| A (It.), À (Fr.) |
by, for, in, to, with, in the manner of |
| A |
abbreviation for alto, as, for example, in
SATB, the four voices in a choir; the
name of the scale note, the sixth in the scale
of C major, commonly used to set the pitch of a
musical instrument or of an orchestra (in
particular, a'=440 Hz where Hz is the unit of
frequency equivalent to one cycle per second)
and which in 'fixed do' solfeggio is called
la; a term used to 'name' the first section
of a piece of music in binary form, ternary
form, etc. |
| A or AV |
(V is an abbreviation for Verzeichnis)
after Altner the cataloguer of music by
Frantisek Xaver Dusek (1731-1799); after Erich
H. Müller von Asow the cataloguer of music by
Richard Strauss (1864-1949); after Gerhard
Allroggen the cataloguer of music by Ernst
Theodor Amadeus Hoffman (1776-1822) |
| Ab |
(German) off (used in German organ music to
disengage a stop previously on) |
| A ballata |
(Italian) in the style of a ballad |
| Abandonné (Fr.), Abbandono (It.) |
negligent, free-and-easy; in Italian can
also mean impassioned |
| Abandonatamente |
(Italian) vehemently, violently |
| A battuta |
(Italian) with the beat, in strict time |
| Abbassare |
(Italian) 'to lower', in the sense of 'to
tune a string down' |
| Abbellimento (sing.), Abbellimenti (pl.) |
(Italian) embellishment(s), ornament(s) |
| Abbellire |
(Italian) to ornament |
| Abdämpfen |
(German) to dampen, to mute |
| Abend |
(German) evening |
| Abendlied |
(German) evening song |
| Abendmusik |
(German) originating in the
seventeenth-century, evening music usually of a
religious or contemplative nature |
| Aber |
(German) but |
| Abgesang |
see 'bar form' |
| Abgestossen |
(German) to play notes detached, to play
staccato |
| Ab initio |
(Latin) from the beginning |
| Abkurzung |
(German) abridgement, abbreviation |
| Ablösen |
(German) to play notes detached, to play
staccato |
| Abnehmend |
(German) diminuendo, to soften gradually |
| Abonnement |
(French, literally 'subscription') a term
used in certain European opera houses for
various kinds of subscription series, an
important source of finance; in Germany the
subscribers are called Abonnenten, in
France abonnés and in Italy abbonati. |
| Aboriginal music |
the music of the indigenous people's of
Australia is diverse and complex, and depending
on the region, may or may not include
vocalization (hissing, grunting, shouting,
shrieking, falsettos, growlings as well as
enunciated syllabic and melismatic singing of
words), nonsense syllables, chanting, vibrato,
tremelo, continuous singing and bitonality.
Rhythms are often polymetric though isorhythms
do occur. Melodic lines tend to begin loudly on
high pitches ending on low softly sustained
notes. Harmonies include trills, on intervals
that are less than quarter tones, drones,
thirds, fourths and fifths, canons, and the
singing of two distinct and separate parts |
| Abrege |
(French) abridgement; also a French term for
the tracker mechanism in an organ |
| Abruzzese |
a song or dance from the Abruzzi district of
eastern Rome
more... |
| Absetzen |
(German) to play notes detached, to play
staccato |
| Absolute music |
term used for music dependent on its
structure alone for comprehension, the
antithesis of program music - for example, a
Bach fugue |
| Absolute pitch |
also called 'perfect pitch', a strong
conscious or unconscious memory of musical pitch
more... |
| Abstossen |
(German) to play notes detached, to play
staccato |
| Abstract music |
see 'absolute music' |
| Abwechseln, Abzuwechseln |
(German) to change one's instrument;
changing parts in polyphony; in organ playing
changing manuals |
| A cappella |
(Italian) music that is vocal or choral but
without instrumental accompaniment |
| A capriccio |
(Italian) capriciously; as the player wishes |
| Accarezzevole, Accarezzevolmente |
(Italian) caressing, caressingly |
| Accelerando, Accel. (abbrev.) |
(Italian) accelerating, getting steadily
faster |
| Accelerato |
(Italian) accelerated |
| Accent |
a stress or emphasis placed upon a note or a
passage indicating an elevated importance
more... |
| Accented passing note |
an accented passing note could be considered
an appoggiatura or dissonance that occurs on a
weak beat. Although this is an oxymoron, since
appoggiaturas, by definition, occur on strong
beats, it does make some sense. The dissonance
occurs on a weak beat, but the resolution of the
dissonance occurs on a weaker portion of the
beat. Therefore, the dissonance does occur on a
stronger portion of the beat in relation to its
resolution. Accented passsing notes, as their
names imply, are approached and left by step.
|
| Accento, Accentato |
(Italian) accent, accented |
| Accentué |
(French) accented |
| Accentuare |
(Italian) to mark with an accent; accessory
notes (for example: the upper note in a trill,
or the notes above and below the written note in
a turn) |
| Acciaccato |
(Italian) a spread chord, played from top to
bottom; brusquely, forcibly |
| Acciaccatura |
|
(Italian) 'crushed' note, grace note
(written with a diagonal line through
the note hook or flag)
more...
|
|
| Accidental |
|
also called an 'inflection'; sign
for raising (using a sharp or double
sharp) or lowering (using a flat or
double flat) the pitch of a note or of
cancelling (using a natural) a
previously applied sign (note: the sharp
and flat signs in a key signature are
not strictly accidentals although this
term is commonly used to describe them)
more...
