What does that mean?!?!

Terms are listed alphabetically

Accelerando

Gradually getting faster

Accent

In music an accent is when pressure or emphasis is placed on particular notes. This can be for effect or to ensure a melody line is heard over an accompaniment. There are many different types of accent mark and they all suggest accenting a note in different ways. 

Adagio

Slow

Agitato

Agitated

Alberti Bass

 This is a repeated accompaniment figure common in Classical music. It primarily consists of the notes of a triad played in steady quavers or semiquavers in a specific order (lowest-highest-middle-highest).

Allegretto

Moderatley quick

Allegro

Quick

Allemande

This is a Baroque dance played at a moderate speed in duple time. 

Anacrusis

This is when a melody does not begin at the start of a bar. It is the upbeat at the beginning of a piece or phrase. 

Andante

At walking pace

Andantino

A little faster than Andante

Arpeggiated

This is when a passage moves in jumps like an arpeggio. An arpeggiated chord is when you play each note of the chord one after the other, often quickly, otherwise known as a spread chord. 

Articulation

How a note is played. Detached, smooth, accented etc. 

Atonal

A piece with no set key.

Baroque Music

(1600 - 1750)
Key composers: Arcangelo Corelli, François Couperin, Jean-Baptiste Lully, ​Claudio Monteverdi, Henry Purcell, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Alessandro Scarlatti, Domenico Scarlatti, Georg Philipp Telemann, Antonio Vivaldi

Beat

This is the heart beat of the music. It is what underpins a piece's tempo. If the pulse is fast the piece will be fast. The pulse is the conductors button, the metronome click or the silent counting in your head while you play. It is otherwise known as the "pulse".

Blues

Blues comes from the USA in the late 19th century. It is heavily influenced by African music. Most of blues musicians were descendants from Africa who were transported to America in the slave trade and were forced to work. When forced to work, these musicians would sing work songs and in church. Their singing combined with African rhythms was the beginning of the musical style - Blues.

Cadence

This is the collection of chords used to finish a phrase or at the end of a piece. 
​There are 4 types of cadence: Perfect, Imperfect, Interrupted and Plagal.

Cantabile

In a singing style

Chromatic

This is when a note moves up or down by a semitone. In a piece of music if chromaticism is used there may be a lot of accidentals and therefore lever changes. 

Con brio

with vigour

Classical Music 

(1750 - 1790)
Key composers: Bach, Beethoven, Clementi, Dussek, Haydn, Mozart

Contrapuntal or
Counterpoint

Interweaving melodic parts. This is also known as polyphonic texture.

Courante

This type of dance is in triple time and is played at a moderate speed. This is a popular dance movement in the Baroque period. 

Crescendo

Gradually getting louder. This can be written as a hairpin or "cresc" in your music. 

Diminuendo

Gradually getting quieter. This can be written as a hairpin or "dim" in your music. 

Dissonance

This is when a chord sounds discordant or clashy

Dolce

Sweetly

Dominant

The fifth note of a scale

Dotted notes

If a note has a dot horizontally after it. This means that you add half of the notes value to itself. So! If you have a dotted crotched it will last one and a half beats. (A crotchet is worth one beat. Half of one beat is a half. One beat plus half a beat is one and a half beats.)

Duplet

2 notes played in the space of 3.

Dynamics

How loud or quiet the music is. 
Also see: fortissimo, forte, mezzo forte, mezzo piano, piano, pianissimo, crescendo, diminuendo, sforzando

Energico

Energetic

Folk

Folk music is typically passed aurally from generation to generation. It is the traditional music of a country or region. Folk has been written and played since medieval times but it is still popular today. Music such as Irish folk music is also a popular type of music and often used to enhance pop songs. 

Form

This is the number of sections in the piece. The two most common forms are Ternary (ABA) AND Binary (AB) 
There are many forms that are much larger such as sonatas, concertos, rondo, theme and variations.

