Basic Musical Terms

Accelerando

Increase of tempo in music.

Accompaniment

Music that goes along with a more important part; often harmony or rhythmic patterns accompanying a melody.

Adagio

Slow, leisurely.

Allegretto

Moderately fast, lively. Faster than Andante, slower than allegro.

Allegro

Lively, brisk, rapid.

Andante

Moderately slow, a walking speed.

Chord

Three or more tones combined and sounded simultaneously.

Da Capo

From the beginning. (D.C. al coda, D.C. al fine.)

Diminuendo

Gradually growing softer. Decrescendo.

Dissonance

A simultaneous sounding of tones that produces a feeling of tension or unrest and a feeling that further resolution is needed.

Dolce

Sweetly, softly.

Espressione

Expressively.

Fine

The end of a musical piece.

Grave

Heavy, slow, ponderous in movement.

Harmony

The sound resulting from the simultaneous sounding of two or more tones consonant with each other.

Hemiola

A rhythmic pulse of 2 against a rhythmic pulse of 3.

Interval

The distance between two tones.

Legato

Smooth, flowing.

Largo

Large, broad, slow and stately.

Lento

Slow.

L’istesso tempo

The same tempo; the tempo remains as before, after a change was made.

Melody

An arrangement of single tones in a meaningful sequence.

Maestoso

Majestic, dignified.

Meno

Less.

Molto, molta

Much.

Ostinato

A repeated melodic or rhythmic fragment.

Piano

Soft, softly.

Pianissimo

Very soft.

Presto

Fast, rapid.

Phrase

A small section of a composition comprising a musical thought; comparable to a sentence in language.

Ritardando

Gradually growing slower.

Romantic

Relating to the nineteenth-century musical period characterized by subjectivity on the part of the composer, emotionalism in music, longer musical forms, and richer harmonies.

Rubato

From the Italian 'robbed'. Used to indicate a modification of the strict rhythmical flow.

Scale

A graduated series of tones arranged in a specified order.

Scherzo

Joke, jest. A sprightly movement, light and humorous in nature.

Sforzando

Explosively (sfz).

Sostenuto

Sustained.

Spirito

Spiritedly.

Staccato

Sounded in a short, detached manner.

Syncopation

The rhythmic result produced when a regularly accented beat is displaced onto an unaccented beat.

Tempo

The rate of speed at which a musical composition is performed.

Theme

A short musical passage that states an idea; it often provides the basis for variations, development, etc.

Timbre

The quality of a musical tone that distinguishes voices and instruments.

Tone

1. A musical sound 2. The quality of a musical sound.

Tutti

All, whole, everyone.

Vivace

Spirited, bright, rapid, equaling or exceeding allegro.