|
|
| Accidental chord |
chord containing one or more notes foreign
to its proper harmony |
| Accolada (It.), Accolade (Fr.) |
see 'brace' |
| Accompagnato |
(Italian) accompanied, accompanying; where
the accompanist must follow the singer allowing
the singer to vary the tempo as he or she wishes |
| Accompanied |
performing to an accompaniment (q.v.) |
| Accompaniment |
support provided by harmonically or
melodically to the main theme in a piece of
music, which although designed to be subordinate
may, on occasions, dominate, for example, when
the melody line is not playing or, on the piano,
when left hand chords accompany a melody in the
right hand |
| Accompany |
to perform with another but in a subordinate
role, i.e. not as equals |
| Accoppiare, Accoppiamento (noun form) |
(Italian) coupled (ref. organ stops) |
| Accord |
(French) chord, tuning |
| Accordare |
(Italian) to tune |
| Accordato, Accordati, Accordata,
Accordate |
(Italian, various forms) tuned |
| Accordatura |
(Italian) tuning |
| Accordéon |
(French) accordion |
| Accorder, Accordé |
(French) to tune, tuned |
| Accordion |
a portable, box-shaped musical instrument,
developed in Saxony (Germany) and Bohemia (Czech
Republic), with metal reeds set in motion by air
from a bellows operated by the player; the notes
are operated either by playing on a piano-like
keyboard or buttons, or a combination of the two
more... |
| Accordo |
(Italian) chord |
| Accoupler |
(French) coupled (organ stops) |
| Accrescendo |
(Italian) getting louder |
| Accusé, Accuseée |
(French) emphasised |
| Achere |
Cuban santería shaker |
| Achromatic |
see 'diatonic' |
| Acht |
(German) eight, care |
| Achtel, Achtelnote |
|
(German) a quaver, a note one eighth
the time value of a whole note or
semibreve |
|
| Achtelpause |
|
(German) a quaver rest, a rest one
eighth the time value of a whole rest or
semibreve rest |
|
| Achtstimmung |
(German) in eight parts or voices |
| Acid rock |
a genre of American rock, often associated
with psychedelic drugs, that emerged in the late
1960's |
| Acme siren |
a percussion instrument comprising a
cylinder shaped body with a fan-like blade
mounted inside, in which, as the performer blows
into the cylinder, the blades are set into
motion to create a high-pitched whistle effect
that determined by the speed of the blades
raises or lowers the pitch
more...
|
| Acoustic |
a term used to distinguish a non-electric
instrument from its electric version |
| Acoustics |
properly a branch of physics and sensory
physiology, associated with the study and
understanding of the production, transmission
and sensation of tone
more... |
| Action |
a generic term for the mechanism of various
keyboard instruments |
| Action Notation |
a musical notation which gives mechanical
directions to a musical performer but without
giving any indication of the resulting sound -
for example, John Cage's 4' 33" |
| Acute |
see 'springer' |
| Acutus |
|
(Greek) earliest form of musical
notation from the two signs of Greek
prosody indicating stress, pitch and
length of syllables in the text to be
performed; the actus indicates a
rising inflection
|
|
| Adagissimo, Adagietto, Adagio |
(Italian) slow, although adagietto is
generally less slower than adagio which
is less slow than adagissimo |
| Adamo |
Nigerian talking drum |
| Additive meter, Additive time signature |
patterns of beats that subdivide into
smaller, irregular groups, for example, 2 + 3 +
2 + 3 = 10; a meter common in certain types of
Eastern European music |
| Addolcendo |
(Italian) becoming sweet or soft |
| Addolorato |
(Italian) in a mournful manner |
| Ad-duff |
Mozambique frame drum |
| Adel |
(German) nobility |
| À demi-jeu |
(French) with half the power or strength |
| À demi-voix |
(French) with half the power of the voice |
| À deux (Fr.), A due (It.) |
(literally 'for two') for two performers or
two instruments; used also to show where two
instruments playing from the same part or score
are to play in unison, after divisi or a
solo passage for one of the instruments |
| À deux cordes |
(French) playing on two strings |
| Adirato |
(Italian) angered, irate |
| Adja |
Brazilian metal bell |
| Ad libitum, Ad. lib. |
(Latin, literally 'at will') at pleasure, as
you wish it |
| Adodo |
a cluster of non-resonant bells forged to
each end of a metal rod, from Ghana |
| Adowa drums |
carved drums from Ghana with peg tuning:
fontomfrom and antumpan are headed
with cowskin while the others are headed with
the skin of antelope |
| A due corde |
(Italian) playing on two strings |
| Adufé |
Portuguese and Brazilian tambourine |
| Adufo |
see cuica |
| Adungu |
a seven to ten stringed harp of the Alur
people from Uganda |
| Advent |
Christian religious observance which
takesplace in the four weeks immediately
preceeding Christmas |
| Adyá |
Cuban metal rattle |
| Aehnlich, Ähnlich |
(German) anxious |
| Aeolian Harp |
a box across which lie strings of various
thicknesses, stretched and tuned in unison,
which when placed in a window and the strings
are excited by the wind, emits chords of
harmonics
more... |
| Aeolian mode |
see
modes |
| Aerophone |
(from two Greek words for air, aeros
and sound, phone) instruments such as
flutes, whistles and horns that produces sound
