Below is a list of terms used in musical terminology which are likely to occur on printed or sheet music. Many of these terms have an Italian etymology, reinforcing the Italian origins of standard modern musical notation. Most of the other terms are taken from either the French or German languages; these will be indicated by "(Fr.)" and "(Gr.)", respectively. In different countries, the terms you see below may be written in the language of that country. Sheet music is written representation of music. ...

Unless indicated otherwise, these terms are assumed to be Italian (or English) in origin. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

A

• a, à (Fr.) – "at", "to", "by", "for", "in", "in the style of".
• aber (Gr.) – "but".
• a cappella – in the manner of chapel music, without instrumental accompaniment.
• accelerando – gradually increasing the tempo; "accelerating".
• accentato – "with emphasis"
• acciaccatura – "crushing" – A very fast grace note that is "crushed" against the note that follows and takes up no value in the measure.
• accompagnato – "accompanied" – The accompaniment must follow the singer who can speed up or slow down at will.
• adagietto – "rather slow."
• adagio – "slow."
• adagissimo – "very slow."
• ad libitum (commonly ad lib) – the speed and manner are left to the performer.
• affettuoso – "tenderly".
• affrettando – "hurrying," pressing onwards.
• agile – "swiftly"
• agitato – "agitated."
• al, alla – "to the", "in the manner of".
• alla breve – two minim (half-note) beats to a bar, rather than four crotchet (quarter-note) beats.
• alla marcia – "in the style of a march".
• allargando – "broadening," "getting a little slower."
• allegretto – "a little lively," or "moderately fast."
• allegro – "lively," or "fast."
• als (Gr.) – "than".
• altissimo – "very high"
• amabile – "amiable", "pleasant".
• amoroso – "loving".
• andante – "moderate tempo," just this side of slow.
• andantino – slightly faster than andante.
• animato – "animated", "lively".
• apaisé (Fr.) – "calmed".
• a piacere – "at pleasure". Used to indicate that the performer does not have to follow the rhythm strictly.
• appassionato – "passionately."
• appoggiatura – "leaning" – A grace note that "leans" on the following note, taking up some of its value in the measure.
• a prima vista – Playing something at first sight of the sheet music
• arietta – a short aria
• arioso – "airy"
• arpeggio – literally, like a harp. Used to indicate that the notes of a certain chord are to be played quickly one after another (usually from lowest to highest) instead of at the same moment. In piano music this is sometimes a solution in playing a wide-ranged chord whose notes cannot be played otherwise. Music generated by the limited hardware of video game computers uses a similar technique to create a chord from one tone generator. Arpeggios (or arpeggi) are also accompaniment patterns. See also broken chord.
• arco – "played with the bow," as opposed to pizzicato "plucked," in music for bowed instruments.
• assai – "very."
• assez (Fr.) – "enough", "sufficiently". Sometimes used in the same sense as assai.
• a tempo – "in time", used on its own to indicate that the performer should return to the main tempo of the piece (after an accelerando or ritardando), also may be found in combination with other terms such as a tempo giusto (in strict time) or a tempo di menuetto (at the speed of a minuet).
• attacca – (at the end of a movement): a direction to begin (attack) the next movement immediately, without a gap or pause.
• Ausdruck (Gr.) – "expression".
• ausdrucksvoll (Gr.) – "expressively".
• avec (Fr.) – "with".

A cappella music is vocal music or singing without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. ... In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for time) is the speed or pace of a given piece. ... In music, ornaments are musical flourishes that are not necessary to the overall melodic (or harmonic) line, but serve to decorate or ornament that line. ... In music, ornaments are musical flourishes that are not necessary to the overall melodic (or harmonic) line, but serve to decorate or ornament that line. ... This article is about the musical term aria. ... The harp is a stringed instrument which has its strings positioned perpendicular to the soundboard. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... A grand piano A piano is a musical instrument which is classified as a keyboard, percussion or string instrument, depending on the system of classification used. ... Music is a human activity which involves structured and audible sounds, which is used for artistic or aesthetic, entertainment, or ceremonial purposes. ... A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ... In music accompaniment is the art of playing along with a soloist or ensemble, often known as the lead, in a supporting manner as well as the music thus played. ... Below is a list of terms used in musical terminology which are likely to occur on printed or sheet music. ... An ARCO gas station in Los Angeles ARCO (Atlantic Richfield Company) is an American oil company that prospered during the energy crisis. ... Pizzicato is a method of playing an orchestral string instrument. ... In music, a movement is a large division of a larger composition or musical form. ...

