( All 256 ) Musical Terms Explained In Plain English

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As a singer you will hear a lot of musical terms, some are named straight forwards so you can easily understand them. While others are written in Italian or even Latin, which definitely makes it extremely hard to understand. As a singer, you will have to learn at least the basic musical terminology, especially if you want to improve at singing. Most teachers tend to overly complicate the musical terms and some of them add their own definitions which are not helpful if you are a beginner singer.

The problem with musical terminology is that it is not set in stone so to speak, one musical term can mean several things while others are not used correctly. I got numerous emails over the past couple of years about musical terminology, most from beginner singers who got confused as one teacher said a specific musical term meant one thing and another said that it is something else, so I decided to write down all the terms so you have a reference for the future.

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The confusion about musical terms is very similar to something like falsetto or head voice singing, some people will say it is falsetto while others will say it is head voice singing. The problem is that not even the teachers actually know the definition for most of the musical terms, and in the worst cases, they just love using big words to sound smart. Once new singers have to learn about musical terminology it tends to make singing feel like a chore and not something to have fun with.

If you are a beginner singer then I highly recommend you to read the below list of musical terms, you do not have to know them by heart but you should at least get the base concept of them. Ages ago when I was learning about musical terminology I started to learn a little bit of Italian, once you know the meaning of the Italian music terminology you can pretty much figure out by yourself what they mean. If you want to learn how to improve your singing voice then check out my recent article How to sing ( Top 50 Ways and Industry Secrets ).

Table of Contents

Musical Terms

Musical terms are specific words or phrases used to describe various aspects of music, including its structure, dynamics, tempo, and expression. These terms provide musicians with a common language to communicate and interpret musical ideas. Some common musical terms include tempo markings like “allegro” (fast), “andante” (moderate), and “adagio” (slow), dynamics such as “piano” (soft) and “forte” (loud), and expressions like “legato” (smoothly connected) and “staccato” (short and detached). Other terms refer to specific techniques or styles, such as “arpeggio” (playing the notes of a chord individually) or “pizzicato” (plucking the strings on a stringed instrument).

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Accent

Every musical sound has either a low or a high point and in some cases, they have both. The accent simply refers to the emphasis you put on the musical sound right at the beginning. Everybody has a particular accent while speaking and singing. Have you ever noticed how British singers lose their accents while they are singing? This is because they put the accent on different places of the musical sound.

Accessible

The accessible musical term refers to a musical work that is easy to listen to and to learn even for beginners.

Absolute music

The absolute music is a type of musical work that doesn’t have a story.

Accelerando

The musical term accelerando is an Italian word meaning faster or getting faster. When you hear accelerando from your singing teacher then this means you have to step up the tempo or the pace of the song. Don’t make the mistake of singing louder when you hear this term, as most beginner singers tend to do that, just pick up the pace a bit.

A cappella

You have probably heard the A cappella term a couple of times already, A Cappella simply means that you or several singers sing without being accompanied and without any kind of background music. You will hear the term A Cappella fairly frequently at singing auditions, this is when they test you your tempo and singing style. It is not easy to sing without being accompanied or background music and a lot of singers fail at auditions due to this. If you need some examples of A Cappella songs then check out my recent article Good songs to sing acapella solo ( Top 100 ).

Adagio

Adagio refers to the tempo, this is used both in singing and with instrumental as well. Adagio simply means slow tempo, if you hear this while you are singing it means that you have to slow down your singing tempo.

Allegro

Allegro is an Italian word that can be as best described as joyful, in musical terminology, it simply means that you have to pick up the tempo. Basically, it means faster.

Art music

The Art music musical term is used to describe traditional or formal music like classical.

Art song

The Art Song is a musical genre, usually, it includes solo vocal artists with accompaniment.

Atonality

The Atonality is a work of music that doesn’t have a set key.

Augmentation

The Augmentation musical term is usually referring to lengthening or making better a tone or key.