by using air as the primary mechanism for
generating vibrations |
| Aeusserst, Äusserst |
(German) extremely |
| Affabile |
(Italian) in a gentle pleasant manner; in an
affable manner |
| Affabilissant |
(French) diminuendo, a steady
softening |
| Affannato |
(Italian) in a distressful or anxious manner |
| Affannoso, Affannosamente |
(Italian) distressed or anxious,
distressingly or anxiously |
| Affection |
a persistent emotional state of mind, such
as wonder, fear, joy, rage |
| Affections, doctrine of |
a theory that arose during the Baroque
period that associated certain musical methods
and figures to arouse or portray particular
emotions, for example, faster notes and major
sonorities with happiness, minor keys and slower
movement with sadness, loudness and harsh
discordant harmonies with anger |
| Affekt, Affektvoll |
(German) fervour, full of fervour |
| Affetto |
(Italian) affection |
| Affettuosamente |
(Italian) affectionately |
| Affettuoso (masc.), Affettuosa (fem.) |
(Italian, literally 'with feeling') with
tenderness, tenderly |
| Affezione |
(Italian) affection |
| Afflitto |
(Italian) afflicted, sad, melancholy |
| Afflizione |
(Italian) affliction |
| Affrettare |
(Italian) to hurry |
| Affrettando |
(Italian, literally 'becoming agitated')
hurrying, in a quickening tempo |
| Affrettato, Affrettoso, Affrettuoso |
(Italian) hurried |
| Affrettatamente |
(Italian) in a hurrying manner |
| Afoxe |
a shaker from Brazil |
| Afrobeat |
the fusion of West African and black
American music |
| Afroxê |
a rhythm from Bahia (Brazil) used in the
street parades by the bloco afros and in
ceremonies for the orixas. The
instrumentation is like a reduced samba
batucada, and the rhythm is somewhat similar
to samba |
| Afterbeat |
an accent placed on any beat in a bar
(measure) other than the first |
| Afuche |
a Brazilian shaker comprised of a dried
hollow gourd with a handle and a net of metal
beads loosely attached around the outside
surface |
| Agbe |
the Yoruba term for a beaded gourd
instrument or shaker, from Nigeria |
| Agboba |
a large barrel bass drum from Ghana, 0.9
metres tall, with a closed bottom |
| Agevole |
(Italian) lightly and easily, unlaboured |
| Agevolezza |
(Italian) ease |
| Aggiustamente, Aggiustatamente |
(Italian) rhythmically exact |
| Aggradevole |
(Italian) agreeable |
| Agiatamente |
(Italian) free or comfortable tempo |
| Agilement (Fr.), Agilmente (It.) |
in an agile manner |
| Agilità (It.), Agilité (Fr.) |
in an agile and nimble fashion |
| Agitato, Agiatatamente |
(Italian) agitated, agitatedly, excited,
fast, hurried, restless |
| Agité |
(French) agitated, agitatedly |
| Agitirt, Agitiert |
(German) agitated, agitatedly |
| Agitazione, Agitamento |
(Italian) agitation |
| Agnus Dei |
(Greek, literally 'lamb of God') the fifth
part of ordinary of the Roman Catholic Mass |
| Agogic |
the slight variations of rhythmic strength,
tempo, accent and volume derived from the nature
of a particular musical phrase in contrast to
the regular pulse set by the time signature, for
example, by accentuating a note by holding it
for longer, rather than by playing it more
forcefully |
| Agréable charivari |
(French, literally 'pleasant tumult') a term
used by the French theorist M. de St. Lambert in
his Nouveau traité de l'accompagnemant
(1707) to describe a brilliant and virtuosic
style of musical accompaniment in the
seventeenth- and eighteenth-century |
| Agrément, Agréments |
(French, literally 'charm') ornaments, grace
notes, acciaccatura |
| Agreste |
(French) rural |
| Agual |
Middle Eastern women's frame drum |
| Agüe |
see agbe |
| Aguinaldo |
Christmas songs from Spain and Spanish
America; in Puerto Rico, traveling amateur
musicians would perform aguinaldos from
house to house |
| Agwal |
small clay barrel drum used by taskiwin
dancers in the western Great Atlas region of
Morocco |
| Agwe |
see agbe |
| Ähnlich, Aehnlich |
(German) similar, like |
| Ahwash |
the term given by the Chleuh people of
Morocco to many collective dances that are sung
or played with a flute and accompanied by drums |
| Ai |
(Italian) at the, to the |
| Aiapá |
Brazilian shaker |
| Aidjé |
Brazilian bullroarer |
| Aigu, Aiguë |
(French) shrill, high pitch |
| Air, Ayre |
tune, tuneful song, art song accompanied by
the lute or viola da gamba |
| Air de cour |
(French, literally 'court song') monodic
song or chanson often with a simple lute
accompaniment |
| Ais |
(German) the note 'A sharp' |
| Aise |
(French) ease |
| Aisis |
(German) the note 'A double sharp' |
| Aita |
a stringed instrument from the Baka forest
people of southeast Cameroon |
| Ait atta |
a Moroccan harvest dance performed by men
and women |
| Ait bodar |
a Moroccan warrior dance performed only by
men. They link arms as if welded to each other
and chant their song during a continuous
backwards and forward movement. The dance
appears to symbolize the indivisible unity that
should link the warrior of the tribe in the face
of the enemy |
| Ait bouguemaz |
see ait bugemaz |
| Ait bugemaz |
a Moroccan dance. The central figure wears a
costume different from the rest of the group.
The leader has a pointed bonnet covered with a
strip of white muslin and plays a double flute.
