| Va |
(Italian) 'go on', literally 'continues' or 'it
continues' |
| Vacillant |
(French) wavering, referring to vibrato on stringed
instruments |
| Vacillando |
(Italian) see vacillant |
| Vaghezza |
(Italian) longing; alternatively, grace or charm |
| Vago |
(Italian) vague, rambling, uncertain tempo or
expression |
| Vakisoava |
a poetic call and response style of singing from
Madagascar |
| Valeur |
(French) value, literally 'importance' or 'weight' |
| Valiha |
a kind of tube shaped zither, used now in a purely
secular way, was historically closely associated with
religious ceremonies
more... |
| Vallenato |
Colombian music style |
| Valore |
(Italian) see valeur |
| Valse |
(French) a simple triple time dance derived from the
old German Ländler; the dance generally has an
introduction, a number of different melodies, before
finishing with a coda; harmonically, the dance has one
strong chord on the first beat, with two weaker chords
on the second and third beat, this pattern repeated from
bar to bar |
| Valses chilotes |
Chilean dance from the Quellón region that combines
Spanish music and dance forms with waltzes and
aboriginal Chilean music and dance |
| Valve |
a device on some brass instruments redirecting air
through tubing of different lengths to change the pitch
of the note being played; there are two common types of
valve, 'piston' and 'rotary' |
| Vamp, Vamping |
extemporizing a simple accompaniment often 'by ear',
without a written score |
| Vanlig fele |
Norwegian fiddle |
| Vaporeuse |
(French, feminine form) vaporous |
| Vaporeux |
(French, masculine form) vaporous |
| Variante |
(French, Italian) variant |
| Variata |
(Italian, feminine form) varied |
| Variation (s.), Variations (pl.) |
composition form in which variously modified
re-statements of an initially introduced theme are
presented in sequence, one after another
more...
|
| Variato |
(Italian, masculine form) varied |
| Variazione |
(Italian, singular) variation |
| Variazioni |
(Italian, plural form) variations |
| Varié |
(French) varied |
| Varsovienne |
a dance originally from Warsaw, popular in ballrooms
in the mid-nineteenth-century, rather like a mazurka,
in 3/4 time with a moderate tempo |
| Vaterländisch |
(German) pertaining to the Fatherland, i.e.
patriotic |
| Vaudeville |
(French, from voix de ville, literally
'street song') originally satirical Parisian street
songs which during the reign of Louis XIV (1638-1715)
taking on more topical songs found themselves
incorporated into comedies performed at Paris fairs. The
association between vaudeville and comedy led to the
term being applied to 'variety shows' |
| VB |
Systematisch-thematisches Werkverzeichnis
catalogue of the works of Joseph Martin Kraus
(1756-1792) by Bertil H. van Boer jr.; Valentini
Bakfark Opera Omnia catalogue of works by Balint
Bakfark (1507-1576) prepared by Homolya and Benko |
| Vc |
short for 'violoncello' |
| Veemente |
(Italian) vehement |
| Veena |
see vina |
| Velas delis |
Latvian washboard |
| Velata |
(Italian, feminine form) veiled |
| Velato |
(Italian, masculine form) veiled |
| Vella bumgas |
see 'devil drum' |
| Vellum |
a fine kind of parchment made from the delicate
skins of young (sometimes stillborn) animals |
| Veloce, Velocemente |
(Italian) 'with velocity' |
| Velocissimo, Velocissimamente |
(Italian, feminine form) 'with extreme velocity' |
| Velocità |
(Italian) velocity |
| Velorio |
an Afro-Colombian religious ceremony that pays
tribute to the deceased |
| Velouté |
(French) velvety |
| Venetian school |
late-Renaissance group of composers in Venice whose
style included polychoral textures and the foundations
of orchestration |
| Veni Sancte Spiritus |
(Latin, literally 'come, holy spirit') the sequence
recited during Pentecost |
| Venite |
(Latin, literally 'come') the opening chant or the
first canticle of Matins |
| Vent |
(French) wind |
| Ventil |
(German) valve |
| Ventilhorn |
(German) horn |
| Ventilator |
(English) used in Richard Strauss (1864-1949) scores
to mean 'wind machine', a device that uses the friction
between wooden or card paddles and cloth or silk to
mimic the sound of the wind |
| Ventile |
(Italian) valve |
| Ventil, Corno |
