Musical words and symbols
tenuto - emphasized, held
Marcato - marked; emphasized
Semi-staccato - lightly detached
fortepiano (fp) - play loudly and then immediately soft
sforzando (sf or sfz) - forcefully
____I / con pedale - to press the right-most/sustain pedal
senza pedale - without the sustaining pedal
una corda (one string) - to press the left-most pedal
tre corde (three strings) - to release the left-most pedal
arco - with bow
con sordino - with mute
di bravura - with brilliance
natural harmonic [ º ] - touching the string lightly
open strings - not applying any finger on the strings
pizz; pizzicato - pluck the string
impetuoso - impetuously
martellato - strongly accented
affrentando/stretto/stringendo - hurrying
ostinato - riff
lied - a song setting with German text, common in the Romantic period usually for one voice and
piano
*** Two forms found in the symphony of the Classical period - sonata form, rondo, minuet & trio,
rondo sonata etc.
double stopping - playing two notes simultaneously
chords - made up of three notes
Neapolitan 6th - chord of the flattened supertonic in 1st inversion, and it is a MAJOR chord
cadenza - a technically difficult passage for the performer to show off his/her skills, found usually at
the end of the recapitulation
episode - a section which appears just once in a rondo form
strophic form - the same music is used for a number of verses in a song
Durchkomponiert - applied to a song; meaning ‘through-composed’
exposition - the first section of a sonata form movement in tonic but ends in dominant key
etude - a study/piece written for the performer to polish his/her technique
concertino - a small group of solo players
prelude - preludio (Italian); prelude (French); Vorspiel (German)
score - partitura (Italian); partition (French); partitur (German)
nocturne - notturno (Italian); nocturne (French); Nachtstuck (German)
mute - sordino (Italian); la sourdine (French); Dampfe (German)
piece - pezzo (It.); morceau (Fr); stuck (Ger)
major - maggiore (It); majeur (Fr); Dur (Ger)
percussion - batterie (It); batteria (Fr); Schlagzeug (Ger)
piccolo - ottavino (It); petite flute (Fr); kleini flote (Ger)
English horn - cor anglais (It); cor anglais (Fr); Englisches horn (Ger)
Tempo marks and other signs
Ad libitum - in freedom of style
Andante - At a walking pace
Allegro - Fast; Quick
Moderato - Moderately
ritenuto; rit - gradually getting slower
Adagio - slow
Allegretto - fairly quick
Cantabile - in a singing style
Espressivo - expressively
Grazioso - gracefully
Molto - much
vivace - lively
Al - like
alla - in the style of; like
a tempo - resume the original speed
con - with
da Capo al Fine - return to the beginning and play until Fine
dolce - sweetly; softly
- down bow
V - up bow
e - and
ed - and
leggiero - delicately
ma - but
marziale - in a military style
meno - less
mosso - movement
molto - much; very
moto - movement
non - not
piu - more
poco - little
tranquillo - tranquil; peaceful; calm; serene
troppo - too; much
vivo - lively
marcato (marc) - marked; accented
semi-staccato - slightly detached
accelerando - gradually getting faster
animato - animated; lively
assai - very; enough
con moto - with movement
ben - well
ben marcato - well marked
brio - brilliantly
largo - slow and broad
l’istesso - the same
maestoso - majestically
pesante - heavily
primo - the first
sempre - always
senza- without
simile (sim.) - similar; same
subito - suddenly
troppo - too much
ma non troppo - but not too much
giocoso - playfully
agitato - agitated
con forza - with force
arpeggiando - to spread the notes upward rapidly
energico - energetically
grave - sad; slow; solemn
larghetto - fairly slow
energico - with energy
appassionata - passionately; with passion
fuoco - fire
tacet - keep silent
divisi - to divide
niente - nothing; silent
quasi - as if
risoluto - boldly; resolutely
rubato - in freedom of time
scherzando - playfully; jokingly
secondo - second
stringendo - gradually getting faster
tempo guisto - in strict time
sotto voce - subdued; hushed
doppio movimento - twice/double the speed
stretto - speed up/ become more excited
morendo, calando, perdendosi, smorzando - dying away
hemiola - a rhythmic ration where the time of three is felt as two, and vice versa
lied ohne worte - song without words
pedal point - repeated notes in the bass line
inverted/inner pedal - repeated notes above the bass line
transition - link; bridge
pivot note - sharing (common note) in 2 different keys
gavotte - a dance movement commonly found in Baroque suite in duple (2/4) or quadruple
(4/4) time
mazurka - a Polish dance in triple time; often with accents on beats 2 and 3. Dotted
rhythms are common.
serial technique - 12-note composition
dissonance - clash or discord
consonance - concord
Instrument names/terms
basso continuo - continuous bass
contrabasso - double bass
corno - horn
fagottto - bassoon
flauto - flute
flauto dolce - recorder
oboe - oboe
tromba - trumpet
bratsche - viola
violino - violin
violoncello - cello
clavicembalo/Clavecin- harpsichord
piatti - cymbals
becken - cymbals
posaunen - tromone
pauken - timpani
timbales - timpani
clavier/klavier - piano
hautbois - oboe
chitarra - guitar
tamburo piccolo - snare drum
kleine trommel - side drum / snare drum
cor anglais - English horn (woodwind) sounding a perfect 5th lower than written
flauto dolce - recorder