He is the only professional in the group and
produces a nasal buzzing with his instrument
that has a striking effect while the men and
women of the village turn in a circle. The dance
is at times light, composed of slides and little
steps, or more dynamic when the performers stamp
hard on the ground. It is an abstract dance by
the mountain folk but it has the virility also
of warrior dances. Poems are recited |
| Ajaeng |
Korean seven-string zither |
| Aji |
an Igede tin whistle associated primarily
with children’s ensembles in Nigeria |
| Ajouter |
(French) to add |
| Ajsino oro |
Albanian dance for men and women, in
separate circles |
| Akadinda |
a very large Ugandan xylophone with
twenty-two keys, played by four people with the
following titles: omunazi, the first
player who plays the main tune, abaawuzi,
the two players who join the first player with
the second development to create an
intermixture, and omukoonezi, the one who
using motifs from the other three parts produces
a syncopated accompaniment |
| Akogo |
Ugandan thumb piano |
| Akoko |
rattle made out of nutshells |
| Akonting |
African long lute from Gambia, believed to
be one of the direct ancestors of the American
banjo |
| Akuba |
African conga drums |
| Akkord |
(German) chord |
| Akkordieren |
(German) to tune |
| Al |
(Italian) at the, to the, in the |
| Al |
after Antonio de Almeida, the cataloguer of
music by Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) |
| Ala |
a three finger-hole free reed pipe of the
Bahnar people of the Central Highlands of
Vietnam, The fibre reed is mounted on a small
block of wood, held in place with a string, and
sound is produced by the player inhaling
more... |
| À la, À l' |
(French) to the, at the, on the, with the,
in the manner of |
| Alabanzas |
religious praise songs in Spain and Spanish
America |
| Á la corde |
(French) with the bow kept on the string,
i.e. playing legato |
| Alalás |
(Spanish) traditional Galician folk-song |
| À la pointe d'archet |
(French) at the tip (or point) of the bow |
| Alba |
troubadour or trouvère song about a lover's
morning departure from his beloved after an
illicit tryst |
| Alberti Bass |
a simple accompaniment consisting of broken
chords, usually 'tonic, dominant, mediant,
dominant' in succession, named after the Italian
composer Domenico Alberti (c.1710-1740) |
| Alboka |
traditional Basque horn instrument built out
of cane, wood or animal horn with a double reed,
like a clarinet and formed of two bamboo tubes,
one with five holes, and the other with three.
One end contains a mouthpiece made of horn with
a holder for the two reeds while the other end
is made of a larger horn which acts as a
resonator |
| Alborada |
(Spanish) morning music, particular of a
rough pastoral form |
| Alboreá |
(Spanish) gypsy wedding song; a flamenco
style |
| Albumblatt |
(German) a page or leaf from a book, or a
short, easy piece |
| Alcatraza |
flirtatious and erotic dance from Peru. It's
a couple's dance. Traditionally, the woman has a
piece of tissue between her legs while the man
dances with a lit candle trying to light the
tissue. If the man can light the woman's fire,
that means that she is his |
| Alcuno, Alcuna, Alcun' |
(Italian) some |
| Aleatoric, Aleatory |
(Latin, alea meaning 'dice') a
compositional technique where the choice of
pitch, rhythmic value and order of events is
left to chance; not to be confused with
"indeterminacy" or "improvisation" |
| Alegrías |
a joyful flamenco dance, with twelve
beats, from the province of Cádiz, that is the
result of a 'flamenco-ised' Aragonese
jota |
| Alfandoque |
South American maracas |
| Al fine |
(Italian) to the end |
| Algozey |
a wooden, beaked double-flute traditionally
played by goat herders in the Punjab who hold a
drone note creating a melodious, hypnotic sound.
This instrument is used in the Bhangra dance
form |
| Aliquot strings |
(Latin, aliquot meaning 'several')
extra sympathetic strings placed above the
strings to be struck on a piano, used to add
tonal lustre |
| All', Alla |
(Italian) to the, at the, on the, with the,
in the manner of, in the style of |
| Alla breve |
 |
also called 'cut time'; marked with
a large C with a vertical line through
it, used for quick duple time in which
the minim or half note is given one beat
instead of two
more... |
|
| Alla caccia |
(Italian) in the style of a hunting piece |
| Allant |
(French) going on, continuing to get |
| Allargando, Allarg. (abbrev.) |
(Italian) getting slower and slower, with a
fuller tone |
| Alla turca |
(Italian) in the Turkish style, for example,
Mozart's rondeau alla turca |
| Alla zingarese |
(Italian) in a gypsy style |
| Alle |
(German) all; (Italian) to the |
| Allegramente (It.), Allègrement (Fr.) |
brightly, gaily |
| Allegretto |
(Italian) lively but less so than allegro |
| Allegrissimo |
(Italian) very fast tempo marking between
presto and vivacissimo |
| Allegro |
(Italian) quick, lively, bright, not as fast
as presto |
| Allegro assai |
(Italian) very quick |
| Allegro giusto |
(Italian) quick with precision |
| Allegro moderato |
(Italian) moderately quick |
| Allegro non troppo |
(Italian) fast, but not too fast |
| Allein |
(German) alone, single |
| Allemand, Allemande, Almand, Almain,
Almayne |
(French, meaning 'German') a dance of German
