Play two octaves higher (15ma) or lower (15mb) than written, for the length of the dotted line.
1re et 2e fin (volta)
First and second endings: numbered brackets over the last bars of a repeat. The first time, play ending “1.” and repeat; the second time, skip it and play ending “2.”.
8va (ottava alta)
“8va” above the notes, followed by a dotted line: play an octave higher than written for as long as the line lasts. It avoids piles of ledger lines.
8vb (ottava bassa)
“8vb” (or 8va placed below the notes): play an octave lower than written for the length of the dotted line. “Con 8” or “col 8” means add the lower octave instead.
A tempo
Return to the original (or main) tempo after a slowing down, speeding up or free passage.
Accelerando
Gradually getting faster, until the next tempo marking.
Accent
The > sign above or below a note: play it louder than its neighbours so that it stands out.
Acciaccature
The acciaccatura: a small note with a slash through its stem, played very quickly, “crushed” against the main note. Depending on style, it falls just before or on the beat.
Accord
A chord: at least three different notes sounded together. In classical harmony, chords are built by stacking thirds above a note, the root.
Accord arpégé
A rolled chord: a vertical wavy line before a chord. Spread its notes quickly from lowest to highest instead of striking them together.
Accord de septième
A triad with a fourth note added, the seventh above the root. Depending on the intervals: major seventh (Cmaj7), minor seventh (Cm7), dominant seventh (C7), half-diminished (Cm7♭5), diminished seventh (C°7).
Accord diminué, accord augmenté
Diminished: two minor thirds (B-D-F), a diminished fifth, a tense sound (symbol B° or Bdim). Augmented: two major thirds (C-E-G♯), an augmented fifth, an unstable sound (symbol C+ or Caug).
Accord majeur
A triad made of a major third (4 semitones) then a minor third (3 semitones): C-E-G. A bright, stable sound. Symbol: the letter alone (C, G).
Accord mineur
A triad made of a minor third then a major third: A-C-E. A darker, more wistful sound. Symbol: letter followed by “m” (Am, Dm).
Accord ouvert
An open chord: a guitar chord played near the nut using open strings (C, D, E, G, A, E minor, A minor…). The first chords guitarists learn.
Accordage standard
The usual guitar tuning, low to high: E, A, D, G, B, E. Neighbouring strings are a fourth apart, except G-B, a major third. The guitar sounds an octave lower than written.
Ad libitum
“At will”: the performer freely chooses the tempo of a passage, whether to play an optional part, or may improvise. A piacere means much the same (at the performer's pleasure).
Adagietto
Slightly less slow than adagio. Also the name of a short slow piece (the Adagietto of Mahler's Fifth Symphony).
Adagio
Slow and relaxed (literally “at ease”), a little more flowing than largo. By extension, an adagio is a slow movement of a sonata or symphony.
Agitato
“Agitated”: restless and feverish, often with a pressing tempo.
Allargando
“Broadening”: slowing down while keeping, or even increasing, the volume. Common just before a climax or ending.
Allegretto
Diminutive of allegro: fairly quick and light, but less lively than allegro.
Allegro
“Cheerful”: fast and lively. The most common tempo for the first and last movements of sonatas.
Allemande
A moderate dance in common time, often the first movement of a Baroque suite, usually starting with a short upbeat and flowing in sixteenth notes.
Altération
An accidental: a sign that changes a note's pitch (sharp, flat, natural, double sharp, double flat). Written before a note, it lasts until the end of the bar for that note at that octave.
Anacrouse
An anacrusis (pickup): a note or notes before the first strong beat of a phrase, in an incomplete opening bar. The final bar is often shortened by the same amount.
Andante
“Walking”: a moderate, calm pace, like an unhurried walk. Neither slow nor fast, it must keep moving forward.
Andantino
Diminutive of andante. Today usually understood as slightly faster than andante, though some 18th-century composers used it for a slightly slower tempo: let the context decide.
Animato
“Animated”: with more life and drive, often a little faster. Animando = becoming gradually more animated.
Apoyando, tirando
Two plucking strokes. Apoyando (rest stroke): after the string, the finger comes to rest on the next string, for a full tone ideal for melodies. Tirando (free stroke): the finger clears the next string, essential in arpeggios.
Appassionato
“Passionate”: with intensity and ardour (Beethoven's “Appassionata” Sonata).
Appoggiature
The appoggiatura: a small note before a main note on which it “leans”. Played on the beat, it takes part of the main note's value (often half) before resolving into it.
Armure
The key signature: sharps or flats placed right after the clef on every line. They apply to every note of that name, in every octave, unless cancelled. It points to the key (or its relative).
Arpège
An arpeggio: the notes of a chord played one after another rather than together, going up or down. Widely used in accompaniment and as a technical exercise.
Articulation
How notes are connected or separated and how they begin (legato, staccato, accent…). Together with dynamics, it is what brings a line to life.
Assai
“Very, quite”: in music, read it as “very” (allegro assai = very fast; adagio assai = very slow).
Attacca
“Attack”: go straight into the next movement without a break.
Bagatelle
“A trifle”: a short, light piano piece. Beethoven's “Für Elise” is a bagatelle (WoO 59).
Ballade
On the piano, a large narrative piece, like a story without words: Chopin's four Ballades (in 6/4 or 6/8) are the model, followed by Liszt and Brahms. In jazz and pop, a ballad is simply a slow song.