(Italian) valve horn |
| Ventile, Trombone |
(Italian) valve trombone |
| Ventilhorn |
(German) Valve horn |
| Ventilposaune |
(German) valve trombone |
| Ventiltrompte |
(German) valve trompet |
| Venusto |
(Italian) pretty |
| Veränderungen |
(German) 'changes', variations |
| Verbunkos |
late eighteenth-century Hungarian dance, with
military connotations, performed to the music of gypsy
bands, also written as verbounko, verbunko,
verbunkas, werbunkos, werbunkosch
or verbunkoche |
| Verdiales |
one of the flamenco styles that belong to the
Málaga fandangos group; a typical Spanish folk
dance from Málaga |
| Verdoppeln |
(German) to double |
| Verdoppelt |
(German) doubled |
| Verdoppelung |
(German) doubling |
| Verein |
(German) society |
| Vergnügt |
(German) contented |
| Verhallend |
(German) dying away |
| Verismo |
naturalism, the tendency, particularly in late
nineteenth-century Italian opera, to use strongly
realistic subjects, as for example in the operas of
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) |
| Verklärt |
(German) transfigured, glorified |
| Verlauf |
(German) course, continuous |
| Verliebt |
(German) 'loved', literally 'in a tender manner' |
| Verlierend |
(German) 'losing itself', literally 'dying away' |
| Verlöschend |
(German) 'extinguished', literally 'dying away' |
| Vernehmbar |
(German) 'perceptible' |
| Vers |
a troubadour song with five to ten verses and one or
two tornadas, shorter concluding, often
dedicatory, verses |
| Verschiebung |
(German) 'shoving away', literally 'soft pedal' |
| Verschieden |
(German) various |
| Verschwindend |
(German) 'disappearing', literally 'dying away' |
| Verse |
solo passage from the Gradual that precedes
the response; in poetry or song, a verse is a group of
lines which constitutes a single unit, where there are
several verses in a single text, usually with a common
rhyme scheme, rhythm and number of poetic lines and feet
to each verse in a particular text; in popular songs, a
verse is the section of the song in which different sets
of words are sung to the same repeated melody, which
contrasts with a chorus where the words and melody are
both repeated |
| Verse anthem |
an Anglican devotional composition for solo voices
with a choral refrain, the verse anthem is similar to
the Catholic motet |
| Versetzung |
(German) transposition |
| Versicle |
in Western Christian rites, a phrase or sentence
from Scripture sung by the officiant and answered by the
choir and/or congregation |
| Verstärken |
(German) to strengthen |
| Verstärkt |
(German) strengthened |
| Versu |
see conductus |
| Verteilt, Vertheilt |
(German) divided |
| Verweilend |
(German) delaying, rallentando |
| Verzeichnis |
(German) catalogue |
| Verzierungeen |
(German) embellishments, ornaments |
| Vespéral, Vespérale |
(French) of the evening |
| Vespers |
(Latin, literally 'evening') the seventh service of
the Divine Office, usually performed at twilight,
consisting of several responsories and psalms which are
sung |
| Ve Ve |
bamboo buzzers from the highland regions of Vietnam
that have become common in dance music and similar to
other instruments found in many regions of Southeast
Asia, the Philippines, and Indonesia |
| Via |
(Italian) 'away!', remove |
| Vibraphone, Vibra-harp |
a marimba with metal bars and tuned
resonators that are fitted with caps that electrically
open and close to produced a pulsed vibrato-like sound;
also called 'vibes' |
| Vibration |
any rapid, repeating undulatory or tremulous
movement; it is vibration that causes all sound |
| Vibrato |
see
vibrato |
| Vibrer |
(French) to vibrate |
| Vichitra vina |
a stringed instrument like the rudra vina
except it has no frets. It is played with a slide like a
Hawaiian guitar |
| Vicino |
(Italian) near |
| Vide |
(French) 'empty', as in corde à vide which
means 'open string'
|
| Vidalita |
Argentine country dance |
| Viel, Viele, Vielem |
(German) much, many |
| Vielle |
(French) a Medieval bowed stringed instrument of the
upper classes, the precursor of the viol; abbreviation
of vielle à roue, meaning 'wheel vielle',
hurdy-gurdy |
| Viennese waltz |
see 'waltz' |
| Vier |
(German) four |
| Vierfach |
(German) fourfold |