origin with 4 moderate beats to the bar,
although sometimes written as two longer beats
in a bar, often the first movement in a suite of
dances; in the late eighteenth- and early
nineteenth-century, a quick dance written in
triple time, the precursor of the waltz (q.v.) |
| Alleluia |
a highly melismatic responsoral chant from
the mass; the third element in the Proper of the
Roman Catholic Mass |
| Allentamento, Allentando |
(Italian) slowing, slowing down |
| Alliteration |
characteristic of ancient Northern European
poetry such as Beowulf, the use of words, close
together, with the same initial letter; adopted
by Richard Wagner in Der Ring des Nibelungen,
for example, Nach Welten-Wonne
mein Wunsch verlangte aus wild
webendem Bangen. |
| Allmählich, Allmählig, Allmälig |
(German) gradually, little by little |
| Allonger |
(French) to lengthen the notes, to slow the
tempo |
| Allora |
(Italian) then |
| Allorto |
after Ricardo Allorto the cataloguer of
music by Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) |
| Allun |
a frame drum with cymbals used by the Berber
Chleuhs of Morocco |
| Allure |
(French) manner |
| Alma Redemptoris Mater |
one of the Marian antiphons
more... |
| Almirez |
(Spanish) metallic mortar used in popular
Andalusian folk music |
| Alo |
long hollow Nigerian gong that can be made
of smooth or forged metal |
| Alogoza |
double flutes from India, one drone, one
melodic |
| Alphorn (Ger.), Alpenhorn (Ger.), Alpine
Horn (Eng.), Cor des Alpes (Fr.) |
a Swiss peasant instrument made of wood
(often birch) two to three metres in length with
a cornet mouthpiece that plays notes of the
harmonic series
more... |
| Als |
(German) as, like, when, than |
| Al segno, Dal segno |
(Italian) go back to the sign, or go on to
the sign |
| Also |
(German) thus |
| Alt, Alta (It.), Altissimo (It.) |
high, highest (pertaining to range), for
example, notes of the first octave above the
treble staff (g'' to f''') are said to be 'in
alt'; the notes of the second higher octave are
said to be 'in altissimo'. |
| Al Tedesca |
in the German style |
| Alteration |
the raising or lowering of a note by means
of an accidental, i.e. a double sharp, sharp,
double flat, flat or natural sign |
| Altered chord |
a chord in which a note has been changed
from its normal position, usually chromatically |
| Alternate singing |
where two choirs sing alternately, for
example in a church service where the choir
responds to the chant sung by the priest |
| Alternative fingering |
also called 'substitute fingering',
different combinations of covered and uncovered
holes on a wind instrument that all produce the
same pitch even if not with the same tone
quality, often used to provide tonal contrast;
also used to make the playing of passage work
easier |
| Alternativo |
(Italian) alternating one movement with
another |
| Altflöte |
(German) alto flute |
| Altgeige |
(German) viola |
| Altissimo |
(Italian) very high |
| Altiste |
viola player, alto singer |
| Alto |
(Italian, meaning 'high') highest male
voice, a male falsetto, also a woman's voice or
that of a child; (French) the viola |
| Alto clef |
see
alto clef |
| Altposaune |
(German) alto trombone |
| Altra, Altre, Altro, Altri |
(Italian) another, others |
| Altra volta |
(Italian) encore, play it again |
| Alumaru |
a flute of the Iteso people from Uganda |
| Alzato, Alzati, Alzata, Alzate |
(Italian) raised, lifted off, unmuted |
| Am |
(German) at the, on the, to the, by the,
near the |
| Amabile |
(Italian) lovable, sweet |
| Amabilità |
(Italian) lovableness |
| Amadinda |
Ugandan log xylophone, also known as
embairé |
| À mains |
(French) with two hands |
| Amarevole, Amarezza |
(Italian) bitterly, bitterness |
| Amarg |
poetry sung by women from the Atlas region
of Morocco; poetry sung by Chleuhs, wandering
minstrels |
| Amazigh |
music performed by the Berbers of
Northwestern Africa |
| Ambiance, ambience |
sounds in the background arising from the
environment |
| Ambio |
a pair of resonant wooden sticks of wood,
struck together, from Madagascar |
| Ambit (Eng.), Ambitus (Latin) |
pitch range of a mode or plainchant; narrow
ambitus is typically a sixth or less,
normal ambitus about an octave, while a
wide ambitus might be an eleventh or more |
| Amboss |
(German) anvil |
| Ambrosian chant |
purely diatonic series of sacred melodies or
chants collected and introduced into the
Catholic Church by St. Ambrose (c. 339-397) |
| Âme (Fr.), Anima (It.) |
the sound post of a stringed instrument,
literally 'the soul' |
| Amen |
(Hebrew) so be it |
| Amen cadence |
see 'plagal cadence' |
| Ametric |
without a time signature or meter as in
Gregorian chant |
| Am Frosch |
(German, literally 'at the frog') using that
part of the bow near the heel or frog |
| Am Griffbret |
(German, literally 'at the fingerboard') to
bow the strings over the fingerboard rather than
between fingerboard and bridge |
| Amore |
(Italian) love, tenderness, affection |
| Amorevole, Amorevolmente, Amoroso,
Amorosamente |
(Italian) loving, lovingly |
| Amour |
(French) love |
| Amphibrach |
a musical foot consisting of one short, one
long, and one short note or syllable
more... |
| Ampleur |
(French) breadth |
| Amponga |
a simple cylindrical two-headed drum from
Madagascar |