Avant garde

The Avant grade musical term comes from classical music and it means front guard in French, and it is referring to new or modern type music.

A piacere

The A piacere musical term is not that often used but you might hear it during a singing audition. A piacere is an Italian word that means pleasure, in musical terminology, it means that it is up to the singer if she or he wants to use the given rhythm of the song or music.

Andante

The musical term Andante comes from the Italian word andare which means going or walking. This term also refers to the tempo, simply put it means that you have to sing at a walking pace. The walking pace is the sweet spot between not too slow and not too fast. You will generally hear this term when somebody talks about someone else’s singing like ” she was singing andante “.

Aria

The musical term Aria is an Italian word that simply means air. In musical terminology aria is a song, generally speaking, this term is mostly used in opera singing.

Atonal

Atonal in simple English means without a tone, this refers to a song that has not been written to be sung at a specific key or tone. Most songs are written for a specific tone and key, but atonal songs can be sung by anybody.

Alto

The word alto is Italian, and it means high. The problem is that it doesn’t really mean what you would logically think it would. The musical term alto is mostly referring to female singers who have a low range and it is also the second-lowest instrumental range. If you are an alto singer then I highly recommend you to read my recent article How to develop a strong alto voice? ( In 16 Easy Steps ).

Bar

The bar is a vertical line that sections up the music, each bar has several beats.

Beat

The musical term beat is referring to the rhythm of the music.

Ballet

The musical term Ballet is a type of work of music specifically made for ballet dancers, it also means a type of dance.

Ballad

The musical term Ballad comes from the Italian word ballare which means dancing, usually this musical term is referring to a musical work with a narrative or a folk song.

Barcarolle

The Barcarolle musical term comes from the Italian word Barca, which means boat, a Barcarolle is a boating song.

Baroque

The Baroque term refers to a historical period between the 16th and the 17th century.

Baritone

The musical term Baritone is referring to the mid-ranged male singing voice.

Bass

This Bass musical term is referring to the lowest male voice.

Bass drum

The Bass drum is the lowest sounding percussion instrument without a pitch.

Basso Continuo

The Basso Continuo is an Italian word meaning continuous bass, this term was mainly used in the classical period.

Berceuse

The Berceuse term basically means a lullaby.

Bassoon

The Bassoon mainly refers to the woodwind instruments and it means the lowest sounding one from them.

Binary form

The Binary form is a form with two opposing parts.

Bitonality

The Bitonality is a musical work that has two different keys used simultaneously.

Blues

The Blues is a type of song or music that is usually described as sad.

Brass instrument

The Brass instrument is any kind of musical instrument that is made out of brass, like a trumpet or a trombone.

Bebop

The Bebop is an improvised style of jazz.

Bolero

The musical term Bolero comes from Spanish and it means Spanish dance.

Cadenza

The musical term Cadenza is also Italian, it means a solo performance in a group setting like a band. If you have watched any live concerts with instrumentals then you have probably seen the guitarist making a solo performance in the middle of the song, he is doing a cadenza.

Cantata

The cantata is an Italian word meaning singer or singing, this musical term is referring to the singer in a choral work where the singer sings alone and is accompanied by musical instruments.

Capriccio

The musical term Capriccio is an Italian word which means capricious, usually, it refers to a short and lively work of music.

Chanson

The Chanson is a French word that came from the Italian word canzone, both of them mean song.

Carol

The Carol is a type of song, like the Christmas Carol.

Cello

The cello is a string instrument.

Castrato

The Castrato musical term is an Italian word meaning castrated, a couple of centuries ago castrato singers were extremely popular as they could sing with high notes. During that period of time, there were no female performers, even acts or plays meant to be played by females were played by males dressed up as females.

Chance music

The Chance music is a modern type of music where the original creator has no specific goal of creating a specific song but stumbles upon it while composing.

Cavatina

The Cavatina is part of a bigger musical work where one of the instrument players or singers sings or plays solo.

