither sharpened nor flattened |
| Natural |
 |
the sign placed before a note that is
neither sharpened or flattened
|
|
| Naturale (It.), Natürlich (Ger.) |
in a natural (or normal) manner, for example,
without using the mute |
| Natural horn |
a valveless horn |
| Natural keys |
keys whose signature contains neither sharps nor
flats, i.e. C major and A minor |
| Natural minor scale |
see
natural minor scale |
| Natural trumpet |
the predominant form of trumpet from c. 1500 - c.
1840, the natural trumpet consisted of a bell and
between six to ten feet of tubing, without valves
more... |
| Navarraise |
a Spanish dance originating from Navarre |
| Navidás |
(Spanish) Christmas songs |
| Naw |
see hulusheng |
| Nay |
see ney |
| Naymeh |
Iranian fishermen’s songs from Bushehr |
| N'der |
a solo Wolof long drum, with open bottom, used in a
sabar drum set (Senegal) |
| Ndingidi |
Ugandan one stringed fiddle |
| Ndomu |
Pygmy bow harp (Central Africa) |
| Ndongo |
eight-stringed lyre of Uganda |
| Neopolitan chord |
any chord built upon the flat second degree of the
tonic key |
| Neapolitan sixth |
the first inversion of a major chord on the
flattened second degree of a major scale, which in the
key of C would be 'F', 'A flat' and 'D flat', called
'sixth' because it is a first inversion
more... |
| Neben |
(German) near, 'at the side of', subsidiary |
| Nebenstimme |
(German) secondary voice or line; see also
Hauptstimme |
| Nebst |
(German) 'together with', including |
| Neck |
the part of a stringed instrument which bears the
fingerboard |
| Negarit |
Ethiopian kettledrum, played with sticks |
| Negli |
(Italian) in the, at the |
| Negligénte |
(French) negligently, unconstrained, careless |
| Negligente, Negligentemente |
(Italian) negligently, unconstrained, careless |
| Negrito nose flute |
a nose flute from the Negrito (pygmy) peoples of
Central Malaysia
more... |
| Nehmen |
(German) to take |
| Nei, Nel, Nello, Nella, Nell', Nelle |
(Italian) in the, at the (see also negli) |
| Neiderstrich |
(German) down-bow |
| Neighbouring notes |
non-harmonic notes that leave and return to the same
chord note by a tone (whole step) or semitone (half
step) |
| Ne jamais |
(French) never |
| Neo |
(Greek) a prefix indicating a revived interest in
something old, for example, neo-classical, a
twentieth-century interest in concerto grosso form and
contraputal writing, both associated with music from the
classical period, and neo-romantic, the use of
nineteenth-century Romantic forms in twentieth-century
idiom |
Neo-classical
(New classicism) |
see 'neo' |
| Neo-Gallican chant |
a style of composition for the neo-Gallican
religious movement in seventeenth-century France,
consisting mainly of pseudo-plainchant |
| Ne pas, Ne point |
(French) no, not |
| Ne que |
(French) only |
Neo-romantic
(New romanticism) |
see 'neo' |
| Nera |
 |
(Italian) a crotchet (quarter note), a note
one quarter the time value of a whole note or
semibreve |
|
| Nerveux |
(French) nervous, sinewy |
| Net (It.), Nette (It.), Netto (It.), Netta (It.) |
clear |
| Nettement (Fr.), Nettemente (It.) |
clearly |
| Neue, Neues |
(German) new |
| Neuf |
(French) nine |
| Neuma (Gr.), Neume (s.), Neumes (pl.) |
(Greek, literally 'gesture' or 'sign') a neum is a
note or a group of notes (melisma) belonging to one
syllable |
| Neumatic |
a musical setting in which, in the main, there are
two to seven notes per syllable, although the occasional
syllable may only contain a single note |
| Neumatic notation |
see
Neume Notation through History |
| Neun |
(German) nine |
| Neuvième |
(French) ninth |
| New Age music |
a compositional style conducive to meditation,
produced by layering sounds over sounds to produce a
deep, many-faceted wave of music, including natural
sounds such as waves, rain, birds, wind, etc. |
| New Orleans jazz |
an early style of jazz originating in New Orleans in
the first two decades of the twentieth-century, produced
by small ensembles and involving improvisation based on
formulas and conventional figurations |
| Ney |
a Middle Eastern flute, the ney, probably the
oldest pitched instrument known to man, is an oblique
rim blown reed flute with five finger holes in front and
one thumb hole in the back. It is one of the principle
instruments in traditional Persian music. The ney
has a range of two and a half octaves. The upper end is
covered by a short brass cylinder which is anchored in
the tiny space between the player's upper incisors.