Barcarolle
A Venetian gondolier's song: a piece in 6/8 or 12/8 with a rocking rhythm evoking the boat's motion (Chopin, Offenbach, Fauré).
Barré
A barre: the index finger (finger 1) presses flat across several strings at the same fret, like a capo. Full barre: six strings; half barre: a few. Marked “B” or “C” followed by the fret in Roman numerals (CII, BV).
Barre de mesure
A bar line: a vertical line across the staff separating bars. A thin double bar marks the end of a section; a double bar with a thick second line marks the end of the piece.
Barre de reprise
A repeat sign: a double bar with two dots (:‖). Play the passage again from the matching start sign (‖:) or, if there is none, from the beginning. Repeat only once unless told otherwise.
Basse continue
A Baroque practice (c. 1600–1750): a bass line, often figured, over which a keyboard or lute player improvises the chords, sometimes with a low instrument doubling the bass.
Basse d'Alberti
An accompaniment of broken chords in the pattern low-high-middle-high (C-G-E-G), named after Domenico Alberti (18th century). Everywhere in Mozart and Classical sonatinas.
Bécarre
The natural (♮) cancels a sharp or flat (from the key signature or an earlier accidental): the note returns to its plain pitch.
Bémol
The flat (♭) lowers a note by a semitone. On the piano, B♭ is the black key just left of B.
Bend (tiré)
Pushing or pulling the string sideways to raise the pitch by a semitone (½), a whole tone (full) or more. A typical expressive effect in blues and rock.
Berceuse
A lullaby: a gentle piece imitating the rocking of a cradle, often in compound time (6/8) with a repeated accompaniment (Chopin, Brahms, Fauré).
Blanche
The half note (minim): a hollow note head with a stem. Half a whole note, i.e. 2 quarter notes (2 beats in 4/4).
Blues en 12 mesures
The 12-bar form behind blues, jazz and rock: I-I-I-I / IV-IV-I-I / V-IV-I-I (the last bar often moves to V to restart). The chords are often dominant sevenths, played with swing.
Brillante
“Brilliant”: sparkling and virtuosic, with a bright tone and glittering runs.
C et C barré (alla breve)
The C stands for 4/4 (“common time”). The slashed C (alla breve, “cut time”) means 2/2: two half-note beats, so a pulse half as dense. The C comes from medieval notation; it is not really the initial of “common”.
Cadence
A cadence: a chord progression that punctuates the end of a phrase, like a comma or full stop. The main ones are authentic (perfect), plagal, deceptive and half cadences.
Cadence parfaite
Dominant to tonic (V-I) with both chords in root position: the most conclusive “full stop”. In English it is called a perfect or authentic cadence; if a chord is inverted, French usage calls it imperfect.
Cadence plagale
Subdominant to tonic (IV-I), gentler than the perfect cadence. Also called the “Amen cadence”, as it often sets that word at the end of hymns.
Cadence rompue
The dominant (V) resolves to chord VI instead of the tonic (G7 → A minor in C major): the ear expects an ending that doesn't come, so the music carries on. Also called a deceptive or interrupted cadence.
Cadenza
A free, virtuosic passage outside the beat, often printed in small notes, where the soloist shines alone (especially in concertos). Not to be confused with a harmonic cadence.
Calando
“Dropping”: slowing down and getting softer at the same time.
Canon
Strict imitation: the same melody is taken up by a second voice (then others) starting a few beats later, sometimes at another interval (“Frère Jacques”, Pachelbel's Canon).
Cantabile
“Singing”: let the melody sing like a voice, smoothly connected and projected above the accompaniment.
Capodastre (capo)
A clamp across the neck acting as a movable nut: “capo 3” raises every string by three semitones. The same chord shapes then sound in another key.
Case (frette)
Frets are the metal strips on the neck; in French, the space between two frets is the “case”. Pressing at fret n shortens the string and raises the note by n semitones. Press just behind the fret.
Césure
Two short slanted lines (//), also called “railroad tracks”: a brief break in the sound, a silence outside the beat, before continuing. A single comma (ʼ) marks just a breath.
Chiffrage de mesure
The time signature: two stacked numbers at the start. In simple time, the top gives the number of beats and the bottom the note value of one beat (4 = quarter, 2 = half, 8 = eighth): 3/4 = three quarter notes. In compound time (6/8, 9/8, 12/8), the top counts eighth notes grouped in threes: 6/8 = two dotted-quarter beats.
Choral
A Lutheran congregational hymn in even note values, harmonised in four parts. Bach's hundreds of chorale harmonisations are still the model for learning harmony.
Clé
The clef: a sign at the start of the staff that fixes the note names by assigning a specific pitch to one line. The three common clefs are G (treble), F (bass) and C.
Clé d'ut
The C clef: its centre marks the line of middle C (“ut” is the old name of C). On the 3rd line it is the alto clef; on the 4th, the tenor clef. Rare for piano, but found in old editions.
Clé de fa
The bass or F clef: its two dots sit either side of the 4th line, making that line the F below middle C. Used for low notes, usually the piano's left hand.
Clé de sol
The treble or G clef: its curl wraps around the 2nd line, making that line the G above middle C. Used for the piano's right hand and for guitar (which sounds an octave lower than written).