Chromatic scale

The Chance musicChromatic scale is a scale that does include the 12 notes which make an octave.

Chant

A chant is when a group of people sing or talk at the same time, like at a concert when the artists let the crowd sing in a chant.

Chamber music

The Chamber music is a work of music that is meant for solo singers or musicians, usually between 2 and 10.

Choir

A Choir is referring to a group of singers in a chorus, in order to be a choir it n seeds more than 2 people in the chorus.

Classical

The term classical refers to the period between 1700 and 1800, which is the classical period.

Classicism

The Classicism musical term is basically the same as classical.

Clavier

The Clavier is the keyboard of a string instrument.

Chord progression

The Chord progression musical term is referring to string instruments when they are played in progression.

Conductor

A Conductor is the leader of the orchestra or group, he dictates the tempo and gives cues for the performers.

Consonance

A Consonance is made up of a group or several tones that sound good together.

Counterpoint

A Counterpoint is when several tunes or melodic liens are played at the same time.

Courante

The Courante is both a French dance and a work of music which is written in triple time.

Concertmaster

A Concertmaster is the main or the first violinist in the orchestra.

Chorale

Chorale refers to a composition, which is specifically made for a choir or a chorus. You will hear often about this term if you study classical music, although today it is rarely used.

Clef

The musical term Clef is usually written at the end of a stave, and these indicate the pitch.

Cantabile

Cantabile means that it is singable, most often it is referring to a musical composition.

Coda

The Coda is an Italian word meaning tail, this term is used to refer to the end part of a musical work.

Coloratura

The musical term Coloratura is an Italian word meaning coloring, in musical terms, it means the coloring of the song.

Countertenor

The Countertenor is the vocal range of a male alto.

Chord

A chord is when several musical notes are played together at the same time, this is what basically creates a chord. A chord has to have at least two notes in order to be considered a chord.

Concerto

The musical term Concerto is the Italian version of the concert word, it refers to a singer or band being accompanied by an orchestra.

Crescendo

The term Crescendo means growing in English, when you hear this you have to sing louder. If you have a singing teacher then you will hear this term fairly often, so make sure you know what it means.

Decrescendo

The term Decrescendo means to decrease or decrease, you will hear this if you sing too loud, just decrease your singing volume a bit.

Da Capo

The Da Capo is an Italian word meaning from the beginning, basically starting over.

Deceptive cadence

The Deceptive cadence is a chord progressing which is meant to make the audience think that it stops, this is often used in pop music as well.

Diminuendo

The Diminuendo is an Italian word meaning diminishing, usually, you will hear this instruction to sing quietly in a diminishing fashion.

Dissonance

The Dissonance is a sound or chord which doesn’t sound harmonious.

Duet

A Duet is a work of music that is specifically written for two singers or musicians.

Drone

The musical term Drone usually refers to the bass note held for the song, if someone says that you sound like a drone that means you sound monotone.

Dynamics

The Dynamics in musical terms means the spectrum of sound between soft and loud.

Dolce

The term Dolce means sweet, although most teachers will use this term to instruct you to sing more emotionally.

Downbeat

The Downbeat is the first beat that is played by the lead musician or ensemble leader.

Ensemble

The term Ensemble means that there is a group of musicians or singers playing together, this can be a band a string quartet, or an orchestra.

Elegy

The term Elegy is referring to a work of music, basically, it means a piece of complaining music.

Encore

The Encore is a variation of the word Ancora, which means more. Usually, if the public loved the play they would stand up, applaud, and shout “encore! encore!” which usually got the artists to perform one last song.

Exposition

The Exposition is the part of a musical work when the sonata starts.

Expressionism

The Expressionism is a form of singing or music that is meant to stir up emotions in the audience.

Espressivo

The Espressivo is an Italian word meaning expressive, you will hear this instruction quite often if you are a singer and it means that you will have to sing more expressively that part of the song.