Sound is produced when a stream of air is directed by
the tongue toward the opening of the instrument. In this
way, sound is produced behind the upper teeth, inside
the mouth, which gives the ney a distinct timbre than
that of the sound produced by the lips on the outside of
the mouth
more... |
| Ney-anbon |
Iranian bagpipe, the earliest-known bagpipe,
originating thousands of years ago in Mesopotamia |
| Ney-hindi |
Indian flute played in Iran |
| Nga chen |
large pan-like bass drums, struck with curved
drumsticks, by Tibetan monks as part of Buddhist rites |
| Ngoni |
a small traditional four-stringed Mali lute in the
form of a teardrop, also known as koni in Gambia |
| Ngombi |
a stringed instrument from the Baka forest people of
southeast Cameroon and the Central African Republic. The
strings are made from fibres that run the length of a
bamboo stem. If a string breaks, another can be
separated from the body of the instrument. It is also
known as the arched harp |
| Nguyeät |
(Vietnam) also called the kìm; a guitar-like
instrument with a long neck, which emits muted sounds,
having 2 strings made of silk braid |
| Nhac Hue |
(Vietnam) Hue music, one of the two genres of
Vietnamese chamber music
more... |
| Nhac tài tu |
(Vietnam) tài tu music, one of the two genres
of Vietnamese chamber music
more... |
| Nhò |
(Vietnam) a fiddle with two braided silk strings and
a resonator covered with a snake skin membrane |
| Nicht |
(German) not |
| Nieder |
(German) down |
| Niederdrücken |
(German) press down, depress |
| Niederschlag, Niederstrich |
(German) bow down-stroke |
| Niente |
(Italian) nothing, as in diminuendo a niente,
sound dying away to nothing |
| Nigenkin |
an variant of the yakuma-goto, a two string
Japanese zither used exclusively in Shinto shrines,
developed to offer it a secular role
more... |
| Nihumbe |
drum from Mozambique |
| Nineteenth-century dance |
industrial development, the move to the towns and
the political upheavals of the later nineteenth-century
produced changes in social structure that also affected
the world of dance. Couple dances which permitted many
people to take the floor simultaneously became prevalent
with the advent of the waltz and polka.
Both of these were initially regarded as scandalous
because of the close proximity of man and woman and
because of the exhilaration of constant spinning. As
quadrilles gained in popularity, so the steps were
gradually simplified until, by the end of the century,
they were virtually walked. By then, however, more
modern fashions were beginning to be seen, as the
tango and ragtime moved into Europe from the
Americas
[taken from
The Early Dance Circle] |
| Ninth |
a compound interval consisting of an octave plus a
second |
| Njarka |
one-string violin used in Malian music |
| Njurkle |
monochord guitar used in Malian music |
| N'koni |
drum from Mozambique |
| Nlapa |
a Malagasy hourglass-shaped one-headed drum |
| Nobile, Nobilmente, Nobiltà or Noblezza |
(Italian) noble, nobly, nobility |
| Noch |
(German) still, yet |
| Noche |
(Spanish) night |
| Nocturne (Fr., Eng.), Notturno (It.) |
a moderately slow piece, usually for piano, of
dreamy, reflective, contemplative character and
song-like melody |
| Node |
the point on a vibrating string that is at rest -
the point of maximum displacement is called the
'anti-node' |
| Noël |
(French) used since the Middle Ages to refer to a
song, dance, or carol having to do with Christmas |
| Nogaku |
(Japanese) music played during performances of
noh drama, consisting of a chorus, the hayashi
flute, the tsuzumi drum and other instruments |
| Nogo |
(Korean) six conical-shaped drums suspended from a
wooden frame played by striking with a stick
more... |
| Noh drama |
based on philosophical concepts from Zen Buddhism,
noh (or no) is an ancient form of
traditional Japanese theatre with its origins in the
fourteenth-century. The actors of noh plays are
masked and they speak and sing in a monotonous way,
accompanied by a chorus and traditional music
instruments. The noh stage is usually located
outdoors and has a roof supported by four columns |
| Nohkan |
a Japanese bamboo flute with a three octave range |
| Noire |
| |
(French) a crotchet (quarter note), a note
one quarter the time value of a whole note or
semibreve |
|
| Noise |
The sensation of a musical tone is due to a rapid
periodic motion of the sonorous body; the sensation of a
noise to non-periodic motion
from On the Sensation of Tone (1862), Hermann
Helmholtz |
| Nokan |
see nohkan |
| Non |
(French, Italian) not, no |
| None |
(Latin) the sixth service of the Divine Office,
usually performed at 3:00 p.m., consisting of several
responsories and psalms which are sung |
| Nonet (Eng.), Nonette (Fr.), Nonetto (It.),
Nonett (Ger.) |
a group of nine players, a piece written for such a
group to perform |
| Non-harmonic note |
a note that does not belong to the chord with which
it sounds, for example, a passing note or an
appoggiatura |
| Non-imitative polyphony |
a common feature of medieval polyphony, two or more
independent melodic lines that do not share material
with one another |
| Nonmetric |
music lacking a strong sense of beat or meter,
common in certain non-Western cultures |
| Nonnengeige |
(German) tromba marina |
| Nonretrogradable rhythm |
a rhythmic pattern that sounds the same whether
played forward or backwards and so the retrograde