| Vierhändig |
(German) four-handed |
| Vierte, Viertes, Viertem, Vierten |
(German) fourth |
| Viertel, Viertelnote |
 |
(German) a crotchet (quarter note), a note
one quarter the time value of a whole note or
semibreve |
|
| Vierundsechzigstel, Vierundsechzigstelnote |
|
(German) a hemidemisemiquaver (sixty-fourth
note), a note one sixty-fourth the time value of
a whole note or semibreve |
|
| Vierundsechzigstel Pause |
 |
(German) a hemidemisemiquaver (sixty-fourth
rest), a rest one sixty-fourth the time value of
a whole note rest or semibreve rest
|
|
| Vietnamese scale |
the Vietnamese scale has 9 notes (5 drawn from
Chinese system plus 4 addition notes added by the
Vietnamese themselves) which have the following
approximate correspondence to the western major scale
| ho |
xu |
y |
sang |
xe |
cong |
phan |
löu |
u |
| do |
re |
mi |
fa |
sol |
la |
ti |
do |
re |
The notes y (mi) and phan (ti)
should be diminished by a quarter tone |
| Vif, Vive |
(French, noun) lively |
| Vivement |
(French, adverb) lively |
| Vigueur, Vigoureux, Vigoureusement |
(French) variously, vigour, vigorous, vigorously |
| Vigore, Vigoroso, Vigorosamente |
(Italian) variously, vigour, vigorous, vigorously |
| Vihuela |
plucked instrument of the Renaissance with a
guitar-shaped body, strings tuned like those on the
lute, that was confined almost exclusively to Spain,
where it was generally associated with the aristocracy;
plucked instrument of the guitar family popular in parts
of Spanish America, similar to the Spanish Renaissance
vihuela, that includes a belly for added
resonance and five single courses of strings |
| Villancets |
one of the names given to Christmas songs in
Catalonia (Spain) |
| Villancico |
(from the Spanish villano, rustic) a peasant
song form that by the sixteenth-century had became
choral and was then incorporated with other movements
into cantatas celebrating religious feast days |
| Villanella, Villanesca, Villota, Villotta |
(Italian & Spanish) an uncomplicated Neapolitan
madrigal from the sixteenth-century in which each stanza
is set to a repeated musical line, commonly featuring
consecutive fifths |
| Villanelle |
(French) sixteenth-century pastoral poems or songs |
| Viloncello (It.), Violoncelo (Sp.) |
violoncello |
| Vina |
in Sanskrit, a stringed instrument is generically
referred to as a vina. The ancient texts are
replete with countless descriptions of vinas of
every sort and fashion. They have traditionally been
broken down into two categories, tat and vitat.
These mean plucked and unplucked respectively. The
tat class of Indian stringed instruments are all
either plucked or hammered. These include such various
instruments as hammered dulcimers, lutes and harps. The
vitat is a class of stringed instruments which
are bowed. This class appears to be quite old, yet these
instruments, until the last few centuries, did not
occupy a place in Indian classical music |
| Viol |
a family of stringed instruments (pardessus de
viole, treble, alto, tenor, division bass, Lyra viol,
Baryton (with sympathetic strings), consort bass and
violone) featuring an arched belly, a flat back, sloping
shoulders, light construction, deep ribs, sometimes C
sound holes, a fretted fingerboard and six strings,
tuned, like the guitar, in fourths with a third in the
middle, which is played on the lap or between the legs
(hence the term 'da gamba', of the leg, which is
generally only applied to the bass, i.e. viola da
gamba). The outcurved bow is held with the hand placed
underneath the stick, with one or two fingers touching
and tensioning the bow hair |
| Viola |
(Argentina) guitar; the alto member of the violin
instrument |
| Viola amarantina |
Portuguese guitar with 5 pairs of metal strings and
a sound hole shaped in the form of two hearts |
| Viola bastarda |
continental equivalent of the English division viol,
the viola bastarda is a small bass viol of the
sixteenth- and seventeenth-centuries |
| Viola beiroa |
a highly ornamented Portuguese guitar |
| Viola braguesa |
Portuguese guitar with 5 pairs of metal strings |
| Viola campaniça |
a Portuguese guitar that has nearly disappeared
although, long ago, it was popular throughout the low