| Am Steg |
(German, literally 'on the bridge') to bow
on the strings very close to the bridge |
| An |
(German) on, by, to, at |
| Anacrusis, Anacruses (plural) |
also called up-beat(s) or pickup note(s),
unstressed syllable(s) at the beginning of a
phrase
more... |
| Anacrustic |
a phrase that starts and ends in the middle
of a bar; a phrase that begins on the downbeat
of a bar and ends at the end of a bar is said to
be crustic |
| Añada |
a Spanish lullaby |
| Analysis |
the study of the form and structure of music |
| Anandalahari |
see khomok |
| Anapest |
a musical foot comprising two short notes or
syllables, followed by one long
more... |
| Anblasen |
(German) to blow |
| Anche (Fr.), Ancia (It.) |
reed |
| Ancora |
(Italian) still, yet; for example, used with
tempo indications, such as ancora meno mosso
meaning 'still more slowly' |
| Andacht, Andächtig |
(German) devotion, devotional |
| Andaluz (Sp.), Andaluza (Sp.), Andalouse
(Fr.) |
various dances of Spanish origin |
| Andamento |
(Italian) going, of a running character |
| Andante |
(Italian, from andare meaning 'to
go') moving along, flowing, at a walking pace |
| Andantino |
(Italian) some use this word to mean slower
than andante, other mean quicker than
andante - is therefore best avoided |
| Andare |
(Italian) go on |
| Andauernd |
(German) lasting, continuing |
| Ander, Andere |
(German) other |
| An dro |
Breton circle dance |
| Anfang, Anfangs |
(German) beginning, at the beginning |
| Angemessen |
(German) suitable to |
| Angenehm |
(German) agreeable |
| Angklung |
tuned bamboo rattles from Java and Sumatra
(Indonesia), hung from a frame |
| Anglais, Anglaise |
(French) English; an English country dance,
sometimes part of the suite, in quick duple
time, always starting on a strong beat |
| Angore |
(Italian) pain, anxious wish |
| Angoscia |
(Italian) anguish |
| Angoscioso, Angosciosamente |
(Italian) with anguished feeling |
| Angriefen |
(German) to seize, to attack |
| Angst |
(German) anguish, anxiety |
| Ängstlich |
(German) anxious, uneasy |
| Anhalten |
(German) to hold on |
| Anhang |
(German) a supplement, coda |
| A niente |
to nothing, for example, to pppp |
| Animando, Animandosi, Animato |
(Italian) animating, become animated,
animated |
| Animé |
(French) animated |
| Animo, Animoso, Animosamente (adverb
form) |
(Italian) spirit, spirited |
| Anklung |
tuned bamboo slide rattles, used one in each
hand or suspended throughout Indonesia, Malaysia
and Thailand, usually having two or three
vertical bamboo tubes, tuned in octaves by
cutting an appropriate segments out of each
tube, attached to a handheld horizontal bamboo
rod which when shaken, the tubes slide along
grooves cut into the rectangular frame and
strike a bamboo or wooden rim
|
| Ankuoc |
a Jew's harp from Kampuchea that is found
both in metal and bamboo versions
more... |
| Anlaufen |
(German) to swell or grow in volume |
| Anmut, Anmuth, Anmutig |
(German) grace, graceful |
| Anna polka, Anna quadrille |
named for St. Anna or St. Anne (feast day
July 26) the mother of Mary. During the
eighteenth- and nineteenth-centuries, the
Annenfest, or Anna Festival, was celebrated,
mostly in Vienna, with theatrical performances,
serenades, fireworks, presents (garters, fans
etc.) and for which composers like the
Strausses, father and son, and Lanner wrote
Anna polkas and Anna quadrilles |
| Anonymous, Anon. (abbrev.) |
unknown, particular 'unknown composer' |
| Anreissen |
(German) very strong pizzicato |
| Anschlag |
(German) touch, attack, appoggiatura
before a principal note |
| Anschmiegend |
(German) compliant, yielding |
| Anschwellend |
(German) crescendo, gradually getting louder |
| Ansia |
(Italian) anxiety |
| Anstatt |
(German) instead of |
| Anstimmen |
(German) to tune |
| Anstrich |
(German) bow stroke |
| Answer |
a musical phrase that responds to another,
for example, in a fugue where the opening theme
is called 'the subject' and the second theme is
called 'the answer'; see 'real answer' and
'tonal answer' |
| Antara |
Chilean panpipes made of cane or clay |
| Antecedent |
the subject of a fugue or canon; the first
phrase of a musical period; the first of a pair
of musical statements, termed antecedent and
consequent, that complement each another in
rhythmic symmetry and harmonic balance |
| Anthem |
motet-like work generally on an English
text; verse anthem: for solo voice, choir and
instrumental accompaniment; full anthem: for
chorus without soloists; more commonly
associated with Protestant services frm about
1550 to the present time; a national anthem is a
national patriotic song; e.g. God Save the
Queen in the United Kingdom
more... |
| Antibacchius |
a musical foot of three syllables, the first
two long or accented, the third short, or
unaccented
more... |
| Anticipation |
a note played before a chord with which it
is a concord, where it is discordant with the
preceding chord |
| Antico, Antica, Antichi, Antiche |
(Italian) ancient, antique |
| Antike zimbeln |
(German) see 'crotales' |
| Antiphon |
(Greek, meaning 'sounding across') in the
Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox rite, a
liturgical chant sung as the response to the
verses of a psalm, generally fairly short and
simple in style; the term may also be applied to