Etude

The Etude is a French word meaning study, usually, it is referring to a musical work that is meant to improve your skills as a singer or a musician.

Falsetto

The Falsetto is a type of singing which for males it means that they can hit higher notes, and for females, it means that they can go beyond the normal high notes while singing with their falsetto voice. Some people will say that there is no such thing as female falsetto although it has been scientifically proven several times that it does in fact exist.

Fanfare

A fanfare is music that comes with some kind of announcement, like when in the old times a king or lord would be presented to the people and there would be a fanfare of trumpets and other musical instruments.

Fifth

The Fifth in musical terms refers to the distance between two different notes.

Finale

The Finale is the end of the musical work.

Fagotto

No, it doesn’t mean what you think it means, a Fagotto is a woodwind musical instrument also known as Basson.

Flat

The symbol for flat is ♭ and it means that you have to sing the note before which is placed in a semitone.

Fermata

The term Fermata comes from the Italian word Fermo, which means to stop. In musical terminology, it refers to the singer holding the note longer than the written note.

Forte

Forte is an Italian word meaning stronger, when you hear this term it means that you have to sing stronger. In some cases, this term is also meant as a cue for singing louder.

Form

The Form musical term is usually referring to how the musical work is structured.

Fortissimo

The Fortissimo is a step above forte, meaning extremely strong, this term sometimes is also used as a cue for singing louder.

Fugue

The fugue is an arrangement inspired by the Baroque period.

Gigue

The Gigue was a very popular form of dance in the Baroque period.

Galliard

The Galliard is both a French dance and music which is written specifically for this done, it is usually very vivace.

Gavotte

A Gavotte is a 17th-century dance which is written in quadruple time.

Giocoso

The Giocoso musical term comes from the Italian word Gioco which means play, playful, or even cheerful.

Grandioso

The musical term Grandioso usually means that a certain part of the musical work has to be played in a heightened fashion, although most of the time it is used as a compliment.

Grave

The Grave musical term means that the selected section of the music has to be played or sung extremely seriously.

Glee

A Glee is a composition made specifically for vocalists, usually 3 or more, and generally speaking they sing without accompaniment.

Grazioso

The musical term Grazioso is an Italian word meaning gracious, it is either used as a compliment for the singer or as a cue for the next part to be played graciously.

Gregorian Chant

The Gregorian Chant term is a religious chant singing, basically, it is a religious unison singing of several people or groups of people.

Glissando

The musical term Glissando comes from the French word glisser, and it means to slide. Usually, the term glissando is given as an instruction to slide between the notes.

Homophony

The Homophony musical term refers to a work of music that is meant to be sung in unison.

Harmonic tension

Harmonic tension can be caused by a group of chords.

Humoresque

The Humoresque musical term refers to a work of music that is humorous, or funny.

Harmony

As a beginner singer, you have probably heard the Harmony musical term several times already. Singing in harmony means that you have to make several combinations of pitches simultaneously.

Hymn

A Hymn can be either a religious song or a national anthem.

Instrumentation

The term Instrumentation is referring to when the composer assigns musical sounds to certain musical instruments.

Interlude

The Interlude is a musical term used in opera and it means the part where instrumental music is playing between the different scenes or acts.

Impromptu

The musical term Impromptu is an Italian word meaning on the spot, in musical terminology, it means a song that is sung or played improvised.

Interval

An Interval is a distance in the pitch between two different notes.

Intermezzo

The Intermezzo is the part that connects the entire musical work, usually, it tends to be an interlude.

Interpretation

The Interpretation is the expression of the singer or musician when he or she is performing a musical work or a song.

Introduction

The Introduction is the introductory part of the song or song.

Impressionism

The Impressionism musical term is referring to a movement called the Impressionists which started in France in the 19th century.

Intonation

The musical term Intonation is frequently used in singing classes and it is referring to your tonality, but sometimes it is also referring to singing off-tune.

Jig

A Jig is an English dance that is vivace or lively.