Alentejo region. Its characteristic sound is made by
five groups of double strings, made of steel and brass |
| Viola clef |
alto clef |
| Viola da braccio |
a family of bowed stringed instruments, the modern
violin is a member, that originated in the early
Renaissance, and developed alongside the viola da gamba
family, eventually overshadowing the later in popularity
due to its brighter, louder, more lively tone |
| Viola da gamba |
bass viol |
| Viola d'amore, Viole d'amour |
a large viola sized bowed string instrument with no
frets, and sympathetic strings running under the
fingerboard and through the bridge |
| Viola d'arame |
like the Portuguese guitar, it has five strings
which are plucked with the fingers, but its shape,
longer and narrower, is more that of the Spanish guitar
that the Portuguese instrument of the same name,
although traditionally the sound holes are cut in the
shape of two small hearts |
| Violâo |
Brazilian term for guitar |
| Viola pomposa |
a small cello sized bowed string instrument of the
violin family |
| Violento, Violentamente |
(Italian) violent, violently |
| Violenza |
(Italian) violence |
| Violetta |
seventeenth- and eighteenth-century term for the
viola, although earlier violetta may have
referred to an early, three stringed violin |
| Violí |
Greek term for violin |
| Violin family |
a family of stringed instruments (violino piccolo -
tuned an octave above the viola, violin, second violin -
slightly larger violin, viola, tenor - played down like
a violoncello now rare, violoncello piccolo - small five
stringed cello, violoncello - also called 'cello, double
bass) featuring an arched belly, arched back, shallow
ribs, commonly four strings tuned in fifths, unfretted
fingerboard, right-angled shoulders, F sound holes, the
smaller members (down to viola) played under the chin,
the larger members played between the legs, with the bow
(originally out-curved but now in-curved) held with the
hand lying above the stick; some double-bass players
retain the under-hand bowing associated with the viol
family. Although the violin is not native to the Indian
subcontinent, it has become so popular that it must be
mentioned. There appears to be no difference in
construction between the Indian violin and its Western
counterpart - however, the technique is quite different.
The most refined technique is to be found in South
Indian music. Instead of holding the instrument under
the chin, the musician props it between the shoulder and
the foot. This gives a stability which cannot be matched
by either north Indian nor occidental techniques. North
Indian technique, though not nearly as refined, is still
impressive |
| Violín (Sp.), Violine (Ger.), Violino (It.),
Violon (Fr.) |
violin |
| Violine |
the double-bass viol, which is the ancestor of the
double-bass |
| Violino piccolo |
a member of the violin family, tuned an octave above
the viola |
| Violoncell (Ger,), Violoncelle (Fr.), Violoncello
(Eng.) |
the bass member of the violin family, often
abbreviated to 'cello' |
| Violoncello piccolo |
small, five-stringed 'cello |
| Virelai |
medieval French song-form, one of the formes
fixes, originating in the thirteenth century from
Vire in Normany, typically a musical composition with
three stanzas in the rondeau style based on poems
with two rhymes in each stanza |
| Virga |
see 'neume notation' |
| Virga jacens |
see 'neume notation' |
| Virginal |
a member of the harpsichord family - the plucking
mechanism passes through the sound board so that the
strings are plucked close to the middle of their
sounding length giving the instrument a strong plangent
tone |
| Virtuosity |
total mastery of one's instrument |
| Virtuoso |
a performer possessing total mastery of his or her
instrument |
| Vitamente |
(Italian) briskly, immediately |
| Vite, Vitement |
(French) quick, quickly |
| Vito |
an Andalusian dance |
| Vivace, Vivacemente, Vivezza, Vivido, Vivo |
(Italian) vivacious, liveliness, lively |
| Vivacetto |
(Italian) rather vivacious |
| Vivacissimamente, Vivacissimo |
(Italian) very vivacious |
| Vivacità, Vivacezza |
(Italian) vivacity |
| Vivamente, Vivente |
(Italian) in a lively fashion |
| Vladimir horn |
see rhozok |
| Voca |