a sacred song, e.g. Marian antiphons |
| Antiphonal |
a musical form where one section of
performers answers another |
| Antiphonal psalmody |
first present in Syria, antiphonal psalmody
spread to Milan and then further west. It was
also evident in the Jewish temples. Antiphonal
singing means that two choruses sing "back and
forth" to each other, much as an echo, though
not always to identical music. The antiphonal
parts of the Mass are the Introit, the
Offertory and the Communion |
| Antique cymbals |
see 'crotales' |
| Antithesis |
in a fugue, the answer |
| A ntsiva |
conch shell from Madagascar |
| Anwachsend |
(German) swelling in tone |
| Anzublasen |
(German) to be blown |
| Apaisé |
(French) more peacefully |
| Apala |
Yoruba style of talking drum percussion from
Nigeria |
| À peine |
(French) hardly, barely |
| Aperto |
(Italian, literally 'open') clear, distinct,
broad style |
| Aperture |
an opening, a hole |
| A piacere |
(Italian) as you want, as you wish, ad
libitum |
| A poco |
(Italian) by degrees, gradually |
| A poco a poco |
(Italian) little by little |
| Aponga |
drums from Madagascar |
| Appassionato, Appassionata |
(Italian) impassioned |
| Appassionatamente |
(Italian) passionately |
| Appassionamento |
(Italian) passion |
| Appena |
(Italian) hardly, barely |
| Appenato |
(Italian) as if distressed |
| Appoggiando, Appoggiato |
(Italian) portamento, legato,
playing smoothly, stressed, drawn out, leaning
on |
| Appoggiatura |
(Italian, meaning 'leaning') a note
preparatory to another or to a chord acting as
an unprepared suspension
more... |
| Appuyé, Appuyée |
(French) emphasised |
| Aprés |
(French) after |
| A punta d'arco |
(Italian) at the tip (or point) of the bow |
| Aquarelle |
(French, literally 'water-colour')
delicately textured |
| Aquitainian organum |
also called 'St. Martial organum';
twelfth-century medieval organum from
Aquitaine, south-west France, particularly
associated with the Abbey of St. Martial,
Limoges, in which an ornate upper voice moves
more quickly above the lower original plainchant
and in which the cadences are the perfect
unisons, fourths, fifths and octaves (also
called 'florid' or 'melismatic' organum) |
| Arabesque (Fr., Eng.), Arabeske (Ger.) |
florid (i.e. decorated) figure or
composition; name means 'Arabic decoration'; a
male ballet position |
| Arabesk |
popular Turkish music of Arabic rather than
Turkish origin |
| Arada |
(Spanish) a folk song associated with
ploughing |
| Aragonesa (Sp.), Aragonaise (Fr.) |
a dance associated with Aragon in Spain |
| Arcata, Arcato |
(Italian) bow stroke, bowed |
| Archet (Fr.), Arco (It.) |
bow, 'string' as in 'a single stringed
instrument'; used to mark a section to be played
with the bow rather than plucked with the finger
(i.e. pizzicato) |
| Arch |
a term applied to describe a melodic line
that first rises before falling to a cadence |
| Archi |
(Italian) bows, 'strings' as in 'a group of
stringed instruments' |
| Architectural acoustics |
a term used to describe how the flow of
sound is influenced by a building's structure;
the study and design of acoustically balanced
halls |
| Archlute |
a large lute popular both in Italy and
England during the Renaissance with an elongated
neck, fitted with two peg boxes, one to
accomodate unstopped strings necessary to
produce bass notes, the other to take the
remainder of the 13 or 14 single or double
courses of strings |
| Arco |
(Italian, literally 'bow') play a stringed
instrument with a bow as opposed to plucked or
pizzicato, as in col arco; the bow
of a stringed instrument |
| Ardemment |
(French) ardently |
| Ardente |
(Italian) ardent, with fire, vehemently |
| Ardito, Arditamente (adverb form) |
(Italian) bold, boldly |
| Ardore |
(Italian) ardour, with warmth |
| Areato |
(Italian) played with the bow |
| Areíto |
ceremonial dance of the taínos
Indians |
| Arghul |
a double reed instrument from North Africa
with two asymmetrical pipes, one the chanter
plays the melody and usually has 5 or 6
finger-holes while the second, the drone, is
much longer and produces only a single note. The
instrument is played inside the player's mouth
using circular breathing. Both pipes are made
from reed or other similar materials and are
attached together with strings, wax, tar or glue |
| Aria |
music written for a solo voice with
accompaniment, forming part of a larger work,
e.g. in an opera or cantata
more... |
| Arietta |
(Italian, meaning 'little aria') a short
simple aria |
| Ariñ ariñ |
ancient circle dance from Bilbao, in Spain’s
Basque Country. Men and women who participate in
pilgrimages dance it in couples |
| Arioso |
abbreviation for recitativo arioso, a
melodious recitative, a short air; also a free
lyric passage not formally organised as an aria |
| Arlecchiesco |
(Italian) in Harlequinade spirit |
| Armonia, Armonica |
(Italian) harmony, 'wind-band' |
| Armonioso, Armoniosamente |
(Italian) harmonious, harmoniously |
| Arpa |
(Italian) harp |
| Arpa anottolini |
(Italian) see 'hooked harp' |
| Arpa criolla |
Creole harp of Venezuela |
| Arpa de boca |
(Spanish) Jew's harp |
| Arpège (Fr.), Arpeggio (It.), Arpeggi
(It. plural) |
|
(Italian, meaning 'in the manner of
a harp') a spread chord played from the
top down or from the bottom up
more...
