Music Terms

Front 1

Accelerando

Back 1

becoming faster

Front 2

Accompaniment

Back 2

is an additional part for a performer of any kind that is less important than another, which it serves to support and enhance.

Front 3

Adagio

Back 3

is an indication of tempo and is sometimes used to describe a slow movement, even when the indication of speed at the start of the movement may be different.

Front 4

Allegro

Back 4

cheerful, lively

Front 5

Alto

Back 5

is the lower female or unbroken male voice, or male falsetto of similar range.

Front 6

Andante

Back 6

is a word used to suggest the speed of a piece of music, at walking pace.

Front 7

Baritone

Back 7

describes a type of male voice of middle range.

Front 8

Bass

Back 8

describes the lower register and lower sonorities in music.

Front 9

Beat

Back 9

The beat or pulse in a piece of music is the regular rhythmic pattern of the music.

Front 10

Cadence

Back 10

A cadence usually consists of two chords that provide musical punctuation at the end of phrases or sentences.

Front 11

Choir

Back 11

is a group of singers.

Front 12

Chord

Back 12

is the simultaneous sounding of two or more notes.

Front 13

Clef

Back 13

a sign that specifies the note to be indicated by one of the lines, from which other notes may be gauged.

Front 14

Da capo

Back 14

from the beginning

Front 15

Duet

Back 15

is a piece of music written for two performers.

Front 16

Forte

Back 16

loud

Front 17

Grave

Back 17

is used as an indication of tempo and mood, meaning slow and serious.

Front 18

Harmony

Back 18

describes the simultaneous sounding of two or more notes and the technique governing the construction of such chords and their arrangement in a succession of chords.

Front 19

Hymn

Back 19

is a song of praise, whether to a god, saint or hero.

Front 20

Interval

Back 20

is the distance in pitch between two notes, counted from the lower note upwards, with the lower note as the first of the interval.

Front 21

Key signature

Back 21

is the sharps or flats, or absence of either, at the beginning of a piece of music, indicating the sharps, flats and naturals belonging to the key of the music.

Front 22

Legato

Back 22

smooth

Front 23

Major

Back 23

is used in musical terminology to describe a form of scale that corresponds to the Ionian mode, the scale on the white notes of the keyboard from C to C. Latin: greater

Front 24

Measure

Back 24

is, in English, a bar, in the sense of the music written between the vertical bar-lines written on the stave to mark the metrical units of a piece of music.

Front 25

Metronome

Back 25

is a device, formerly based on the principle of the pendulum, but now controlled more often by electronic means, which measures the equal beats of a piece of music, as a guide to players.

Front 26

Minor

Back 26

is used in musical terminology to describe a form of scale that corresponds, in its natural form, to the Aeolian mode, the scale on the white notes of the keyboard from A to A. Latin: smaller

Front 27

Moto

Back 27

motion, movement

Front 28

Note

Back 28

is either a single sound or its representation in notation.

Front 29

Octave

Back 29

is an interval of an eighth, as for example from the note C to C or D to D.

Front 30

Part

Back 30

may indicate the line or music intended for a particular performer.

Front 31

Piano

Back 31

is generally represented by the letter p in directions to performers. (Italian: soft)

Front 32

Quartet

Back 32

is a composition for four players or the name for a group of four players.

Front 33

Rhythm

Back 33

an essential element in music in one way or another, is the arrangement of notes according to their relative duration and relative accentuation.

Front 34

Scale

Back 34

is a sequence of notes placed in ascending or descending order by step.

Front 35

Sextet

Back 35

is a composition for six players or the name of a group of six players.

Front 36

Septet

Back 36

is a composition for seven players or the name for a group of seven players.

Front 37

Soprano

Back 37

is the highest kind of female voice.

Front 38

Staff

Back 38

indicates the set of lines used for the notation of notes of different pitches.

Front 39

Tenor

Back 39

is the highest male voice, except for the falsetto or otherwise produced register of the male alto and male soprano.

Front 40

Trio

Back 40

is a composition designed for three players or the name of a group of three players.