Key

The Key is a group of notes or tones that are named after the main keynote.

Klangfarbenmelodie

The Klangfarbenmelodie is a technique with which the musician changes the color of the same tune or key by playing them on different instruments.

Key signature

The Key signature is usually placed at the beginning of the staff line and it dictates on what key the musical work has to be played.

Largo

The musical term Largo is an Italian word meaning wider, in musical terms, it refers to widening your voice or speeding up.

Leading note

The Leading note is the 7th note on a scale.

Larghetto

The Larghetto is basically the same as Largo but with one step below it.

Ligature

The Ligature is a curved line that links several notes, and this means that the linked notes have to be sung or played as a phrase.

Leggiero

The Leggiero musical term is an Italian word meaning lightly, this means that you should sing softer or lighter.

Legno

The term Legno is an Italian word meaning wood, it is usually written as an instruction col legno, and it is an indication for the string players to use the wooden side of their bow.

Legato

The Legato musical term is an Italian word meaning joined, it refers to a sequence of notes to be joined together.

Leitmotif

The Leitmotif is a recurring theme, beat, or musical phrase, all musical works have them. When you hear only a couple of seconds of a song and you can figure out what the song is this is due to the Leitmotif, as most songs tend to be unique.

Libretto

The Libretto musical term is an Italian word meaning little or small book, basically, these were the lyrics or the text of the musical work which were given to the public of the opera.

Lento

The term Lento is an Italian word meaning slow or slow, it is usually referring to the tempo of the song or music.

Lied

The term Lied is a German word and it means song, it is usually referring to a traditional Germanic song.

Maestro

The word Maestro means a great composer, singer, songwriter, etc.

Madrigal

A Madrigal is a type of musical or local piece which was popular in the Renaissance and the Baroque periods.

Malagueña

The Malagueña is a type of gypsy dance that originated in Malaga Spain.

March

The March is a type of musical work made in two steps and generally speaking, they are meant for military organizations.

Medley

The Medley is a musical work that uses parts from other musical movements.

Modes

The musical term Modes are arrangements either in minor or major.

Modulation

The Modulation musical term means the change to another key.

Musicology

The Musicology is the study of music and its many aspects.

Mazurka

A Mazurka is a traditional Polish dance.

Musette

The Musette is a type of dance that is accompanied by monotone bass.

Mezzo

The Mezzo is an Italian word meaning half, in musical terms, it can have a lot of meanings, depending on the context for example mezzo-piano, mezzo-forte, and so on.

Minuet

A Minuet is a French dance.

Measure

A measure is a group of rhythms, spaced between vertical bar lines.

Melody

A melody is often considered a succession of sounds and notes, and it is presented with a horizontal pitch.

Motif

A motif is basically a melody, but with one difference, it is shorter than the melody.

Molto vivace

The Molto vivace term means lively in plain English, in musical terms, it refers to speeding up or singing more lively ( emotionally ).

Major

The definition of Major depends on the context and if it refers to a chord or a key. When it is referring to a chord it has 3 different pitches, the distance of the pitches between the first and second are 4 half steps and between the second and third they are 3 half steps. Usually, you will hear the term major when someone is referring to a musical instrument like a piano, the half steps are the smallest steps between the pitches, and you can see this on a piano fairly easily as the keys are right next to each other, no matter if they are black or white keys.

When the term major is referring to a key, then it is usually used to describe a work of music. Some songs and musical works are specifically designed to be played in a particular key. This doesn’t mean that the musical work is meant to be played only with that key, it means that the main key is used a lot more frequently.

Minor

The term minor has also two uses, when it is referring to a key and when it is referring to a chord. When the term minor is referring to a key then this means that the musical work was made for one specific key, this will be the main key of the musical work, usually, this is also the central chord. When it is referring to a chord then this has 3 pitches just like the major, and the half steps are basically the same as in the major chord.