|
|
| Arpeggiare, Arpeggiando, Arpeggiato |
(Italian) to arpeggiate successive chords |
| Arpicordo |
older Italian name for the harpsichord |
| Arraché |
(French) strong pizzicato, strongly plucked |
| Arrange |
to set a work originally written for one
instrument (or set of instruments) for another
instrument or set of instruments |
| Arrangement |
a work that has been arranged |
| Arrolo, Arrorro |
a Spanish lullaby |
| Arsis |
as in arsis and thesis, respectively
'unstressed upbeats' and 'stressed downbeats' |
Ars nova (a)
Ars antiqua (b)
Ars subtilor (c) |
terms originating from the twelfth to
fourteenth centuries referring in turn to (a)
the older twelfth-century Paris style (Ars
antiqua or Ars vetus) characterised
by triple meter, (b) the newer, freer Florentine
school, a term used in a treatise by Philippe de
Vitry (Ars nova), the latter flowering
fully in the Italian madrigal of the following
centuries characterised by duple and triple
meter and some use of isorhythm, (c) a modern
term applied to music from late fourteenth and
early fifteenth France characterised by
intricate rhythms and unusual harmonies (Ars
subtilor) |
| Articolato (It.), Articulé (Fr.),
Artikuliert (Ger.) |
well articulated |
| Articolazione |
(Italian) articulation |
| Artig |
(German) well behaved, agreeable |
| Articulation |
staccato, legato, tenuto, etc. |
| Artificial harmonics |
high notes produced on a bowed instrument
where the strings is stopped lightly halfway
along its sounding length |
| Art song |
designed to stand alone and written for the
concert hall, rather than a traditional or folk
song, art song is usually sung by a solo voice
with accompaniment; in German it is called
lieder, while in French it is called
chanson |
| As |
(German) the note 'A flat' |
| Asas, Ases |
(German) the note 'A double flat' |
| Ascending |
a term applied in music to describe a rising
melodic line, that is one rising in pitch |
| A sharp |
the raised sixth note of the scale of C
major, called Li in French |
| Ashiko |
a cone-shaped drum of the Yoruba people
(Nigeria) made with strips of wood placed next
to one another and skinned with goat, antelope,
or rarely with cow skin that produces a resonant
bass tone when struck in the middle, and a high
tone when struck on the rim |
| Aso |
wooden xylophone from Benin, also known as
doso |
| Asperges me |
(Latin) sung during the purification of the
altar at the beginning of the Mass |
| Aspiratamente |
(Italian) aspiringly |
| Aspro, Aspra |
(Italian) rough, harsh |
| Assai |
(Italian) very, extremely |
| Assai piu |
(Italian) much more |
| Assez |
(French) enough, fairly |
| Assieme |
(Italian) together |
| A suo beneplacito, A suo benplacimento |
(Italian) as you please, at will, ad
libitum |
| Asymmetrical meter, Asymmetrical time
signature |
usually, meters (time signatures) with 5 or
7 as the top number |
| Ata |
a bamboo Jew's harps of the Lahu people of
southern China, and northern South East Asia
more... |
| Atabal |
or timbal, (Spanish) timpani |
| Atabal |
a wide cylindrical double-headed bass drum
from the Basque regions of Spain and France |
| Atabaque |
a conical single-headed Brazilian drum
shaped in the form of a barrel usually played in
threes, each of different size. The smallest
drum is called le', the middle drum is
called the rumpito and the largest is the
rum. Some drums are played with sticks
and others with the hands |
| Atamo |
Ethiopian drum, played by tapping the
fingers or the palm of the hand |
| Atang |
an Igede (Nigeria) brass bell used during
funerals |
| Atarigane |
a Japanese hand gong also known as
chan-chiki or kane, it is played held
in the hand or suspended by a cord and struck
with a deer horn mallet called the shumoku |
| Atempause |
(German) a small pause on a weak beat used
to strengthen the following strong beat |
| A tempo |
(Italian) the original speed; a direction to
return to the original speed after a deliberate
change of tempo |
| Atentenben |
soprano bamboo flute from Ghana |
| Atoke |
small single boat-shaped bell from Ghana,
that is laid in the open palm and played with a
metal striker |
| Atonal, Atonality |
music that avoids a key centre but is not
constructed on serial principles |
| Ator-ator |
the name given to Christmas songs in the
Spanish Basque Country |
| Atsimevu |
large lead drum from Ghana |
| Attacca |
(Italian, meaning 'attack') at once, attack,
immediately; used at the end of a section, the
term means 'go on immediately to the next
section without a pause' |
| Attacco |
short motif used in imitation or as a fugal
subject |
| Attack |
the beginning or manner of beginning a
piece, a passage, or a musical note |
| Attaque |
(French) attack |
| Attougblan |
a large standing drum from the Ivory coast |
| Atumpan |
a talking drum, normally played as the
master drum of an Adoa ensemble, played
as a pair with bent sticks by the Ashanti people
of Ghana |
| Atumpani |
big bass drum from Ghana, single skinned,
played with stick or by hand |
| Au |
(French) to the, at the |
| Aubade |
early morning music, music for dawn, as
opposed to serenade, music for the
evening |
| Auch |
(German) also, but |
| Audace |
(French) audacity, (Italian) audacious |
| Au dessous |
(French) beneath, less than |
| Audition |
the try-out that a musician must go through
before he or she is accepted into an ensemble;
also the try-outs for a solo role or performance |
| Auf |
(German) on |
| Aufführen |
(German) to perform |
| Aufführung |
(German) performance |
| Aufführungsrecht |
(German) performing right |
| Aufgeregt |
(German) excited |
| Aufgeweckt |
(German) lively |
| Aufhalten |
(German) to retard |
| Auflage |
(German) edition |
| Auflösen |
(German) to resolve a discord, to reset the
tuning of a string that has been tuned sharp, to
loosen, to release |
| Auflösung, Auflösungszeichen |
(German) natural sign |
| Aufschlag |
(German) up-beat |
| Aufschnitt |
(German) an omitted portion, a 'cut' |
| Aufschwung |
(German) uplifted |
| Aufstrich |
(German) up-stroke (of a bow) |
| Auftakt |
(German) up-beat |
| Aufzug |
(German) act (of an opera of play) |
| Augmentation, Augmented |
the lengthening of note values when
recapitulating a fugal theme adding to it's
dignity and weight; to increase a perfect or
major interval by one semitone (half-note); to
add to the standard forces in an orchestra,
choir or band |
| Augmented chord |
a chord that has an augmented interval
between its highest and lowest notes |
| Augmented sixth chord |
a chord which contains an augmented sixth
above the bass, in addition to various other
tones, which determine whether the chord is a
'German sixth chord', 'French sixth chord',
'Italian sixth chord', 'Neopolitan sixth chord',
or 'Doubly augmented sixth chord' |
| Augmented triad |
see
triads |
| Aulos |
double-reed pipe; played |