B

• barbaro – "barbarous"
• basso continuo – a bass part played continuously throughout a piece to give harmonic structure. Used especially in the Baroque era.
• bellicoso – "warlike," aggressive
• ben – "well" (as in ben marcato = well marked).
• bis – "again," "twice."
• Bisbigliando – "whispering" – a special tremolo effect on the harp where a chord or note is rapidly repeated at a low volume.
• bocca chiusa – with closed mouth.
• brillante – "brilliantly," "with sparkle."
• brio – "vigour"; usually in con brio (see next).
• brioso or con brio – "vigorously."
• broken chord – a chord in which the notes are not all played at once, but in some more or less consistent sequence. They may follow singly one after the other, or two notes may be immediately followed by another two, for example. See also arpeggio in this list, which as an accompaniment pattern may be seen as a kind of broken chord; see Alberti bass.
• bruscamente – "brusquely".

Figured bass, or thoroughbass, is a kind of integer musical notation used to indicate intervallic content (the intervals which make up a sonority), later chords, in relation to a bass note. ... Baroque music describes an era and a set of styles of European classical music which were in widespread use between approximately 1600 to 1750 (see Dates of classical music eras for a discussion of the problems inherent in defining the beginning and end points). ... Bisbigliando (whispering in Italian) is a special tremolo effect on the harp where a chord or note is rapidly repeated at a low volume. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Alberti bass is a particular kind of accompaniment in music, often used in the classical music era. ...

C

• calando – "lowering"; getting slower and softer - rit. and dim.
• cambiare – "change" – Any change, such as to a new instrument.
• cantabile – "singingly."
• capo – beginning.
• capriccioso – "capriciously"
• cédez (Fr) – "to give way"
• cesura or caesura – often called "railroad tracks"; indicates complete break in sound.
• chiuso – "closed" – calls for a horn to be muted by hand.
• coda – Closing section of a movement.
• col legno – "with the wood"; indicates that the strings are to be struck with the wood of the bow; also battuta col legno: "beaten with the wood."
• coloratura – "coloration" – Elaborate ornamentation of a vocal line.
• col pugno – "with the fist"; bang the piano with the fist.
• come prima – like the first (tempo), as before
• come sopra – like the previous (tempo)
• common time is the time signature 4/4: four beats per measure, each beat a quarter note (a crotchet) in length. 4/4 is often written on the musical staff as C. The symbol is not a "C" as an abbreviation for "common time", but a broken circle: the full circle at one time stood for triple time, 3/4.
• comodo – "comfortable" – At moderate speed.
• con – "with," in very many musical directions, for example con allegrezza ("with liveliness"), con amore ("with tenderness").
• con amor – "with love" – Tenderly.
• con brio – "with spirit."
• con fuoco – "with fire" – In a fiery manner.
• con moto – "with motion."
• con slancio – "with enthusiasm."
• con sordino – "with the mute."
• coperti – on a drum, muted with a cloth.
• crescendo – progressively louder. Cf. diminuendo.
• cut time – same as the meter 2/2: two half-note (minim) beats per measure. Notated and played like common time (4/4), except with the beat lengths halved. Indicated by three quarters of a circle with a vertical line through it, which resembles the cent symbol ¢. This comes from a literal "cut" of the C symbol of common time. Thus, a quarter note in cut time is only half a beat long, and a measure has only two beats. See also alla breve.

