Basic Musical Terms

Basic Musical Terms

Tempo and Movement

• Accelerando: Increase of tempo in music.

• Adagio: Slow, leisurely tempo.

• Allegretto: Moderately fast, lively; faster than Andante, slower than Allegro.

• Allegro: Lively, brisk, rapid tempo.

• Andante: Moderately slow, akin to a walking speed.

• Grave: Heavy, slow, ponderous in movement; pronounced “Grov Ay”.

• Largo: Large, broad, slow, and stately.

• Lento: Slow.

• Presto: Fast, rapid.

• Ritardando: Gradually growing slower.

• Sostenuto: Sustained.

• Vivace: Spirited, bright, rapid; equaling or exceeding Allegro.

Accompaniment and Harmony

• Accompaniment: Music that supports a more important part, often harmony or rhythmic patterns accompanying a melody.

• Harmony: The sound resulting from the simultaneous sounding of two or more tones that are consonant with each other.

Dynamics and Expression

• Diminuendo (Decrescendo): Gradually growing softer.

• Dissonance: A simultaneous sounding of tones producing a feeling of tension that needs resolution.

• Dolce: Sweetly, softly.

• Espressione: Expressively.

• Forte: Loud.

• Piano: Soft, softly.

• Pianissimo: Very soft.

• Sforzando (sfz): Explosively.

Musical Structure and Techniques

• Chord: Three or more tones combined and sounded simultaneously.

• Hemiola: A rhythmic pulse of 2 against a rhythmic pulse of 3.

• Interval: The distance between two tones.

• Legato: Smooth, flowing connection between notes.

• Maestoso: Majestic and dignified.

• Meno: Less.

• Molto/Molta: Much.

• Ostinato: A repeated melodic or rhythmic fragment.

• Phrase: A small section of a composition; comparable to a sentence in language.

• Scale: A graduated series of tones arranged in a specified order.

• Theme: A short musical passage that states an idea, often used as the basis for variations and development.

Rhythmic Techniques

• Syncopation: Rhythmic displacement of regularly accented beats onto unaccented beats.

• Staccato: Notes sounded in a short, detached manner.

Miscellaneous Terms

• L’istesso tempo: The same tempo; retains the previous tempo after a change.

• Romantic: Related to the nineteenth-century musical period marked by emotionalism and richer harmonies.

• Scherzo: A playful movement, light and humorous in nature.

• Timbre: The quality of a musical tone that distinguishes different voices and instruments.

• Tutti: All, whole, everyone.