Forte

Loud

Fortissimo

Very loud

Gavotte

This is a type of dance performed in 2/2 or 4/4 time. It often has each phrase beginning halfway through the bar. This is a popular dance movement in the Baroque period. 

Gigue

This is a lively dance in compound time (6/8, 9/8 or 12/8). 
​This is a popular dance movement in the Baroque period. 

Grazioso

Graceful

Homophonic

Homophonic literally means "sounding together". This is the most common type of texture in Western music. This texture is when a piece has multiple different notes playing, but they’re all based around the same melody.
Examples of pieces with homophonic textures are: the majority of pop songs, where a singer sings a melody over a guitar or piano as accompaniment.

Imitation

This is where one musical part copies another.

Imperfect Cadence

A cadence that ends on a dominant chord. 

Impressionist Music

Impressionist music is a style of music from France in the late 19th Century. Its all about creating moods and atmospheres in music. 
​Composers: Ravel, Debussy
Dynamics: Lots of dynamics but less dramatic than romantic music. 
Harmony: Impressionist composers loved using modes and whole tone scales. But music also moves through major and minor keys and has some chromaticism.
Flowing melodies. 
Rhythm and tempo: No fixed rhythms and lots of use of rubato. Flowing, natural playing. 

Improvisation

Improvisation is when musicians play what they are feeling within the key and structure of the piece they are playing. Its inventing music as you go as a way to express yourself and responding to other musicians in a band to create a new and inventive musical conversation. 

Interrupted Cadence

A cadence that ends on a dominant chord followed by a submediant chord.

Interval

This is the distance between two notes

Key

Major/ minor. This is what the piece is composed in.

Key Chord

This is otherwise known as the tonic triad. It is made up of the first, third and fifth notes of the scale. 

Key note

This is the first note in a scale. Otherwise called the tonic.

Jazz

Jazz came about as a new style of music in the early 20th century. It was created by African-American communities in New Orleans. Jazz comes from blues and ragtime.
Key feature of Jazz is improvisation and syncopation.

Largo

Slow

Legato

Smoothly

Maestoso

Majestic, stately

Marcarto

Accented

Mazurka

A Polish dance in triple time with the 2nd and 3rd beats accented. 

Mezzo

Medium, this could come before words such as forte, Mezzo forte means medium loud. 

Minuet

This is a dance composed in 3/4 time played at a moderate speed. 
​This dance was commonly used in Baroque and Classical music. 

Modal

This is much based on a mode. Rather than a major or minor scale. 

Mode

A mode is a type of scale. In Western music, modes were used before the use of Major and minor tonalities dominated. For example in medieval music, modes were used instead of major and minor scales. Modal scales have set patterns and produce very distinctive sound worlds. 
There are seven modes: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Locrian

Moderato

Moderate speed

Modulation

This is when you change from one key to another during a piece of music.

Monophonic

"Mono" means one. Monophonic texture is where a piece has one solo musical line. There is no harmonic accompaniment, and no other music being made except for the melody.

Ornamentation

This are little frills added to a note to make them more exciting. They are very common in early Classical and Baroque music. Examples include: acciaccatura, appoggiatura, grace note, mordant, trill, turn. 

Perfect Cadence

This is a cadence formed of the dominant chord followed by the tonic chord. It sound very final and is often used at the end of a piece. 

Pesante

Heavy

Piano

Quiet

Pianissimo

Very Quiet

Pitch

how high or low a note is. 

Piu mosso

more movement / with movement

Plagal cadence

This is a cadence formed of the subdominant chord followed by the tonic chord. It sound final but isn't as strong as a perfect cadence. It is also known as the amen cadence. 

Polonaise

A stately Polish dance in triple time.

Polyphonic

"Poly" means lots. 
​Polyphonic texture is when the music has multiple independent melody lines playing simultaneously.
This is also known and contrapuntal music. 