Coda
“Tail”: the closing section of a piece. The 𝄌 sign (a circle with a cross) marks the jump: after a D.C. or D.S., skip straight from “to coda” to the coda. A codetta is a short coda.
Comodo
“Comfortable”: at an easy, unhurried tempo. Often added to another marking (allegro comodo).
Con / Col
“With”: con brio = with spirit; con pedale = with pedal; colla voce = following the voice.
Con anima
“With soul”: with warmth and commitment, giving the phrase momentum.
Con brio
“With spirit”: energetic and brilliant (the Allegro con brio of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony).
Con fuoco
“With fire”: fiery, passionate and energetic.
Con moto
“With motion”: a little more flowing than the stated tempo, never dragging (andante con moto).
Consonance, dissonance
A consonance sounds stable and restful (octave, fifth, thirds, sixths); a dissonance creates tension that calls for resolution (seconds, sevenths, tritone). Perception varies with style and period.
Contrepoint
Counterpoint: the art of combining several independent melodic lines that sound good together. Harmony thinks in chords (vertical); counterpoint thinks in voices (horizontal).
Contretemps
An offbeat: a note attacked on a weak part of the beat while the strong part is a rest. Unlike syncopation, the note is not held over the strong beat.
Courante
A triple-time dance in the Baroque suite. The French courante, in 3/2, is fairly measured, with hemiolas; the Italian corrente, in 3/4 or 3/8, is fast and running.
Crescendo
Gradually getting louder. Written “cresc.” or as an opening hairpin (<).
Croche
The eighth note (quaver): a filled note with one flag, worth half a quarter note. Several eighths are often joined by a beam.
Croisement des mains
Hand crossing: one hand passes over the other to play in its range (Scarlatti, Liszt). The crossing hand usually goes over the top.
Cycle des quintes
The circle of fifths arranges the twelve keys a fifth apart. Going up a fifth (C, G, D, A…) adds a sharp to the key signature; going down (C, F, B♭, E♭…) adds a flat. Keys next to each other on the circle are closely related.
D.C. al fine
Go back to the beginning and play up to the word “Fine”, where the piece ends. Typical of minuets with trio (A-B-A form).
Da capo (D.C.)
“From the head”: go back to the beginning of the piece. Inner repeats are usually not taken again on the way through, unless stated.
Dal segno (D.S.)
“From the sign”: go back to the 𝄋 sign (segno) and play on from there. D.S. al fine: up to “Fine”; D.S. al coda: up to the jump to the coda.
Decrescendo
Gradually getting softer. Written “decresc.” or as a closing hairpin (>).
Degrés
A note's position in the scale, written in Roman numerals (I to VII), also used to name the chord built on it. Names: I tonic, II supertonic, III mediant, IV subdominant, V dominant, VI submediant, VII leading note.
Delicato
“Delicate”: a fine, light touch and refined tone.
Demi-cadence
A phrase that stops on the dominant chord (V): a suspended effect, like a comma or a question, calling for more. Also called a half (or imperfect) cadence.
Demi-pause
The half rest: a small block sitting on the 3rd line, worth a half note.
Demi-soupir
The eighth rest: like a small 7 with a dot, worth an eighth note. The sixteenth rest (two flags) is worth a sixteenth.
Demi-ton, ton
The semitone (half step) is the smallest interval on the keyboard: two neighbouring keys (E-F, B-C, C-C♯). A whole tone (whole step) is two semitones (C-D).
Dièse
The sharp (♯) raises a note by a semitone. On the piano, F♯ is the black key just right of F; E♯ is played on the white key F.
Diminuendo
Getting softer: a synonym of decrescendo. Some composers also imply a slight slowing or fading away.
Doigté
Fingering: the choice of finger for each note, shown by numbers above or below the notes. On piano: 1 = thumb, 2 = index, 3 = middle, 4 = ring, 5 = little finger, for both hands. Good fingering makes a passage safer and smoother.
Doigts de la main gauche (guitare)
On guitar, the fretting-hand fingers are numbered 1 (index), 2 (middle), 3 (ring), 4 (little); 0 means an open string. Beware: on piano, 1 is the thumb.
Dolce
“Sweet”: a warm, gentle tone, usually soft.
Dominante
The fifth degree of the scale (G in C major). The dominant chord (V), which contains the leading note, creates tension that pulls back to the tonic.
Double bémol
The double flat (𝄫) lowers a note by a whole tone (two semitones). B double flat is played on the key A.
Double croche
The sixteenth note (semiquaver): two flags (or two beams), worth half an eighth: four sixteenths per quarter note.
Double dièse
The double sharp (𝄪, a small x) raises a note by a whole tone (two semitones). F double sharp is played on the key G.
Drop D
A tuning where the 6th string is lowered a whole tone, from E to D (D A D G B E). It gives a deeper bass and makes D power chords easy.
Energico
“Energetic”: vigorous, forceful and determined.
Enharmonie
Enharmonic notes have different names but the same sound on the piano, like C♯ and D♭. Which name is used depends on the key and the note's function.
Espressivo
“Expressive”: play with feeling, shaping dynamics and phrasing carefully, often with a little rubato.
Étouffoir
A damper: a small felt pad resting on the strings that stops them vibrating when the key comes up. The sustain pedal lifts them all.
Étude
A study: a piece designed to work on one technical problem (scales, octaves, arpeggios…). Chopin and Liszt made them true concert works; Czerny and Burgmüller wrote them for every level.
