Musical Terms
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A
Accent
An emphasis or “punch” at the beginning of a musical sound.
Accompaniment
The use of additional music or instruments to support the main melody.
Adagio
Meaning a slow tempo or slow speed. (Italian)
Andante
Meaning a walking tempo or walking pace, a moderate speed. (Italian)
Atonal
Music that is not in any key or organised diatonically.
Augmentation Dot
A dot placed after a not or rest that extends it’s value by half of the original value.
B
Bar Lines
Vertical lines in written music that separate notes into different groups depending on the time signature.
Bar/Measure
A specific number of musical sounds that are organized within a measure, and that are contained within two solid lines called bar lines.
Beam
A bar used in place of a flag to connect the stems of eighth and smaller notes.
Beat/Pulse
Regular pattern or pulsation in time within a bar or measure.
Bridge
A change in musical section, within similar sections of music, forming a contrast.
C
Cadenza
An extended solo (played alone) for the soloist in a concerto. A cadenza can also be a solo in an orchestral work for one or a group of instruments. (Italian)
Chorale
Typically means a choral arrangement for voices or instruments.
Chord
When two or more notes or pitches are sounded simultaneously a chord is created.
Chromatic
A musical scale consisting of 12 notes or pitches each a semitone apart.
Concerto
A work for one performer or a group of performers with orchestral accompaniment.
Crescendo
Meaning growing, as in a swelling of sound, or becoming louder. (Italian)
Cut time
Alternative name for 2/2 time.
D
Decrescendo/Diminuendo
Getting softer; the opposite of crescendo. (Italian)
Diatonic
The notes in a given key. C Major for example would be C,D,E,F,G,A,B, other notes being non diatonic, or chromatic.
Dolce
Meaning to be performed sweetly or delicately. (Italian)
Dotted note.
A note followed by an augmentation dot which increases it’s value by half the original.
Dotted rest
A rest followed by an augmentation dot which increases it’s value by half the original.
Downbeat
The first beat in a measure of music.
Duplet
A pair of joined notes in compound time to divide a beat that should be three equal parts into two equal parts.
E
Ensemble
A group of people that perform instrumental or vocal music together.
F
Fanfare
A musical work used as an announcement, often played by single instrumentalist like a trumpet.
Fermata
A symbol that tells the performer to hold the note as long as s/he would like, longer than the written note value.
Flag
A curved line added to the stem of a note.
Flat
When a flat symbol ♭ is added to a note it lowers the note by a half-step. i.e. if we lower A by a half step or a semitone it becomes A♭.
Form
The shape or organization of a musical composition.
Forte
Loud or strong. (Italian)
Fortissimo
Louder than forte. (Italian)
G
Genre
Any particular style of music, i.e. Rock, Pop, Country etc.
Grand staff
A combination of both the bass and treble clef.
H
Half-step
A musical interval (i.e. E-F or C-C#) equivalent to 1⁄12 of an octave. Also called a semitone. In western music this is the smallest interval, represented by moving to an adjacent key, black or white on a keyboard, or moving from one fret to the next on a single string of a stringed instrument.
Harmony
The simultaneous combination of pitches, especially when blended into chords that are pleasing to the ear.
Homophony
Layers of musical activity, like the melody and accompaniment.
I
Improvisation
Spontaneous musical creation.
Instrumentation
This can also be called orchestration when assigned to an orchestra. It is the way a composer or arranger takes musical sounds and assigns them to specific instruments.
Interval
The distance between two notes or pitches.
Inversion
In chords, inversion determines the relationship between the notes that make up that chord. i.e. in a C major triad, the note that form the chord are C,E,G and its inversion is determined by which one of these notes is the lowest. C-E-G (root position), E-G-C (first inversion), or G-C-E (second inversion).
J
None at present
K
Key
A group of notes or pitches based on a particular tonic, and comprising a scale, regarded as forming the tonal basis of a piece or section of music.
L
Larghetto
Usually slightly faster than largo. (Italian)
Largo
Meaning wide, broad. In music a tempo marking meaning to be performed quite slowly. (Italian)
M
Major
Can refer to chord or key
Chord: A major chord is made up of three notes or pitches, the interval between the first and second note being four half steps, and the distance between the second and third note being three half steps.
Key:A major key has a half step or semitone between the 3rd and 4th steps and the 7th and 8th steps, whereas in a minor key the semitone comes between the 2nd and 3rd and the 5th and 6th steps.
Measure
A measurement of time in music that contains a specific number of pulses or beats defined by a time signature, and that is contained within bar lines.
Melody
A succession of notes or tones, that together have an identifiable and often memorable pattern.
Meter
An organisation of rhythmic patterns in a composition that give regular repeating pulses or beats throughout the piece.
Middle C
This C note is located on it’s own ledger line, one ledger line below the treble staff and one line above the bass staff.
Minor
This refers to a specific chord or key.