Movement

The musical term Movement refers to a larger unit within a concerto, and it is referring to the theme of this unit.

Natural

This Natural musical term depends on the context in which it is used, the musical term itself means not too soft or too flat.

Nonet

A Nonet is a musical work that is specifically written for 9 instruments.

Notes

The Notes musical terms are written symbols that determine the sound, pitch, and duration of them.

Notation

A notation is a method of writing music with different symbols.

Neoclassical

The word neo is in Latin and it means new, so neoclassical means new classical.

Nocturne

The Nocturne musical term is a Latin word that means night or evening, and it is referring to the mood of the musical work which is dark.

Obbligato

The Obbligato musical term is an Italian word meaning obligated, this term refers to a part of the music or song which is vital.

Octave

The octave is the interval between one pitch and another, generally speaking, the second pitch has to be twice the frequency of the first one.

Orchestration

The Orchestration can both mean the study of music or the orchestration or arrangement of an orchestra.

Octet

The Octet is a work of music that is meant to be played or sung by 8 people.

Ondes Martenot

The word ondes is a French word meaning waves, Martenot was the inventor of it. Basically, Ondes Martenot is an electronic musical instrument invented back in 1928.

Opus

The Opus is a number assigned to a musical work by a composer. You have probably heard the phrase magnum opus, this means the great one. The term opus is used both in music and literature as well.

Oratorio

An Oratorio is extremely similar to an opera, the main difference is that an Oratorio doesn’t have costumes and acting.

Ostinato

The Ostinato is part of a phrase that you have to repeat.

Overture

An Overture is the introductory part of a musical work.

Parody

The Parody is a work of music that is based on a previous work of music, usually, a famous one and the goal of the parody is to make fun of the original work of music.

Piano

The musical term piano doesn’t have anything to do with the musical instrument, it simply means to slow down in Italian.

Pianissimo

The musical term pianissimo comes from the Italian word piano, which doesn’t refer to the piano instrument but to slowing down. If you hear the term piano while you are singing then you need to slow down your singing tempo. Pianissimo is even slower than Piano.

Pastoral

The musical term Pastoral usually refers to rural or folk music.

Partial

The Partial is a harmonic that is made by a single note.

Partita

The Partita musical term is an Italian word coming from partire which means to start, usually, this is a cue.

Passacaglia

The Passacaglia is a dance from the Baroque period, and it usually has bass as the base of the musical work.

Pentatonic

A Pentatonic is a five-note scale that is often used with a piano’s black keys. The Pentatonic style of music is referring to Oriental style music.

Pitch

The Pitch refers to the high and the low of a musical sound, this is most often based on the vibration of the musical sound.

Pianoforte

The Pianoforte is a combination of two Italian words, piano, and forte, which means slow and powerful. Sometimes it is used in singing but mostly for piano players.

Piu

The Piu musical term means more, you will hear this musical term fairly often, piu forte means stronger, piu allegro means more lively, and so on.

Pizzicato

The Pizzicato is an Italian word meaning plucked, this is an instruction to the players of the musical instruments to use their fingertips to pluck the cords.

Poco a poco

The term Poco a poco is an Italian word meaning little by little or in baby steps, it is usually used as an instruction like poco a poco forte which means gradually increasing the force.

Presto

The musical term Presto is an Italian word meaning soon, it is usually a cue that a specific part of the music or the song is coming.

Polyphony

The Polyphony is a combination of two or more melodies that sound harmonious together.

Polytonality

The Polytonality is when two or more keys are being played at the same time.

Prelude

The Prelude term is a short musical work which makes happens before the bigger musical work.

Pentatonic Scale

The Pentatonic Scale is very similar to the chromatic scale but instead of including 12 notes it only includes 5 notes, you will most likely find this scale referring to musical instruments.

Quarter tone

A Quarter tone is smaller than a semitone which is referring to the pitch.

Quartet

A Quartet is a group of 4 musicians or singers playing music or singing together.