Fantaisie
A free-form piece following the composer's imagination, like an improvisation, with changes of tempo and mood (Mozart's Fantasia in D minor, Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu).
Fine
“End”: where the piece stops after a D.C. or D.S. return (“al fine” = up to the end). The first time through, ignore it.
Forme binaire, forme ternaire
Basic layouts of a piece. Binary (AB): two parts, often each repeated, the first moving to the dominant and the second returning home (Baroque dances). Ternary (ABA): a section, a contrast, then the return of the first (minuet-trio-minuet, nocturnes).
Forme sonate
A three-part plan. Exposition: a first theme in the tonic, then a second in another key (dominant, or relative major in minor keys). Development: the themes are broken up and modulate. Recapitulation: both themes return, now in the home key.
Forte (f)
Loud. The sound should be full and round, not harsh: use arm weight rather than hitting with the fingers.
Fortepiano (fp)
Attack loudly, then drop immediately to soft. (The word also names the early piano.)
Fortissimo (ff)
Very loud.
Fortississimo (fff)
Extremely loud, the instrument's full power (ffff is sometimes written).
Fugue
A contrapuntal piece for several voices built on a theme, the subject. Each voice states it in turn (exposition), the second entry (the answer) being transposed to the dominant; episodes and further entries follow, sometimes in stretto. Bach is the summit of the form.
Gamme
A scale: a series of notes in stepwise order across an octave, defined by its pattern of tones and semitones. It supplies the material of a key or mode.
Gamme blues
The minor pentatonic with an added flattened fifth, the “blue note”: in C, C E♭ F F♯ G B♭. The basis of blues and rock improvisation.
Gamme chromatique
The chromatic scale: rises or falls by semitones through all twelve notes of the octave (every key, white and black).
Gamme majeure
The major scale: seven notes on the pattern tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone (C major: the white keys from C to C). It is heard as bright.
Gamme mineure
A scale with a minor third. Three forms: natural (tone, semitone, tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone: A minor = white keys A to A), harmonic (raised 7th, giving a leading note) and melodic (raised 6th and 7th going up, natural coming down, in classical usage).
Gamme pentatonique
A five-note scale without semitones. The major pentatonic uses degrees 1-2-3-5-6 (C D E G A); the piano's five black keys form one. Common in folk music, blues and rock.
Gavotte
A French dance in duple time (2/2), moderate in pace, starting mid-bar with a two-quarter-note upbeat.
Gigue
A fast, leaping dance in compound time (6/8, 12/8) that usually ends the Baroque suite; its voices often enter in imitation.
Giocoso
“Playful, merry”: cheerful and lively.
Glissando (slide)
A slide from one note to another. On guitar, the finger slides along the string without leaving it (marked with a slanted line). On piano, the keys are swept with a fingernail or the back of the fingers.
Grave
Very slow and solemn, with a heavy, serious character. Often found in slow introductions (Beethoven's “Pathétique” Sonata).
Grazioso
“Graceful”: elegant and light, never heavy.
Gruppetto
The turn: an ornament shaped like a sideways S (∽) that circles the note: upper note, main note, lower note, main note. Placed between two notes, it is played after the first.
Hammer-on
A fretting finger hammers down on a ringing string to sound a higher note without plucking again. Marked “H” or with a rising slur.
Harmonique
A bell-like tone made by touching the string lightly, without pressing, right above a specific fret, then plucking. Natural harmonics: fret 12 (octave), fret 7 (octave + fifth), fret 5 (two octaves). Written with diamond-shaped note heads.
Hémiole
Hemiola: two bars of triple time felt as three bars of duple time (or vice versa). Very common at Baroque cadences, in minuets and waltzes.
Impromptu
A piano character piece that feels improvised, often in ternary form (Schubert, Chopin).
Intervalle
The distance between two notes, named by the number of scale steps it spans (2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, octave) and qualified as major, minor, perfect, augmented or diminished according to its number of semitones.
Invention
A short contrapuntal piece developing a motif between the voices. Bach's 15 two-part Inventions (and 15 three-part Sinfonias) were written to teach independent voice playing and a “singing” touch at the keyboard.
L'istesso tempo
“The same tempo”: the beat stays the same despite a change of time signature (for example, the quarter note in 2/4 becomes the dotted quarter in 6/8).
Lamentoso
“Mournful”: sad and grieving, like a lament. Doloroso and dolente are close in meaning.
Larghetto
Diminutive of largo: slow, but a little less slow than largo.
Larghissimo
Superlative of largo: the slowest of all tempos, rarely used, around 24 BPM or less.
Largo
Very slow and broad (literally “wide”). The sound should stay full and singing despite the slow speed.
Legato
“Bound”: connect the notes with no gap, each one starting exactly as the previous one ends. Often shown by a slur.
Leggiero
“Light”: a light, delicate touch, often slightly detached, with little arm weight.
Lento
Slow. Close to largo, suggesting calm rather than breadth.
Liaison de phrasé
A slur: a curve over notes of different pitches. Play them legato, as one gesture; the last note is often slightly lightened.
Liaison de prolongation
A tie: a curve joining two notes of the same pitch. Play only the first and hold it for both values combined. It lets a note last across a bar line.