(Ialian) voice, part |
| Vocal |
pertaining to the voice, as in 'vocal exercises' or
'vocal dexterity' |
| Vocal chords, Vocal folds |
the vocal organs in the human being which produce
sound |
| Vocalize, Vocalise (French), Vocalizzo (Italian) |
to sing a vowel; singing with several notes to a
single vowel sound, in particular as an exercise for the
voice |
| Vocable |
nonlexical syllables, lacking literal meaning |
| Voce, Voci |
(Italian) voice, voices |
| Voce di petto, Voce di testa |
(Italian) chest voice, head voice |
| Voces aequales (Latin), Voci eguali (Italian) |
equal voices |
| Voglia |
(Italian) longing |
| Voice (sing.), Voices (pl.) |
individual line(s) in a musical structure; distinct
instrumental or vocal part(s) in a musical work, for
example, a four-part song may be described as being for
four voices, even if each line is performed by a more
than one person, as in a large choir |
| Voice as an instrument |
using a voice or a number of voices to produce an
instrumental sound, rather than using the voice in the
conventional sense as a vehicle for text, more usually
associated with twentieth-century music and 'new age'
music to produce a mysterious, soothing, beautiful
effect |
| Voice leading |
a term used in America to refer to part-writing |
| Voicing |
voicing refers to the vertical distribution of the
pitches of a chord above the bass. When the root of a
triad is in the bass, we describe the voicing of chords
as chords in either open or close position. In open
position, in between any two members of the chord,
another chord tone could be inserted. In close position,
no other chord tones could be inserted between two
members of the chord; the term is also used to describe
the process of optimization of tone, volume, attack and
timbre applied to the sound generating parts of flue- or
duct-pipe instruments, for example, the recorder |
| Voile |
(French) veil - as when placing a cloth over a drum
to muffle it |
| Voix |
(French) voice, voices |
| Volante |
(Italian, literally 'flying') fast and light |
| Volksleid |
(German) folk song |
| Volkston |
(German) folk style |
| Voll, Volles, Vollem |
(German) full |
| Völlig |
(German) complete |
| Volltönig, Volltönend |
(German) full-sounding, sonorous |
| Volenté |
(French) will, one's pleasure, as in à volenté
(French) at one's pleasure, at will, ad libitum |
| Volinka |
Ukrainian bagpipe |
| Volta, Volte, Lavolta |
a quick dance in triple time in which the lady is
lifted into the air during a quarter-circle turn; also
(Italian) time (see below) |
| Volta prima, volta seconda |
(Italian) first time, second time |
| Volteggiando |
(Italian) a term used in piano playing when
referring to the crossing of the hands so that the left
hand is playing higher notes than the right hand |
| Volti |
(Italian) turn, turn over |
| Volti subito, V.S. (abbrev.) |
(Italian) turn over quickly |
| Volubile, Volubilmente |
(Italian) voluble, volubly |
| Volume |
the loudness of a sound |
| Voluntary |
a keyboard piece in a free style; an organ solo
played before and after an Anglican church service |
| Volynka |
Russian bagpipe with 1 or 2 drones |
| Vom |
(German) from the |
| Von |
(German) from, of |
| Von hier |
(German) from here |
| Vor |
(German) for, before, forward |
| Voraus |
(German) beforehand |
| Vorbereiten, Vorbereitung |
(German) to prepare, preparation |
| Vorhalt |
(German) variously, suspension (harmony),
retardation (tempo), long appoggiatura (ornamentation),
syncopation (rhythm) |
| Vorhanden |
(German) available |
| Vorher, Vorherig, Vorig |
(German) formerly, foregoing |
| Vornehm |
(German) noble |
| Vorschlag |
(German) 'forestroke', as in Kurzer Vorschlag
meaning acciaccatura, or Langer Vorschlag
meaning appogiatura |
| Vorspiel |
(German) overture |
| Vortrag, Vortragen, Vorzutragen |
(German) performance, to perform, to perform
prominently |
| Vorwärts |
(German) forwards |
| Votive |
a chant or hymn honoring a particular saint, or the
Virgin Mary |
| Vou-veri-rou |
lullaby from Majorca (Spain) |
| V.S. |
abbreviation for volti subito, turn over
quickly |
| Vuelie |
Sami storytelling song |
| Vuoto, Vuota |
(Italian) empty as in corda vuota meaning
'open string' |
