5 Music Terms For The Day

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Prestissimo - Very, very fast. The fastest tempo.

Run - A rapid scale passage. 

Sinistra - Left hand.

Tre - Three. Used with other terms, e.g. a tre voci, in three parts.

Appoggiatura - A nonharmonic tone, usually a half or whole step above the harmonic tone, which is performed on the beat and then resolved. 

5 Music Terms For The Day

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Transposition - The process of changing the key of a composition.

Appassionato - Impassioned.

Concert grand piano - The largest of the grand pianos, usually about nine feet long. 

Du - "From the," "of the."

Molto - Very. Used with other terms, e.g. molto allegro. 

5 Music Terms For The Day

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Down bow - In the violin family, drawing the bow downward from its frog. The symbol is: .

Modulation - The process of changing from one key to another within a composition.

Premiere - First performance.

Ruhig - Quiet. 

Sin' - Until.

5 Music Terms For The Day

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Rudiments - On drums, the basic sticking patterns.

Simile - An indication to continue in the same manner.

Tranquillo - Tranquilly; quietly; calm.

A piacere - Freedom in performance. Synonymous with ad libitum.

Con calore - With warmth.

5 Music Terms For The Day

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Animato - Animated; lively. 

Con brio - With spirit; vigorously.  

Down beat - The first beat; given by the conductor with a downward stroke. 

Modern - Music written in the 20th century or contemporary music. 

Prelude - "Play before." An introductory movement or piece.  

5 Music Terms For The Day

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Rubato - The term used to denote flexibility of tempo to assist in achieving expressiveness. 

Shifting meter - The changing of meter within a composition. Synonymous with changing meter.  

Tosto - Quick. 

A niente - To nothing, e.g. to ppp.  

Con - With.

5 Music Terms For The Day

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Andantino - Slightly faster than andante.

Composer - A person who creates (composes) music. 

Double tonguing - On flute and brass instruments, the technique of rapidly articulating notes by using the front and the back of the tongue in alternation (t-k-t-k-t-k).

Moderato - Moderate speed. 

Postlude - "Play after." The final piece in a multi-movement work. Organ piece played at the end of a church service.

5 Music Terms For The Day

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Poi - Then or afterwards, e.g. poi No. 3, then No. 3.

Round - Like the canon, a song in which two or more parts having the same melody, starting at different points. The parts may be repeated as desired. 

Sheet music - An individually printed song, most often for voice, piano, guitar,or a combination of the three. Any printed music.  

Tono - Tone, key, pitch.

Andante - Moderate tempo. 

5 Music Terms For The Day

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Tonic - The first note of a key. Also, the name of the chord built on the first degree of the scale, indicated by I in a major key or i in a minor key. 

Ancora - Repeat.

Complete cadence - I-IV-V-I progression.

Double sharp - A symbol for raising pitch one step.

Mode - Any scalewise arrangement of pitches; more generally, the term refers to the patterns upon which medieval music was structured, the patterns which preceded the development of major and minor scales and tonality.

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Double flat - A symbol for lowering pitch one step.

Mit - With.

Poco piu mosso - A little more motion. 

Root position - The arrangement of a chord in which the root is in the lowest voice.

Sharp - A symbol which raises the pitch of a note one-half step.

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Root - The note upon which a triad or chord is built.

Sforzando, Sfz, Sf - Sudden strong accent on a note or chord.

Tonguing - On wind instruements, articulation with the tongue.

Alto clef - The C clef falling on the third line of the staff. Most of the time is used by the viola

Common time - 4/4 meter.

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Alteration - The raising or lowering of a note by means of an accidental.

Col, coll', colla - With or "with the." 

Double bar - Two vertical lines placed on the staff to indicate the end of a section or a composition. Also, used with two dots to enclose repeated sections.

Misterioso - Mysteriously. 

Poco ced., Cedere - A little slower.

5 Music Terms For The Day

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Tone clusters - The simultaneous sounding of two or more adjacent tones. 

Al segno - Return to the sign, Dal segno. 

Coda - Closing section of a composition. An added ending.

Dominant - The fifth degree of the major or minor scale. Also, the term for the triad built on the fifth degree, labelled V in harmonic analysis.  

Minor - The designation for certain intervals and scales. A key based on a minor scale is called a minor key. The three types of minor scales include natural, hormonic, and melodic, which is used infrequently in choral music. The patterns for natural and harmonic scales are:

 Natural: whole      half       whole    whole     half       whole     whole
                 step       step       step       step       step       step      step
 
 Harmonic: whole     half      whole     whole     whole     1 1/2     half
                    step       step      step       step        step       step       step

 Melodic:
 ascending: whole     half       whole    whole     whole     whole     half
                   step       step       step       step        step       step       step

 descending: whole     whole     half      whole     whole     half      whole
                     step       step       step       step       step       step      step

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Middle C - The note C in the middle of the Grand staff, and near the middle of the piano.


Poco - Little. Used with other terms, e.g. poco accel., also, poco a poco, little by little. 

Romanticism - The period c. 1825-1900.

Seventh chord - When a seventh (above the root) is added to a triad (root, third, fifth), the result is a seventh chord, e.g. the dominant triad in the key of C major, g-b-d, with the added seventh becomes g-b-d-f and is labelled V7.

Tone - A note; the basis of music.

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Seventh - The seventh degree of the diatonic scale. Also, the interval formed by a given tone and the seventh tone above or below it, e.g. c up to b, or c down to d. Intervals of the seventh may be major, minor, diminished, or augmented.

Tonality - The term used to describe the organization of the melodic and harmonic elements to give a feeling of a key center or a tonic pitch.

Allegro - Quick tempo; cheerful.

Clef - A symbol placed at the beginning of the staff to indicate the pitch of the notes on the staff. The most commonly used clefs in choral music are the G, or treble, clef and the F or bass clef  . On the keyboard, all the notes above middle C are said to be in the G clef; all the notes below middle C in the F clef.

Doloroso - Sadly; mournfully.

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Classical - Music conforming to certain form and structure. Usually music composed during the period 1770-1825. 

Dolcissimo - Very sweetly. 

Middle Ages - European historical period between roughly A.D. 500 and 1450. 

Plagal cadence - Sometimes called the "amen" cadence. The chordal progression of subdominant to tonic, in a major key IV-I, in minor iv-i. 

Roll - On percussion instruments, a sticking technique consisting of a rapid succession of notes:

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Pizzicato - "Pinched." On string instruments, plucking the string.

Ritmico - Rhythmically. 

Sereno - Serene, peaceful.

Time signature - Synonymous with meter signature. 

Allegretto - Slower than allegro.

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Tie - A curved line over or below two or more notes of the same pitch. The first pitch is sung or played and held for the duration of the notes affected by the tie. 

Allargando, allarg - Slowing of tempo, usually with increasing volume; most frequently occurs toward the end of a piece.  

Circle of fifths - The succession of keys or chords proceeding by fifths.

Dolce - Sweetly. 

Mi - In solmization, the third degree of the major scale.

5 Music Terms For The Day

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Do - The first degree of the major scale. 


Mezzo piano - Medium soft.

Piu - More. Used with other terms, e.g. piu mosso, more motion.

Ritenuto - Immediate reduction in tempo.

Serenade - A love song or piece, usually performed below someone's window in the evening.