Ligne supplémentaire
A ledger line: a short line added above or below the staff for notes beyond its five lines. Middle C in treble clef sits on the first ledger line below.
Loco
“In place”: return to the written pitch after an octave sign (8va, 8vb).
Ma non troppo
“But not too much”: same meaning as non troppo (adagio ma non troppo = slow, but not too slow). Ma non tanto is equivalent.
Maestoso
“Majestic”: grand, noble and steady, never rushed.
Main droite (m.d.)
Marks a note or passage for the right hand. “m.d.” stands for both main droite (French) and mano destra (Italian); in English, “r.h.”.
Main gauche (m.g.)
Marks a note or passage for the left hand: “m.g.” in French, “m.s.” (mano sinistra) in Italian, “l.h.” in English. Useful when one hand takes notes written on the other's staff.
Marcato
“Marked”: a stronger, sharper accent than the plain accent, written as a small cap (^). Written out in words, marcato asks for each note of a passage to be clearly stressed.
Marche
A piece in duple or quadruple time with a steady, well-marked rhythm, made to accompany marching, often with a central trio. Alla marcia = in march style.
Martellato
“Hammered”: notes struck forcefully and separated, like hammer blows.
Mazurka
A Polish folk dance in triple time, with the accent often on beat 2 or 3 and dotted rhythms. Chopin wrote nearly sixty.
Médiator
A pick (plectrum): a small plate, usually plastic, held between thumb and index to strum or pick the strings. The thicker it is, the firmer the attack.
Meno
“Less”: meno forte = less loud; meno mosso = slower.
Meno mosso
“Less moving”: a little slower, straight away, from this point on.
Menuet
A French dance in triple time, moderate and elegant, fashionable in the 17th and 18th centuries. Often followed by a trio and then repeated (minuet-trio-minuet); the usual third movement of a Classical symphony.
Mesure
A bar (or measure): the stretch of music between two bar lines, holding a fixed number of beats set by the time signature. The first beat is usually the strongest.
Mesure composée
Compound time: each beat is a dotted value dividing into three (a dotted quarter = three eighths). Examples: 6/8 (2 beats), 9/8 (3 beats), 12/8 (4 beats).
Mesure simple
Simple time: each beat divides naturally into two (a quarter = two eighths). Examples: 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 2/2.
Métronome
A device that ticks the beat at an adjustable speed in BPM. A marking such as “♩ = 96” or “M.M. ♩ = 96” (Maelzel's metronome) asks for 96 quarter notes per minute.
Mezza voce
“Half voice”: a restrained, soft but singing tone, between piano and mezzo forte.
Mezzo forte (mf)
Moderately loud: a little softer than forte. Often the “default” level of a passage.
Mezzo piano (mp)
Moderately soft: a little louder than piano.
Misterioso
“Mysterious”: a veiled, enigmatic atmosphere, often pianissimo.
Mode
A way of ordering a scale's tones and semitones. The seven church modes can be played on the white keys starting on each note: Ionian (C, = major), Dorian (D), Phrygian (E), Lydian (F), Mixolydian (G), Aeolian (A, = natural minor), Locrian (B).
Moderato
Moderate: a medium tempo between andante and allegro. Also used as a modifier (allegro moderato = a restrained allegro).
Modulation
Moving from one key to another within a piece, often via a chord shared by both keys (a pivot chord). It brings contrast and a sense of journey.
Molto
“Much, very”: strengthens the neighbouring marking (molto allegro = very fast; molto rit. = slow down a lot).
Mordant
The mordent: a quick ornament of note, neighbour, note. The zigzag with a vertical stroke uses the lower neighbour; without the stroke (upper mordent or pralltriller), the upper one. Usage varies by period and edition.
Morendo
“Dying away”: the sound fades little by little, often with a slight slowing, at the end of a phrase or piece.
Mosso
“Moving, animated”. Mostly found in più mosso, meno mosso or andante mosso (a flowing andante).
Motif
A motif: a short, recognisable melodic or rhythmic cell that the composer repeats, transforms and develops (the four opening notes of Beethoven's Fifth). A theme is a longer idea, often a whole phrase.
Mouvement
A movement: a self-contained part of a larger work (sonata, symphony, suite) with its own tempo and character. In French, “mouvement” also means the tempo itself.
Niente (al niente)
“Nothing”: a diminuendo al niente fades to silence; a crescendo dal niente starts from silence. Sometimes marked with a small “n” or a circle at the tip of the hairpin.
Nocturne
A “night piece”: a dreamy work where a singing melody unfolds over wide left-hand arpeggios. Created for piano by John Field and taken to its height by Chopin.
Noire
The quarter note (crotchet): a filled note head with a stem and no flag. Worth 2 eighth notes; it is the beat in 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4.
Noms des notes
Note names: French, Italian and Spanish use do (or ut), re, mi, fa, sol, la, si (ti). English uses letters C D E F G A B; in German, H is B natural and B is B flat.
Non legato
Notes slightly separated, without being as short as staccato. Often the default touch in Baroque keyboard music.
Non troppo
“Not too much”: tempers the marking (allegro non troppo = fast, but not excessively).
Nuance
Dynamics: the loudness of the sound, from softest to loudest. Written with Italian letters (p, mf, f…) and crescendo or diminuendo signs. Dynamics are relative: a Mozart f is not a Rachmaninoff f.