Col legno (Italian for with the wood) is a method of playing bowed string instruments (particularly the violin, viola, cello, and double bass) whereby the strings are struck with the wood of the bow rather having the hair pulled across them. ... Coloratura is an ornate, flowery style in classical singing. ... The time signature (also known as meter signature) is a notational device used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each bar and which note value (minim, crotchet, eighth note and so on) constitutes one beat. ... The time signature (also known as meter signature) is a notational device used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each bar and which note value (minim (half-note), crotchet (quarter-note), quaver (eighth-note), and so on) constitutes one beat. ... In music, a quarter note is played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note. ... In musical notation, the staff or stave is a set of five horizontal lines on which note symbols are placed to indicate pitch and time. ... A mute is a device which alters the timbre or reduces the volume of a musical instrument. ... In musical notation, crescendo means that the notes are gradually getting louder. ... In music, dynamics refers to the volume or loudness of the sound or note, in particular to the range from soft (quiet) to loud. ... The time signature (also known as meter signature) is a notational device used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each bar and which note value (minim, crotchet, eighth note and so on) constitutes one beat. ... Metre is the measurement of a musical line into measures of stressed and unstressed beats, indicated in Western notation by a symbol called a time signature. ... The time signature (also known as meter signature) is a notational device used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each bar and which note value (minim, crotchet, eighth note and so on) constitutes one beat. ... The time signature (also known as meter signature) is a notational device used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each bar and which note value (minim, crotchet, eighth note and so on) constitutes one beat. ... In music, a quarter note is played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note. ... Alla breve is an italian musical term to describe a time signature of 2/2 (small alla breve) or even 4/2 and 2/1 (large alla breve). ...

D

• da capo – from beginning.
• deciso – "decisively"
• decrescendo, diminuendo or dim. – "dwindling" – Play with gradually decreasing volume (cf. crescendo).
• delicatamente – "delicately"
• dissonante – "dissonant"
• divisi – (or div.) means literally "divided": in a part in which several musicians normally play exactly the same notes they are instead to split the playing of the written simultaneous notes among themselves. It is most often used for string instruments. (The return from divisi is marked unisono: see in this list.)
• devoto – "religiously"
• dolce – "sweetly"
• dolcissimo – "very sweetly"
• dolente – "sorrowfully"
• doloroso – "painfully"
• D.S. al coda – (or dal segno al coda) "from the sign to the coda": means to return to a place in the music designated by the "sign" (a marking resembling a letter S with a diagonal through it and a dot to either side) and continue until directed to move to the coda, a separate ending section
• D.S. al fine – (or dal segno al fine) "from the sign to the end": means to return to a place in the music designated by the sign and continue to the end of the piece
• dynamics – refers to the relative volumes in the execution of a piece of music. See dynamics (music).

In music, dynamics refers to the volume or loudness of the sound or note, in particular to the range from soft (quiet) to loud. ...

E

• Empfindung – "Feeling" (Ger.)
• encore – "once more" (direction to play section again) (Fre.)
• enfatico – "emphatically"
• eroico – "heroically"
• espirando – "gasping", dying away
• espressivo – "expressively"
• estinto – "as soft as possible," "lifeless" (literally "extinguished").

F

• facile – "easily"
• feroce – "ferociously"
• fieramente – "proudly"
• fine – "the end," often in phrases like al fine ("to the end").
• flebile – "mournfully"
• focoso – "passionately"
• forte – usually marked with f: to be played or sung loudly. The term fortissimo, or ff, means "very loudly." See dynamics.
• fortepiano – 1. loud, then immediately soft (see dynamics); 2. an early pianoforte.
• fortissimo – as loudly as possible (see note at pianissimo)
• forzando or fz. See sforzando
• fresco – "freshly"
• fuoco – "fire"; "con fuoco" means "with fire."
• furioso – "wildly"

In music, dynamics refers to the volume or loudness of the sound or note, in particular to the range from soft (quiet) to loud. ... In music, dynamics refers to the volume or loudness of the sound or note, in particular to the range from soft (quiet) to loud. ... Fortepiano designates the early version of the piano, as it existed from its invention by Cristofori around 1700 up to the early 19th century. ...

