Piano4t
Musical dictionary
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accelerando - tempo gradually gets faster

accidental - symbols such as sharps or flats and naturals that raise or lower a pitch, e.g:
              

adagietto - rather slow but faster than Adagio

adagio - slow speed (not too slow)

ad libitum (ad lib) - may be played freely as to time (literally "at choice")

agitato - agitated

alla - as, like or in the style of, e.g alla marcia

alla breve - with a minim beat, "cut time", probably implying you play the piece faster than the note values suggest

allegro - fast

amore - love

andante - play the music at a moderately slow (literally "walking") speed.

animato - animated (animando - getting livelier)

augmented - 1.  a major or perfect interval where the top note has been raised a semitone.  C to G# is an augmented 5th; Bb to D# is an augmented 3rd

                    2.  a chord where the fifth has been raised a semitone (C,E,G# is an augmented triad on C)

bar line - a vertical line on the staff to separate bars/ measures in a composition:
                 

beam - a straight line connecting two or more notes such as quaver and semiquaver notes:
                    

beat - a musical pulse or unit of time / the steady pulse of music

ben - well, very (ben marcato)

brio - vigour (e.g. con brio)

chord - two or more notes sounded at the same time (e.g. C,E,G is the C major chord)

clef - a symbol placed at the beginning of the staff to indicate names of lines and spaces:
treble clef

con - with (e.g. con amore)

conductor - the director of a group of musicians

crescendo - gradually get louder

decrescendo - gradually get softer (also diminuendo)

diminished - (1) a minor or perfect interval where the top note has been lowered by a semitone: C to Ebb is a diminished 3rd; B to Fb is a diminished 5th

                   (2) a chord made up of a stack of minor thirds to produce a dramatic and unstable effect: a diminished chord on C consists of C, Eb, F#, and A

dotted note - a dot placed to the right of a note increases the duration of the note by half its value:
minim plus dot = 2 beats plus 1 beat = 3 beats

dynamics - symbols that indicate a change in volume of a piece of music, also 'performance instructions'

dolce - sweetly

energico - energetic

enharmonic - two notes that sound the same but are spelled differently:
                   D sharp and E flat are enharmonic notes

fermata - a pause in the music: the player should extend the duration of the note/ rest:

flat - a symbol written to the left of a note that lowers the pitch by a semitone
                     

Click here for a worksheet on flats

forte - loud, with full tone

grazioso - gracefully

interval - the difference in pitch between two notes.
                     

largo - slow and stately

ledger line - a small line written above or below the staff to extend the range of notation
                     

legato - playing notes in a smooth, connected manner (literally 'tied together')

(C D E F G A B C makes up the C major scale)

             2. a chord built up on a starting note plus the notes at an interval of a major third and a perfect fifth above

(C, E, G makes a C major chord)

measure - American for 'bar'

mesto - sad

(C D Eb F G Ab B C makes up the C minor scale)

             2. a chord built up on a starting note plus the notes at an interval of a minor third and a perfect fifth above

(C, Eb, G makes a C minor chord)

moderato - medium tempo / speed

MM - Maetzler's metronome mark indicating number of beats per minute, e.g:

q === = 104 (104 crotchet beats per minute)

octave - the interval between the two notes closest on the keyboard that have the same name, a perfect 8th, 8ve
                     

orchestra - a large group of instrumentalists consisting of woodwind, brass, string and percussion sections

pentatonic - a five tone scale

phrase - a complete musical thought

piano - soft

pizzicato, pizz. - pluck strings instead of bowing

presto - very fast tempo or speed

recorder - an end-blown flute-like instrument that has a whistle mouthpiece, available in soprano, alto, tenor and bass.

refrain - the melody of a song that is repeated after each verse

repeat sign - a sign that indicates a section of music to be played again.
         

rest - a symbol used to indicate silence in music:

semitone - the distance between one key and the next adjacent white or black key on a keyboard, eg. F to F#

sharp - a symbol written to the left of a note that raises the pitch by a semitone
           

Click here for a worksheet on sharps

slur - a curved line connecting two or more different notes, indicating to play the music smoothly or as one phrase
           

staccato - a type of articulation where each note is short and detached

            

staff /stave - horizontal lines on which notes are written. The musical staff has five lines and four spaces.

syncopation - a rhythm accented on notes that are not usually stressed

tempo - the speed of a composition

theme - A musical idea or extended melodic motif

tie - a curved line connecting two notes of the same pitch indicated to play them as a single note (cf. slur)
           

time signature - the numbers at the start of a piece indicating the metre; the top number indicates the number of beats per bar (  ^{2 3 4 6} or  ⁹⁾  ) and the lower number indicates the type of beat ( 4 for crotchets, 8 for quavers, and 2 for minims)

tonality - the key of a piece

tone - a whole tone is the distance between a key on the keyboard and the next key but one e.g: C to D.