Numéros des cordes
Strings are numbered from the highest (1, high E) to the lowest (6, low E). On a score, a circled number (③) says which string to play the note on.
Octave
The interval of eight scale steps (twelve semitones) between two notes of the same name, e.g. two neighbouring Cs. The upper note vibrates exactly twice as fast, hence their likeness.
Opus (op.)
“Work”: the number of a composition in a composer's catalogue (op. 27 no. 2 = 2nd piece of set 27). Some composers have their own catalogues: BWV for Bach, K. or KV for Mozart, WoO for Beethoven's works without opus number.
Ornement
Ornaments: decorative notes added to a melody, shown with shorthand signs (trill, mordent, turn, appoggiatura) rather than written out. How they are played depends on style and period.
Ossia
“Or else”: an alternative version of a passage, often easier, printed small on an extra staff above.
p-i-m-a (main droite)
Letters naming the plucking-hand fingers, from Spanish: p = pulgar (thumb), i = índice (index), m = medio (middle), a = anular (ring). The thumb usually plays the bass strings (4 to 6) and i-m-a the treble strings, as in a p-i-m-a arpeggio.
Palm mute
The edge of the picking hand rests on the strings right by the bridge to partly mute them, giving a short, dull, percussive sound. Marked “P.M.” followed by a dotted line.
Passage du pouce
Passing the thumb under: the movement that lets you play a scale without a break. The thumb slips under the hand (e.g. after the 3rd or 4th finger), or the hand crosses over the thumb in the other direction.
Pause
The whole rest: a small block hanging below the 4th line, worth a whole note. It also marks a full bar of silence in any time signature. (In French “pause” means this rest; in British English “pause” means a fermata.)
Ped. et ✱
Sustain-pedal marks under the staff: “Ped.” (or 𝆮) = press, the asterisk ✱ = release. Modern editions also use a horizontal line whose hooks or notches (∧) show where to lift and re-press.
Pédale (harmonique)
A pedal point: a note held or repeated (often in the bass) while the chords change above it; a tonic or dominant pedal depending on the note. Not to be confused with the piano's pedals.
Pédale de résonance (forte)
The right (sustain or damper) pedal. It lifts all the dampers so the strings keep sounding after the keys are released, sustaining and enriching the sound. Change it with each new harmony so chords don't blur.
Pédale syncopée (pédale legato)
The basic technique: play the new chord, then lift and re-press the pedal immediately after the attack. The sound stays connected without blurring the previous chord.
Pédale tonale (sostenuto)
The middle pedal on grand pianos: it sustains only the notes already held down when it is pressed, leaving later notes unaffected. On many upright pianos, the middle pedal is instead a practice mute.
Perdendosi
“Losing itself”: the sound fades until it disappears.
Pesante
“Heavy”: weighty and emphatic, each note carrying weight.
Phrase
A musical unit forming a complete idea, like a spoken sentence, often 4 or 8 bars long and ending with a cadence. Phrasing is how you shape it: breathing, high point, release.
Pianissimo (pp)
Very soft. On the piano, press the keys slowly from close to the surface, keeping the sound clear.
Pianississimo (ppp)
Extremely soft, at the edge of hearing. Sometimes pppp, even softer, is written.
Piano (p)
Soft. This is where the instrument's name comes from: the pianoforte could play “soft and loud” depending on how hard the key was struck.
Picking
Plucking strings individually. In fingerpicking (Travis picking), the thumb alternates bass notes while the other fingers play melody or arpeggios; with a pick, alternate picking alternates down- and upstrokes.
Più
“More”: più forte = louder; più lento = slower; più mosso = faster.
Più mosso
“More moving”: a little faster, straight away, from this point on.
Poco
“A little”: softens the neighbouring marking (poco rit. = slow down slightly; poco più mosso = a little faster).
Poco a poco
“Little by little”: the indicated change (crescendo, accelerando…) happens very gradually, over a long stretch.
Point (note pointée)
A dot after a note or rest adds half its value. Dotted half = 3 quarters; dotted quarter = 3 eighths. A double dot adds a further quarter of the value.
Point d'orgue (fermata)
An arc with a dot (𝄐) over a note or rest: hold it longer than its written value, as long as taste suggests, then continue. In British English it is also called a “pause”.
Polonaise
A Polish dance in triple time, stately and processional, recognisable by its typical rhythm (eighth, two sixteenths, then eighths). Chopin made it a heroic symbol of Poland.
Polyrythmie
Polyrhythm: two different divisions of the same span played together, e.g. 3 against 2 (a triplet in one hand, two eighths in the other).
Portato (louré)
Between legato and staccato: notes barely separated, each gently leaned on. Written as dots (or dashes) under a slur.
Portée
The staff (or stave): five horizontal lines and the four spaces between them, on which notes are written. The higher a note sits, the higher it sounds. Lines are counted from the bottom up.
Power chord (accord de quinte)
A two-note chord, root and fifth (often with the octave), with no third: so neither major nor minor. Written with a “5” (E5, A5). A staple of rock, especially with distortion.
Prélude
Originally an introductory piece before a fugue or suite (Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier). From Chopin on, also a short independent piece built on one idea or mood (Chopin, Debussy, Rachmaninoff).
Prestissimo
Superlative of presto: as fast as possible while staying clean.
Presto
Very fast. Calls for light fingers and a very steady pulse.