Chord: A minor chord is made up of three notes or pitches, the interval between the first and second note being three half steps, and the distance between the second and third note being four half steps.
Key: A minor key has a half step or semitone between the 2nd and 3rd and the 5th and 6th steps, whereas in a Major key the semitone comes between the 3rd and 4th steps and the 7th and 8th steps.
Molto vivace
Very lively, or at a very quick speed. (Italian)
Motif
An identifiable succession of musical sounds, shorter than a complete melody.
Movement
A large unit within a symphony or concerto. Normally comprised of many themes or musical ideas.
N
Nashville number system
A method of transcribing music by denoting the scale degree rather than the chord names. This way any piece of music can easily be played in any key.
Notation
Symbols to represent music in written form.
Note
A symbol to represent the duration of a sound, and when placed on a staff, the pitch of that sound.
O
Octave
The interval between two notes of the same pitch quality, the upper one having twice the pitch of the lower one. In a major or minor scale, the distance of this interval is eight steps. Hence ‘Octave’.
Opus
Meaning work. Work numbers are usually assigned by the composer. Often the opus numbers are assigned in order of composition. Latin)
P
Pianissimo
Softer than piano. (Italian)
Piano
Gently, softly. (Italian)
Pick up notes
Introductory notes placed before the first measure.
Pitch
The pitch of a note is how high or low that note sounds. On a stringed instrument this is caused by the vibrations of a picked string. The frequency of the vibrations or oscillations will vary depending on the length of the string, either the open length or to the fretted position. The shorter the length of the vibrating string, the higher the pitch or frequency.
Piu
More. i.e. piu piano would mean more softly. (Italian)
Polyphony
Different layers of melody and rhythm within a piece of music.
Q
None at present
R
Resolution
A group of chords can create harmonic tension. When this tension is released with a calm chord, or a chord without tension, it is “resolved” and is thus called a resolution.
Rest
A symbol used to show a period of silence.
Rhythm
A pattern of regular or irregular beats or pulses in music. You will often tap your foot to the rhythm.
Root
The root note is the basis of a chord, the name the chord takes it’s name from regardless of inversions. i.e. take the C major chord. In every position, the root note is C. Whether it is voiced as C-E-G (root position), E-G-C (first inversion), or G-C-E (second inversion) is irrelevant.
S
Scale
A series of adjacent notes or pitches ascending or descending arranged in a sequence of whole steps and half steps, starting and ending with the tonic.
Score
A piece of music in printed form.
Semitone
The smallest interval used in western music, equal to a half note or 12th of an octave. The distance between any two adjacent notes on a keyboard black or white, or any two frets on a stringed instrument, on the same string.
Sempre
Always. i.e. sempre forte would mean always loud. (Italian)
Sempre piu
Always more. (Italian)
Sforzando
Forceful, usually accented. (Italian)
Sharp
When a sharp symbol ♯ is added to a note it raises the note by a half-step. i.e. if we have the note G and we add a sharp to it the note now becomes G-sharp, or G♯.
Simple time
A time signature in which the accented beats of each bar or measure are divisible by two i.e. in 4/4 time.
Solo
For one player (musician), to play a section of music alone.
Staff
The five horizontal lines with four spaces between them onto which notes or rests are written.
Step (or “whole step”)
A musical interval between pitches (such as C–D or A–G♭) comprising two half steps.
Symphonic form
The structure of a work for large ensemble or orchestra.
Syncopation
A deliberate disruption to the rhythm or beat that is unexpected, often by stressing an off beat where it wouldn’t normally occur.
T
Tempo
The speed of a musical piece. (Italian)
Theme
The most important melody at any specific time in a musical work. There can be one main theme in a work, or many themes.
Timbre
A unique quality of sound. Playing the same note at the same pitch on a different string can have a different timbre due to differences between the strings.
Time signature
The notation shown at the beginning of a piece of music i.e. 4/4 or 3/4 etc. The top number tells you how many beats in a measure or bar, and the bottom number tells what kind of note receives those beats foe example 4/4 equates to four beats to the bar and as there are four notes shown by the lower number those notes are quarter notes (four of them equally divided in the bar)
Tonality
The organization of all the tones and harmonies of a piece of music in relation to a tonic.
Tonic
A pitch that is the first degree of a major or minor scale in a particular key.
Triad
A triad is a three note chord whose pitches are a third apart.
Treble clef
The symbol written at the beginning in the upper staff.
Trill
The sound produced by rapidly alternating between two notes a whole step or half step apart.
Triplet
Used in simple time to divide a beat that should have two equal parts into three equal parts.
Turnaround
A chord progression that leads back to the starting point.
U
Upbeat
The preparatory sign given prior to the first beat in a bar.
V
None as yet
W
Whole step
An interval of two half steps. On a keyboard this would be moving two keys black or white up or down from the starting point, or two frets up or down on the same string of a stringed instrument.