version cannot be distinguished from the original
version |
| Non-tertian chords |
chord structures not based on thirds; e.g. quartal
chords |
| Nontraditional time signatures |
meters (time signatures) using values other than 2,
3, 4, 6, 9, 12 for the top number |
| Non troppo |
(Italian) not too much |
| Non-Western sounds |
sounds or forms of music alien to the Western
tradition of music, including music and instruments of
Asia, the Middle East, Africa, the Pacific Islands, the
Native Americans, etc. |
| Noodling |
a kind of musical doodling, for example, random,
improvised musical phrases a musician might play while
warming up |
| North American drum |
also called a 'deerskin drum', this untuned hand
drum originiates from the native peoples of the West
Coast of Canada is a type of frame drum
more... |
| North American whistle |
a cedar whistle from the native peoples of the West
Coast of Canada
more... |
| Northumbrian smallpipes |
an English bellows blown bagpipe with a small
cylindrical closed-end chanter, and 3 or 4 drones |
| Nota cambiata |
(Italian, literally 'changed note') a contrapuntal
device where, expecting a consonant note, a dissonant
note has been used |
| Nota sensibile |
(Italian) leading note |
| Notation |
the method used to write down music
Links About Music Notation |
| Note |
 |
a single sound of a particular pitch and
length which is notated with a symbol made up of
a notehead (in all cases), a stem (in some
cases) and a flag (in some cases), and which
with notes bearing flags are grouped together
using a beam |
|
| Note-against-note organum |
the oldest written organum (c. 900), which evidently
reflects a prevailing improvisational practice, consists
of two lines moving simultaneously, note against note,
the added line often paralleling the chant line a fourth
or a fifth below; later note-against-note organum
progressed to become a succession of consonant intervals
by a mixture of contrary, oblique, similar and parallel
motions in the parts |
| Note cluster |
see 'cluster' |
| Note head |
the head, or round part of the note symbol as
distinguished from the stem or any other part of the
note; other note heads have been used including diamond
shaped and square shaped |
| Note row |
a sequence of the twelve notes of the dodecuple
scale (in effect the chromatic scale), each and every
note (or one of its octaves) appearing only once in the
sequence, to form the basis of a musical composition, a
concept 'invented' by Arnold Schönberg (1874-1951) and
championed by, what is sometimes called, 'the second
Viennese school' |
| Note sign |
see
anatomy of a note sign |
| Note values |
see
Chart of Note and Rest Signs |
| Notre Dame organum |
in the late twelfth-century, at the great Paris
cathedral of Notre Dame, the most elaborate style of
organum, polyphony based on plainchant, developed,
incorporating rhythmic passages and florid melismas in
the added voices |
| Notturnino |
(Italian) diminuative of notturno |
| Nourri, bien |
with a rich and full tone |
| Notturno |
(Italian) nocturne |
| Nouvelle chanson |
created as a counter-blast to "noise" music, rock
and pop, nouvelle chanson was the very breath of
Parisian bohemian nocturnal existence, a liberating
change from the sweetly sentimental love ballads and
comic patter songs of the pre-war era. Charles Trenet
lead the way to these new musical expressions of
satirical and experimental literary genius while great
mid-century writers and poets like Jean-Paul Sartre,
Louis Aragon, Guillevic, Raymond Queneau and Boris Vian
turned their superb literary talents to the art of the
'new chanson' a combination that appealed to
intellectuals, to the politically aware rebels of the
1968 street wars, as well as to the general public, the
upper classes and the proletarians. Etienne Roda-Gil
stands out as one of that period's immortals, a born
parolier |
| Nove |
(Italian) nine |
| Nowell (Eng.), Noël (Fr.) |
a Christmas carol |
| Nsansi |
a thumb piano from Mozambique |
| Nuances |
 |
a set of symbols added on the score to
indicate the volume at which a note or a series
of notes are to be played or sung |
|
| Nuova, Nuova |
(Italian) new |
| Nur |
(German) only |
| Nut |
a slightly raised bar at the top of a violin neck,
or after the tuning pins of a keyboard instrument, that
forms one end of the vibrating or speaking string
length, the other end being at the bridge |
| Nutrendo, Nutrito |
(Italian) full rich or well-sustained tone |
| Nuu isuisuha |
`Are`are (Malaita, Solomon Islands) vocal music |
| Nyanyero |
a Gambian one-string violin |
| Nyatiti |
Kenyan harp |
| Nyunga nyunga |
see karimba |
| Nyckelharpa |
keyed fiddle used throughout Scandinavia and N.
Germany. The modern nyckelharpa has 16 strings- e
melodic, one drone and 12 sympathetic. It has 37 wooden
keys arranged to slide under the strings. The player
uses a short bow with the right hand and pushes the keys
wit the left |
| Nzele |
a Kenyan music style created in the late
twentieth-century by Uyoga, a famous Kenyan band.
Nzele essentially borrowed its rhythmic beats from
mwanzele. Nzele’s most distinct facet is
the call and response style. This involves the lead
singer, who lyrically calls out and the backing vocals
answer in a chorus response. The instrumental
accompaniment revolves around the bass guitar, drums,
percussion, keyboards, flute, horns (sax/trumpet) and
what Uyoga refers to as a 'stinging' rhythm guitar strum |