Progression II-V-I
The chords on degrees II, V and I (in C: Dm7-G7-Cmaj7). The most common progression in jazz, driven by the bass moving in fifths.
Pull-off
The fretting finger leaves the string with a slight pluck, sounding the lower note (a lower fret or open string) without picking again. Marked “P” or with a falling slur.
Pulsation
The pulse or beat: the steady underlying throb of the music, the one you tap your foot to. Each throb is a beat; the tempo sets its speed.
Quasi
“Almost, as if”: quasi niente = almost nothing; quasi una fantasia = in the manner of a fantasy.
Ragtime
An African American piano style (c. 1895–1920): a syncopated right-hand melody over a steady “oom-pah” left hand (bass notes on the beats, chords in between). Scott Joplin, its master, warned against playing it too fast.
Rallentando
Gradually slowing down; in practice a synonym of ritardando.
Rasgueado
A flamenco guitar technique: the fingers, curled into the palm, flick out one after another to sweep the strings, producing a fast, percussive roll.
Renversement
An inversion: a chord whose lowest note is not the root. 1st inversion: the third in the bass (E-G-C); 2nd inversion: the fifth in the bass (G-C-E). Seventh chords also have a 3rd inversion.
Rhapsodie
A free-form piece, usually in one movement, epic or impassioned in character, stringing together contrasting episodes, sometimes on folk tunes (Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies, Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue).
Rinforzando (rf, rfz)
“Reinforcing”: a sudden strengthening of a few notes or a short phrase, less pinpointed than a sforzando.
Risoluto
“Resolute”: firm and decisive, with clear attacks. Deciso means much the same.
Ritardando
Gradually slowing down. The abbreviation rit. usually stands for ritardando, but may also mean ritenuto (an immediate slowing): context decides.
Ritenuto
“Held back”: an immediate (not gradual) slowing, kept until the tempo returns.
Romance
A lyrical instrumental piece in song style, with a simple, tender melody. Mendelssohn popularised a close relative, the “Song without Words” (Lied ohne Worte).
Ronde
The whole note (semibreve): a hollow note head with no stem. Worth 2 half notes or 4 quarter notes, i.e. 4 beats in 4/4.
Rondo
A form where a refrain (A) keeps returning between contrasting episodes: A-B-A-C-A or A-B-A-C-A-B-A. Common as a sonata finale, usually cheerful (Mozart's “Rondo alla turca”).
Rubato
“Stolen time”: expressive freedom of tempo, holding back or pushing certain notes to shape the phrase. In Chopin, the left hand often stays steady while the melody bends.
Rythme pointé
Dotted rhythm: a long dotted note followed by a short one (dotted eighth-sixteenth, for example), giving a skipping or stately feel. Not the same as swing.
Rythmique (strumming)
Strumming: sweeping chords downwards or upwards with a pick or the fingers. On scores, ⊓ (or ↓) means a downstroke, V (or ↑) an upstroke.
Sarabande
A slow, solemn dance in triple time, the expressive heart of the Baroque suite, with a typical stress on beat 2.
Scherzando
“Joking”: light, playful and mischievous.
Scherzo
“Joke”: a fast, lively movement in triple time that replaces the minuet in Beethoven, with a central trio. Chopin turned it into large, dramatic stand-alone pieces.
Segno
The 𝄋 sign (a slashed S between two dots) marking the place to return to at a “dal segno”.
Semplice
“Simple”: play naturally, without affectation or heavy rubato.
Sempre
“Always”: keep going the same way (sempre legato, sempre pp) until told otherwise.
Sensible
The leading note: the seventh degree, a semitone below the tonic (B in C major), which “pulls” up to it. In minor, the 7th degree must be raised to get it (G♯ in A minor).
Senza
“Without”: senza pedale = without pedal; senza rit. = without slowing down.
Senza misura
“Without measure”: a passage played freely, with no regular beat, like a cadenza or recitative.
Septième de dominante
The seventh chord on the 5th degree: a major triad plus a minor seventh (G-B-D-F in C major). Its tension strongly pulls to the tonic: the leading note rises, the seventh falls.
Sforzando (sfz, sf)
“Forcing”: a sudden, strong accent on a single note or chord, relative to the surrounding dynamic. Sfp = sforzando followed at once by piano.
Silence
A rest: a sign measuring time without sound. Each note value has a matching rest: whole, half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth.
Sillet
The nut: a small slotted piece guiding the strings at the top of the neck, where the vibrating length of open strings begins; the saddle, on the bridge, ends it at the body end.
Simile
“Similarly”: keep playing as just shown (same articulation, pedalling or fingering) without everything being written out.
Smorzando
“Extinguishing”: let the sound fade out completely, sometimes slowing down as well.
Sonate
An instrumental work in several movements (often three or four: fast, slow, minuet or scherzo, fast) for a solo instrument or small group. The first movement is usually in sonata form.
Sonatine
A small sonata, shorter and simpler, often with a brief development. Sonatinas by Clementi, Kuhlau and Diabelli are teaching classics.
Sostenuto
“Sustained”: notes held to their full length with a rich, continuous tone, often with a slight holding back of tempo.
Sotto voce
“Under the voice”: in an undertone, very quietly, as if confiding.
Soufflet
A “hairpin”: a sideways V (< or >) under the staff. < = crescendo, > = decrescendo; both together (<>) make the sound swell and fade.