Presto

Very quick

Primary Chords

Tonic, dominant and subdominant chords of the key.

Pulse

This is the heart beat of the music. It is what underpins a piece's tempo. If the pulse is fast the piece will be fast. The pulse is the conductors button, the metronome click or the silent counting in your head while you play. It is otherwise known as the "beat".

Ragtime

Ragtime is a musical style from African-American communities the end of the 19th Century. It comes from dance halls and saloon bars and was originally played on solo piano. The accompaniment, left hand, has a steady rhythm (vamp on the beat). Whereas the right hand melody was usually syncopated. This is called a ragged rhythm. 

Rallentando

Gradually getting slower. Also shown on music as rall.

​Rhythm

How long or short notes are.
​These notes of varying lengths are then grouped into patterns creating rhythms. 

Ritenuto

Held

Ritardando

Gradually getting slower. Also shown on music as rit.

Rondo

ABACA structure

​Rubato

Fluctuating, liberal tempo

Sarabande

This is a slow dance in triple time. 

Scalic

Moving by step

Scherzando

Playful

Semi Tone

A semitone (or "half step") is the smallest distance between two different notes.
It’s easiest to see visually on a piano. 
If two notes are as close as possible on the piano keyboard, the distance between them is a semitone. Find E and F next to each other on the piano keyboard. The distance between E and F is a semitone; it's not possible to squeeze another note in between them, because there is nothing between them on the piano keyboard.
On a harp a semitone is when you play the same string but move a lever. For example, C natural to C#.
 Now find A and B flat. The distance between A and B flat is also a semitone.

Sonata

This is a type of form consisting of an exposition, development and recapitulation. 

Spiritoso

Spirited

Staccato

Detached

Structure

This is the number of sections in the piece. The two most common forms are Ternary (ABA) AND Binary (AB) 
There are many forms that are much larger such as sonatas, concertos, rondo, theme and variations.

Subdominant

The 4th note of a scale

Subito

Suddenly

Submedient

The 6th note of a scale

Supertonic

The 2nd note of a scale

Syncopation

This is where focus or emphasis is put on rhythms that are off the beat.

Tenuto

Held

Tempo

This is how fast a piece is played. It is not the speed/rhythm of the notes.It is how quick the pulse is.

Texture

How much "stuff" is going on at once.
If a piece has thick texture it could have many harmonic layers or lots of instruments could be playing at the same time. 
If a piece has thin texture it may be a few instruments playing or is only a melody and accompaniment. 
There are more formal ways of defining a piece's texture. These are: homophonic, monophonic and polyphonic.

Terraced Dynamics

This is when the music becomes louder or quieter due to texture. The more instruments playing, the louder it is. This is a common feature of Baroque music. 

Tierce de Picardie

A Tierce de Picarie is when a piece ends on a surprise chord. If a piece is in a minor key the chord at the end will suddenly be a major. The major chord at the end will always be the tonic chord but the major version. If you want to play this, you just have to sharpen the 3rd of the chord you are playing. For example a D minor chord D F A will become D F#A (major). This is common in the Baroque period of music and was used to create a sense of optimism to the piece's final moments.

Tonality

This is how the music sounds. Is it happy (major), sad (minor), medieval or folky (modal) or absolutely bonkers (atonal).

Tone

A tone (or "whole step") is made up of two semitones.
However, it is not as easy unfortunately as moving from one string to the next on your harp. This is where drawing a piano comes  in handy! Find G and A on the keyboard. G-A is a tone. We can squeeze a G sharp(/A flat) between them. E-F sharp is a tone. F natural sits between them. 

Tonic

The 1st note of a scale

Tranquillo

Calm, Tranquil

Triad

This is a chord made up of 3 notes all spaced 3rds apart. Example: CEG

Triplet

Three notes played in the space of 2. 

Vamp

A repeated musical phrase, usually used as an accompaniment

Vivace

Lively

Waltz

A dance in triple time.