G

• gaudioso – with joy
• gentile – "gently"
• geschwind (Gr.) – "quickly."
• getragen (Gr.) – "sustainedly."
• giocoso – "gayly."
• giusto – strictly, exactly.
• glissando – a continuous sliding from one pitch to another (a "true" glissando), or an incidental scale played while moving from one melodic note to another (an "effective" glissando). See glissando for further information; and compare portamento in this list.
• grandioso – "grandly"
• grazioso – "gracefully."
• gustoso – "gusto";

Glissando (plural: glissandi) is a musical term that refers to either a continuous sliding from one pitch to another (a true glissando), or an incidental scale played while moving from one melodic note to another (an effective glissando). ... Glissando (plural: glissandi) is a musical term that refers to either a continuous sliding from one pitch to another (a true glissando), or an incidental scale played while moving from one melodic note to another (an effective glissando). ...

H

• Hauptstimme (Gr.) – "chief part", that designates the contrapuntal line of primary importance, in opposition to Nebenstimme.

I

• immer (Gr.) – "always."
• imperioso – "imperiously"
• impetuoso – "impetuously."
• improvisando – with improvisation
• in altissimo – play an octave higher.
• incalzando – "getting faster and louder." (the exact opposite of calando).
• in modo di – "in the art of"
• infurianto – "furiously"
• intimo – "intimately"
• irato – "angrily"

K

• kräftig (Gr.) – "strongly."

L

• lacrimoso – "sadly" (literally "tearfully")
• lamentando – "complaining"
• lamentoso – "mournfully"
• langsam (Gr.) – "slowly"
• larghetto – "somewhat slowly"; not as slow as largo.
• largo – "slowly."
• legato – "smoothly"; in a connected manner. See articulation.
• leggiero – "lightly", "delicately"
• lent (Fr.) – "slowly"
• lento – "slowly"
• libero – "(I) liberate"
• loco – play as written (generally used to cancel an 8va direction)
• lugubre – "lugubrious"
• luminoso – "luminously"
• lusingando – "coaxingly"

In musical notation legato indicates that musical notes are played smoothly. ... Articulation may refer to several topics: In speech, linguistics, and communication: Topic-focus articulation Articulation score Place of articulation Manner of articulation In music: Musical articulations (staccato, legato, etc) In education: Articulation (education) In sociology: Articulation (sociology) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that... For the numerical computation software, see GNU Octave. ...

M

• ma – "but."
• ma non troppo – "but not too much."
• maestoso – "in a stately fashion," "majestically."
• magico – "magically"
• magnifico – "magnificent"
• malinconico – "melancholy"
• mano destra – [played with the] right hand (abbreviation: MD).
• mano sinistra – [played with the] left hand (abbreviation: MS).
• marcato – play every note as though it is accented.
• marcia – a march; alla marcia means "in the manner of a march."
• martellato – hammered out.
• marzial – "martially."
• mässig (Gr.) – "moderately."
• MD – see mano destra.
• melancolico – "melancholic"
• meno – "less"; see meno mosso, for example, under mosso.
• mesto – mournful, sad
• mezza voce – "with subdued or moderated volume," literally "half voice."
• mezzo – "half"; used in combinations like mezzo forte (mf), meaning "moderately loud."
• mezzo forte – "half loudly" – Directs the musician to play moderately loud. See dynamics.
• mezzo piano – "half softly" – Directs the musician to play moderately soft. See dynamics.
• mezzo-soprano – a female singer with a range usually extending from the A below middle C to the F an eleventh above middle C. Mezzo-sopranos generally have a darker vocal tone than sopranos, and their vocal range is between that of a soprano and that of an alto.
• mobile – "flexible", "changeable"
• moderato – "moderate," often combined with other terms, for example, "allegro moderato".
• modesto – "modest"
• molto – "very"
• morendo – "dying away" in tone or tempo.
• mosso – "motion"; used in conjunction with "più" or "meno", respectively, for more movingly or less movingly (about tempo).
• MS – see mano sinistra.
• moto – "Motion." Usually seen as "con moto," meaning "with motion" or "quickly."
• munter (Gr.) – "lively".

In music, dynamics refers to the volume or loudness of the sound or note, in particular to the range from soft (quiet) to loud. ... In music, dynamics refers to the volume or loudness of the sound or note, in particular to the range from soft (quiet) to loud. ... A mezzo-soprano (meaning medium soprano in Italian) is a female singer with a range usually extending from the A below middle C to the F an eleventh above middle C. Mezzo-sopranos generally have a darker (or lower) vocal tone than sopranos, and their vocal range is between that... Look up Soprano in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In music, an alto or contralto is a singer with a vocal range somewhere between a tenor and a mezzo-soprano. ...