Soupir
The quarter rest: a vertical zigzag, worth a quarter note.
Sous-dominante
The fourth degree of the scale (F in C major). The subdominant chord (IV) moves gently away from the tonic and often leads to the dominant.
Staccatissimo
Very detached: as short as possible, marked by a small black wedge (or vertical stroke) above the note.
Staccato
“Detached”: a note played clearly shorter than its written value, marked by a dot above or below the note head. The silence that follows still belongs to the note's value: the beat is not shortened.
Stretto
As a tempo marking: faster, tightening (often near the end). In a fugue, stretto means something else: voices enter close together, each starting the subject before the previous one has finished it.
Stringendo
“Tightening”: pressing forward with mounting tension. Close to accelerando, but more urgent.
Subito
“Suddenly”: the change happens at once, with no transition (p subito = suddenly soft, often right after a loud passage).
Suite
A set of pieces in the same key. The Baroque suite usually runs allemande, courante, sarabande and gigue, often opened by a prelude, with optional dances (minuet, gavotte, bourrée).
Swing
In jazz and blues, eighth notes written evenly are played unevenly, long-short, roughly like a triplet quarter and eighth. The exact ratio depends on tempo and style.
Symbole d'accord (grille)
Chord symbols: chords written as letters above the melody: Am = A minor, G7 = G seventh, C/E = C major with E in the bass. A chord chart lists a song's progression.
Syncope
Syncopation: a note attacked on a weak beat (or weak part of a beat) and held over the following strong beat, shifting the natural accent and creating an off-balance feel.
Système (grande portée)
The grand staff: for piano, two staves joined by a brace, treble clef on top (usually right hand) and bass clef below (usually left hand). Middle C lies between them.
Tablature
Guitar tablature: six lines stand for the strings (the top line is the highest string, E), and each number gives the fret to press (0 = open string). It shows where to play, but often not the rhythm.
Tarentelle
A very fast folk dance from southern Italy in 6/8, with whirling triplets.
Tempo
The speed of a piece's pulse, often expressed in beats per minute (BPM). Italian markings (adagio, allegro…) describe a character more than an exact value: the BPM ranges in this glossary are only indicative and vary with period, edition and performer.
Tempo primo
Return to the piece's first tempo after a section written in a different tempo.
Temps fort, temps faible
Strong and weak beats: within a bar, some beats are naturally stressed. In 4/4: beat 1 strong, beat 3 medium, beats 2 and 4 weak. In 3/4: strong, weak, weak.
Tenuto
“Held”: hold the note for its full value, with slight emphasis. Shown by a short horizontal line above or below the note.
Thème et variations
A theme is stated simply, then repeated several times in transformed versions (ornaments, rhythm, mode, tempo) while keeping its structure and harmony recognisable (Mozart's “Twinkle, Twinkle” Variations).
Toccata
From toccare, “to touch”: a virtuosic keyboard piece of fast runs, chords and repeated notes that shows off the performer's agility (Bach, Schumann, Prokofiev).
Tonalité
The key: the organisation of notes and chords around a home note, the tonic, in major or minor: “G major”, “D minor”. The key signature gives a first clue.
Tonique
The first degree of the scale, which names the key: the point of rest the music tends to return to. The tonic chord (I) ends most pieces.
Tons relatifs
A major and a minor key sharing the same key signature. The relative minor lies a minor third below the major tonic: C major and A minor, G major and E minor.
Tranquillo
“Tranquil”: calm and peaceful, without tension. Calmo means the same.
Transposition
Playing or rewriting a whole piece in another key, shifting every note by the same interval: the tune stays the same, only the pitch changes.
Tre corde
“Three strings”: release the una corda pedal and return to the normal sound.
Trémolo
Very rapid repetition of one note, or fast alternation between two notes or chords. Shown by slashes through the stem or between the notes.
Triade (accord parfait)
A triad: three notes stacked in thirds, root, third and fifth (C-E-G). Depending on the size of the thirds, it is major, minor, diminished or augmented.
Trille
The trill (“tr”): rapid alternation between the written note and the note just above it in the scale. In Baroque music it usually starts on the upper note; from the 19th century on, usually on the written note.
Trio
The contrasting middle section of a minuet, scherzo or march, often calmer, before the first part returns. The name comes from the old habit of scoring it for three instruments. Also a group of three players.
Triolet
A triplet: three notes played in the time of two of the same value, marked with a “3”. Three triplet eighths fill one quarter note. Similarly sextuplets (6), quintuplets (5), duplets (2 in the time of 3)…
Triple croche
The thirty-second note (demisemiquaver): three flags or beams, half a sixteenth, eight per quarter note.
Una corda
“One string”: the left (soft) pedal. On a grand piano it shifts the action so the hammers strike fewer strings, giving a softer, veiled tone. On an upright it moves the hammers closer to the strings, mainly reducing volume.
Valse
A waltz: a turning dance in triple time, born in 18th-century Austria and Germany, queen of 19th-century ballrooms. On piano, the left hand typically plays a bass note on beat 1 and a chord on beats 2 and 3.
Vibrato
A slight, regular wavering of a held note's pitch that makes it more alive. On guitar, the finger rocks along the string (classical) or makes tiny bends (electric). The piano cannot produce it.
Vivace
Lively and brisk, faster than allegro. Vivo means much the same.