Quadrille

The Quadrille is a type of dance that is made for two couples.

Rallentando

The Rallentando musical term is an Italian word meaning becoming slower, it is referring to the instructions for the musicians or singers to slow down.

Resolution

The resolution musical term is referring to when the harmonic tension gets resolved without any tension.

Refrain

The Refrain is a phrase that is repeated at the end of the song.

Register

The Register musical term is usually referring to a portion of the range of the singer.

Requiem

The Requiem is a musical work that is written for religious ceremonies, like when someone passes away.

Rigaudon

The Rigaudon is a specific type of dance that is written in double time.

Romantic

The musical term Romantic usually refers to the romantic period between the 18th and 19th centuries when songs and other works of music have started to sound more emotional.

Ricercar

The Ricercar is a complex composition from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Relative pitch

The Relative pitch is a singers or musician’s ability to foresee what kind of pitch he or she has to use based on the previous pitch of the notes.

Recitative

The musical term Recitative is an Italian word meaning reciting, usually, this term is used in an operatic setting.

Rigaudon

The Rigaudon is a traditional French dance.

Ritardando

The musical term Ritardando is an Italian word coming from the ritardo word, which means late or later.

Ritenuto

The Ritenuto musical term is an Italian word meaning holding back, usually, this is an instruction to the musicians or singers to hold back.

Rococo

The Rococo is referring to a period in time when this style of music was popular in France.

Rondo

A rondo is the final part of a song or musical work.

Rubato

The Rubato musical term is an Italian word meaning stolen, this is usually an instruction to the singer to feel free not to use the tempo of the song.

Scordatura

The Scordatura musical term is used when an instrument plays out of its meant range.

Septet

The Septet is a work of music that is specifically written for 7 musicians.

Serenade

The Serenade is a love song or a song that is sung in a serenade fashion.

Sonata

The Sonata is a type of musical work that has 4 distinct movements.

Sonatina

The Sonatina is the same as a sonata but much shorter.

Scherzo

The musical term SonatinaScherzo is an Italian word meaning joke, this is a lighthearted work of music that originated back in the 17th century.

Serialism

The Serialism is a composition technique, which was developed by Arnold Schoenberg.

Scale

The Scale musical term is used to describe the pitches which are right next to each other, like in major or minor, the scales can be made of half steps or whole steps.

Suite

The Suite is a collection of musical works mostly for instruments.

Sempre

The musical term Sempre is an Italian word, which means always, you will hear this a couple of times from your teacher like sempre piano.

Sonata

The Sonata term is an Italian word meaning to sound, a sonata is meant to be played by one singer or musician.

Soprano

The Soprano is the highest female voice.

Spiccato

The Spiccato musical term is an Italian word meaning to separate, this is a technique for playing string instruments.

Sempre piu

The term Sempre piu is an Italian word, meaning always more, in a context you will hear it like sempre piu forte, always with power.

Symphony

A Symphony is a large scale orchestral work, usually, it has 4 movement parts.

Sforzando

The musical term Sforzando is an Italian word meaning forcing something, this can also mean that you have to put the accent on a specific key or tone.

Sharp

The Sharp is a musical symbol #, you will often see this symbol in great classical works when this symbol is added to a note it raises the note by half step.

Slur

The term Slur is a curve over the notes and it means that the notes have to be played legato or connected.

Solo

The musical term Solo is an Italian word meaning alone, usually, it refers to one artist or a singer. Sometimes this musical term is also used in plural soli, which usually is referring to a group of solo musicians or singers.

Step

A step is an interval between two different pitches, and it is made of two half steps.

Symphonic form

The Symphonic form usually refers to a larger group like an ensemble.

Tempo

The term tempo refers to the speed of either the singing or the music.

Tenor

The tenor voice is one of the highest male voices, it is somewhere between baritone and countertenor.

Tablature

The Tablature is a system of writing for string instruments.

