Glossary of Musical Terms - Commonly Used Vocabulary, Terminology & Language in Music

Musical Terms

• A cappella - Singing or performing without any instrumental accompaniment.
• Accelerando - Increase the tempo gradually.
• Accent - Changing the volume or length of a note as compared to the others in an attempt to give more prominence to that note.
• Adagio - Slow moving tempo.
• Allegro - Fast and cheerful.
• Alla Breve - 2 half note beats (2 minim).
• Alto - range of voice lying above the tenor.
• A Due - meant for a Duet - 2 voices or 2 instruments played together.
• Arpeggio - notes in a chord plated quickly - one after the other.
• Atonal - a particular key is not kept in focus when writing or performing such music.
• Avant Garde - artists who are experimental

• Bass - The lower parts of music, lowest male voice.
• Ballad - Narrative folk song
• Beat - refers to the rhythm of the music piece.
• Bitonal - music that uses 2 different tonalities at the same time.
• Bow - usually a wooden flexible stick that produces music when drawn across strings of a musical instrument.

• Cadence - sequence or flow of chords usually improvised marking the end of a phrase.
• Carol - Hymn or song that celebrates Christmas - Carol Singing.
• Chant - singing and repeating texts or words - continuing in a fixed rhythm, pattern or tune. Chants are believed to have a claming effect on the listener.
• Choir - group singing (in a Chorus) Choir Singing.
• Chord - refers to 3-4 notes which are played together (simultaneously).
• Chord Progression - playing a group of chords one after the other.
• Chorus - choir (group of singers); section of a song / composition which is repeated after every verse.
• Chromatic Scale - A scale that contains all 12 notes of an octave.
• Clarinet - It is a wood wind instrument with a single reed.
• Clef - It is a symbol which is used in Sheet Music and defines the pitch of notes in that particular staff.
• Conductor - is one who conducts or supervises a group of performers.

• Diatonic - music is created by dividing the octave into 7 notes - with intervals of 5 whole and 2 half notes.
• Drone - is a boring or monotonous tone.
• Duet - sung or performed by two - vocalists or instrumentalists.
• Duo - refers to 2 performers.

• Encore - means again - usually performed once again due to popular demand or audience request.
• Ensemble - a group of performers (singers or instrumentalists) or how they perform together.
• Espirando - reducing or dying away

• Flat - In music, Flat is denoted by the letter b and is lowered by one semi tone. Flat also means music that does not maintain its tune, too low in pitch and hence is out of tune.
• Fret - commonly refers to the metal strip which runs across the fingerboard of a stringed instrument.

• Grave - A composition which is played slowly and in a serious manner.
• Guitar - Is one of the most popular and commonly recognised musical instrument. It is a string instrument which is plucked and usually has 6 strings.

• Half Note - Minim in western notation.
• Harmonium - refers to a musical keyboard instrument which typically produces sound when air passes through the reeds and metal parts.
• Harmony- refers to a mix or combination of two or three tones which are played together in the background while a melody is being played.
• Harpsichord - It is a keyboard musical instrument. Its strings are plucked to produce music.
• Hymn - A devotional song which praises and honours God.

• Impromptu - means improvised and unplanned
• Interlude - Refers to a piece of instrumental music which is played in between the  scenes of a play or opera.
• Interval - in music terms an interval is the distance in pitch between two notes.

• Leading Note - is the seventh note in a scale.

• Maestro - is a great performer of music - he can be a composer, conductor or teacher of music. 
• Major - refers to a form of scale with specific intervals. Music based on the Major keys have a positive and refreshing sound. In the major or diatonic scale, the pattern or steps followed are - whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half - is : eg C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C -
• Mandolin - It is a plucked string musical instrument with fixed metal frets and metal strings in pairs.
• Melodrama - refers to a drama that has musical accompaniment and interludes. 

More Musical Terms