N

• naturale, nat. – "resume normal playing mode." This important instruction is necessary to discontinue a 'special effect' such as col legno, sul tasto, sul ponticello or playing in harmonics.
• Nebenstimme (Gr.) – "under part." A secondary contrapuntal part, always occurring simultaneously with, and subsidiary to, the Hauptstimme.
• nicht zu schnell (Gr.) – "not too fast."
• nobile – "in a noble fashion".
• notes inégales (Fr.) – unequal notes; a principally Baroque performance practice of applying long-short rhythms to pairs of notes written as equal.

In music, notes inégales (French: unequal notes) refers to a performance practice, mainly from the Baroque and Classical music eras, in which notes with equal written time values are performed with unequal durations, usually as alternating long and short. ...

O

• omaggio – "celebration"
• ossia – Denotes an alternative way of performing a passage often notated with a footnote, additional small notes, or an additional staff.
• ostinato – A short musical pattern that is repeated throughout an entire composition or portion of a composition.

P

• passionato – "passionately"
• pesante – "heavy and ponderous."
• peu à peu – little by little
• pianissimo (pp) – a directive to play very softly, even softer than piano. This convention can be extended; the more p's that are written, the softer the composer wants the musician to play, thus ppp (which truly has no name but is often referred to as "three p's") would be softer than pp.

Note: it should be noted that any dynamics in a piece should always be played relative to the other dynamics found in the music. Thus, pp should be played as softly as possible, but if ppp is found later in the piece, pp should be markedly louder than ppp. Likewise, ff should be played as loud as possible, but if fff is found later in the piece, ff should be noticeably quieter. More than three p's is uncommon, because it is hard to distinguish the difference between three ps and ten ps!

• piano – marked p, a directive to play or sing softly. See dynamics.
• piacevole – "pleasant."
• piangevole – "plaintive"; in the style of a lament.
• più – "more"; see mosso for an example.
• pizzicato – "plucked," in music for bowed strings; as opposed to arco, which means "played with the bow", and which is inserted to cancel a pizzicato direction.
• pochettino (poch) – "rather little."
• poco – "a little", as in poco più allegro ("a little faster"), for example.
• poco a poco – "little by little."
• poi – "then," indicating a subsequent instruction in a sequence; diminuendo poi subito fortissimo, for example: "getting softer then suddenly very loud."
• portamento – 1. generally, sliding in pitch from one note to another (especially in singing; more often called glissando in instrumental music); 2. in piano music, an articulation between legato and staccato, like portato, in this list.
• portato – non-legato but not as short as staccato (same as portamento [2], in this list).
• posato – "settled"
• precipitato – "precipitately."
• prestissimo – "extremely quickly."
• presto – "very quickly."
• prima volta – "the first time"; for example prima volta senza accompanimento ("the first time without accompaniment").
• primo – "first."

In music, dynamics refers to the volume or loudness of the sound or note, in particular to the range from soft (quiet) to loud. ... A lament or dirge is a song or poem expressing grief or regret. ... Pizzicato is a method of playing an orchestral string instrument. ... An ARCO gas station in Los Angeles ARCO (Atlantic Richfield Company) is an American oil company that prospered during the energy crisis. ... Glissando (plural: glissandi) is a musical term that refers to either a continuous sliding from one pitch to another (a true glissando), or an incidental scale played while moving from one melodic note to another (an effective glissando). ... Articulation may refer to several topics: In speech, linguistics, and communication: Topic-focus articulation Articulation score Place of articulation Manner of articulation In music: Musical articulations (staccato, legato, etc) In education: Articulation (education) In sociology: Articulation (sociology) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that... In musical notation legato indicates that musical notes are played smoothly. ... In musical notation, staccato indicates that notes are sounded in a detached and distinctly separate manner with their lengths shortened; that is, a short silence should be between the notes, without affecting the rhythm. ...

Q

• quasi – "as if," "almost."