Tune

The Tune is a group of rhythms and melodies played together to make a tune.

Tuning

The musical term Tuning can either refer to somebody tuning their voice, either lowering or raising the pitch or to tuning a musical instrument by lowering and raising its pitch.

Tutti

The term Tutti is an Italian word meaning everybody, it is basically a cue for everybody to sing together in unison.

Theme

The Theme is basically the theme of the music, usually, most musical works have one main theme and several smaller themes that are played during different intervals.

Tessitura

The Tessitura can refer either to the range of somebody’s voice or to the range of an instrument.

Twelve tone music

The Twelve tone music is a musical work that is specifically designed to use all the notes for the same number of items.

Temperament

The musical term Temperament can refer to the attitude of the singer or the tuning of an instrument.

Timbre

The Timbre is the quality of the sound from one verse to another.

Time Signature

The Time Signature is the number found on the sheet of music that determines the beats to count.

Toccata

The Toccata musical term is an Italian word meaning to touch, in musical terms, it refers to an instrumental work that is specifically designed for one musician to highlight his or her skills as a musician.

Tone less

The Tone less is the opposite of tonality, it basically means that there is less tone.

Tritone

A Tritone is actually a chord that is made up of 3 tones.

Triplet

The Triplet term means 3 notes being played as fast as two beats.

Trio

The Trio is a work of music that is specifically written to be sung or played by 3 singers or musicians.

Triple time

The Triple time is a time signature that has 3 beats.

Tonality

The tonality refers to how the harmonies are arranged in the work of music.

Tremolo

The Tremolo is an Italian word that means trembling, in musical terms, this is referring to string instruments repeating in quick succession one note.

Tonic

The term tonic is referring to the pitch which is the first degree of either a major or minor scale and to the tonality of the musical work.

Trill

The Trill is a musical piece that allows the user to produce two notes in quick succession.

Upbeat

The musical term Upbeat is usually used as a sign to prepare, and this sign is usually given before the first beat in a bar.

Unison

In unison simply means together, in musical terms, it means two or more singers singing the same note together.

Vibrato

The musical term Vibrato is an Italian word that means to vibrate, it can refer both to musicians and singers as well.

Verismo

The Verismo is a form of opera that has its roots in everyday life.

Virtuoso

The musical term Virtuoso is usually used to describe somebody who is either good at singing or good at playing a musical instrument.

Vivace

The Vivace is an Italian word meaning lively.

Waltz

The Waltz is a German dance in triple time which is usually starting with a closed position. Waltz is basically an evolved form of the dance from glisse which means to slide.

Whole note

A whole note can be made out of two half notes, 4 quarter notes, or 8 eight notes.

Whole tone scale

The Whole tone scale is a scale that only has whole notes.

Key Takeaways

  • Musical terms are specific words or phrases used to describe various elements of music, such as tempo, dynamics, and expression.
  • Familiarize yourself with common musical terms to enhance your understanding and communication in the world of music.
  • Some examples of musical terms include allegro (fast), crescendo (gradually getting louder), and staccato (short and detached).

FAQ

What are the 5 musical terms?

There are numerous musical terms, but five commonly used ones are tempo, dynamics, pitch, rhythm, and harmony. These terms refer to the speed of the music, the volume or intensity, the highness or lowness of the sounds, the arrangement of durations and accents, and the combination of multiple notes played together, respectively.

What are three musical terms?

Three common musical terms are melody, chord, and timbre. Melody refers to a sequence of single notes played in a meaningful musical line, chords are multiple notes played simultaneously to create harmony, and timbre refers to the unique quality or character of a sound or voice.

What is the musical term for everyone?

The musical term that signifies everyone or all voices/instruments playing together is “unison.” It indicates that all performers are producing the same pitch or playing the same notes in sync.

What are musical terms for ending?

Musical terms used to indicate the ending of a piece or section include “coda,” which signifies a distinct concluding passage, and “fine,” which indicates the end or finish of the music.