| U |
abbreviation of und, (German) meaning 'and' |
| Uakti |
a character from Brazilian Indian mythology who
charmed the local women by turning the wind into sound
with the holes in his body. The local men became
jealous, killed Uakti, and buried him in the forest.
Legend has it that four palm trees grew from his grave,
and the Indians made instruments from the trees'
branches |
| Ubah |
an Igede (Nigeria) wooden drum, covered with skin at
one end |
| Über |
(German) over, above, too |
| Uboh |
Nigerian thumb piano made with a decorated gourd |
| Übung |
(German) exercise |
| Ud |
(Arabic, literally 'bent twig') a short necked,
fretless Middle Eastern and North African lute, one of
the most important instrument in Arabic classical music,
the direct ancestor of the European lute
more...
|
| Udu |
clay pot drums from Nigeria, that have two holes
that are variously struck and covered with the hands,
the sound being produced by the compression and release
of the air inside it
more... |
| Uguale, uguali |
(Italian) equal |
| Ugualmente |
(Italian) equally |
| Ugualità, Uguaglianza |
(Italian) equality |
| Uh |
(Korean) a percussion instrument that makes sounds
by scraping a bamboo stick over a set of wooden 'teeth'
set onto the back of a wooden tiger
more... |
| Ui |
`Are`are (Malaita, Solomon Islands) struck
instruments made from bamboo |
| Uilleann pipe |
(Gaelic, literally 'elbow pipe') an Irish bagpipe
that is different from the Scottish bagpipe because it
is filled with air by means of a bellows activated by
the player squeezing the bellows against his side with
his elbow and has a softer, more melodic sound |
| Ukelele, Ukulele |
a guitar-like instrument originating from Portugal
but often associated with Hawaii with four strings and a
long fingerboard
more... |
| 'Uli 'Uli |
an Hawaiian percussion instrument made of a small
hollow gourd filled with seeds, sea shells or pebbles,
to which a handle is attached, the tip of which is
fringed with cock feathers. The dancer holds the 'uli
'uli in the right hand, shaking and striking it
against the left hand, hip, knee, shoulder, or other
parts of the body |
| Uli' Uli' |
Sumatran kite bow |
| Ullogaun |
Irish lament |
| Ultimo, Ultima |
(Italian) last |
| Ultrasonic, Ultrasound |
of or relating to acoustic frequencies above the
range audible to the human ear, or above approximately
20,000 hertz |
| Umano, Umana |
(Italian) human |
| Umkehrung |
(German) turning round, reversal, inversion |
| Umore |
(Italian) humour |
| Umstimmen, Unstimmung (noun form) |
(German) to tune in a non-standard manner, that is
to use scordatura tuning |
| Un', una, uno |
(Italian) a, an, one |
| Un, Une |
(French) a, an, one |
| Una corda |
(Italian) one string; in piano music indicating the
use of the soft pedal |
| Und |
(German) and |
| Under-third cadence |
see 'Landini cadence' |
| Ungebunden |
(German) free unconstrained |
| Ungeduld, Ungeduldig |
(German) impatience, impatient |
| Ungefähr |
(German) about, approximately |
| Ungestüm |
(German) impetuous |
| Ungezwungen |
(German) easy-going, natural, unforced |
| Ungherese |
(Italian) Hungarian |
| Unheimlich |
(German) uncanny |
| Uni, Unie, Unis, Unies |
(French) united, smooth |
| Union pipe |
see 'Uilleann pipe' |
| Unison |
the interval between two identical notes, also
called 'perfect unision' or 'perfect prime' |
| Uniti |
(Italian) united, reunited |
| Umakweyana |
a one string gourd instrument played by the women of
Swaziland |
| Unmeasured music |
music where the performer is free to determine the
rhythm, for example, plainchant, troubadour-trouvère
material, organum purum and early organum
styles; also called 'free rhythm' |
| Unmerklich |
(German) imperceptible |
| Umrubhe |
a bowed mouth bow traditional to the Xhosa and Pondo
peoples from South Africa, where the string is bowed
with a thin dry stick, while the tune is produced in the
mouth |
| Umtshingo |
a traditional South-African end-blown, bamboo flute,
with one finger hole at the bottom end |
| Un peu |
(French) a little, rather |
| Un poco, Un po' |
(Italian) a little, rather |
| Unravelling |
an arpeggiation or spinning out of structures, for
example, chord arpeggiation |
| Unruhe, Unruhig (noun form) |
(German) disquiet, without peace, restless |
| Unschuldig |
(German) innocent |
| Unten, Unter |
(German) under, below |
| Up-beat |
a weak beat; a strong beat is called a 'down-beat' |
| Up-bow |
see 'down-bow' |
| Upper partials |
see 'overtones' |
| Upright piano |
a piano in which the strings are vertical, as
opposed to the 'grand' piano where the strings are
horizontal |
| Up-tempo |
music that is played with a fast, lively beat |
| Ursprünglich |
(German) original, originally |
| Urtext |
(German) 'original text', an edition giving the
composer's intention free of later editorial additions |
| U.S.F., U.S.W. |
German abbreviations; und so fort, und so
weiter meaning respectively 'and so forth', 'and so
on' |
| Ut |
the original name for the key-note of a diatonic
scale, which today is usually called do
(sometimes doh); in the 'fixed do' solfeggio,
ut or do is always the note 'C' |
| Utility music |
(in German, gebrauchmusik) music to be played
by anyone utilising idioms in everyday use, a term
coined by Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) |
| Utogardon |
a string instrument from Moldova |
| Uubi |
`Are`are (Malaita, Solomon Islands) blown
instruments made from bamboo |
| Uvula |
the fleshy area of the soft palate at the back of
the mouth |