R

• rallentando (rall.) – "progressively slower".
• rapido – "fast."
• rasch (Gr.) – "fast."
• religioso – "religiously"
• repente – "suddenly."
• restez (Fr.) – remain on a note or string.
• rinforzando (rf) – "stressed by extra force"; sometimes like a sudden crescendo, but often applied to a single note.
• risoluto – "Resolutely" – played in a bold manner.
• ritardando (rit.) – "progressively slower."
• ritenuto (riten.) – "holding back," or "slower" (usually more so than a ritardando; and it may, unlike ritardando, apply to a single note).
• roulade (Fr.) – a florid vocal phrase.
• rubato – flexibility of tempo, within a musical phrase, for expressive effect.

Tempo rubato is an Italian musical term for slightly speeding up or slowing down the tempo as well as altering the relationships among the written note values. ...

S

• sanft – "gently" (Ger.)
• scherzando – "playfully."
• scherzo – "a joke."
• schneller (Gr.) – "faster."
• scordatura – an alternate tuning used for the open strings of a string instrument.
• secco – "(I) dry"
• sempre – "always."
• senza – "without."
• senza sordino – "without mute."
• serioso – "seriously"
• sforzando or sfz – A sudden strong accent.
• silencio – silence.
• simile – "similarly"—i.e. continue applying the preceding directive, whatever it was, to the following passage.
• smorzando (or smorz.) – smother the notes; "dying away."
• soave – "smoothly."
• solo, plural soli – "alone"; played by a single instrument. A soli requires more than one player; in a jazz big band this refers to an entire section playing in harmony.
• sostenuto – "sustainedly."
• sotto voce – soft tones, literally "under voice" used as a direction instructing the singer or instrumentalist to proceed in a more understated or more subtle fashion.
• spiritoso – "spiritedly."
• staccato – an indication to play with a sharp attack, and briefly. In music notation a small dot under or over the note indicates that the note is to be sounded staccato.
• stanza – "a verse of a song".
• strepitoso – "noisy".
• stretto – faster.
• subito – "suddenly."
• sul ponticello – in string playing, an indication to bow very near to the bridge, producing a characteristic glassy sound, which emphasizes the higher harmonics at the expense of the fundamental.
• sul tasto – in string playing, an indication to bow over the fingerboard.

A scordatura (literally Italian for mistuning) is an alternate tuning used for the open strings of a string instrument. ... In music, tuning is the process of producing or preparing to produce a certain pitch in relation to another, usually at the unison but often at some other interval. ... A string is a vibrating element used on many musical instruments, such as the violin, guitar, harp, and piano. ... A string instrument (or stringed instrument) is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. ... A mute is a device which alters the timbre or reduces the volume of a musical instrument. ... In music, dynamics refers to the volume or loudness of the sound or note, in particular to the range from soft (quiet) to loud. ... In music, solo means to play or sing alone. ... Jazz is an original American musical art form originating around the early 1920s in New Orleans, rooted in Western music technique and theory, and is marked by the profound cultural contributions of African Americans. ... A big band is a large musical ensemble that plays jazz music. ... Sotto voce (literally little voice), an Italian expression, means to speak under ones breath. In music, a dramatic lowering of the vocal or instrumental tone; not necessarily pp. ... In musical notation, staccato indicates that notes are sounded in a detached and distinctly separate manner with their lengths shortened; that is, a short silence should be between the notes, without affecting the rhythm. ... Music notation is a system of writing for music. ... In music, a bow is a device pulled across the strings of a string instrument in order to make them vibrate and emit sound. ... Look up bridge in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In music, a bow is a device pulled across the strings of a string instrument in order to make them vibrate and emit sound. ... The fingerboard, also known as a fretboard, is a part of most stringed instruments. ...

T

• tempo – "time" – The speed of a piece of music.
• teneramente – tenderly
• tenuto – "held" – an instruction to touch on a note slightly longer than usual, but without generally altering the note's value.
• tremendo – "frightening"
• tremolo – a rapid repetition of the same note, or an alternation between two or more notes. It can also be intended (inaccurately) to mean a rapid and repetitive variation in pitch for the duration of a note (see vibrato). It is notated by a strong diagonal bar across the note stem, or a detached bar for a set of notes (or stemless notes).
• tre corde – (tc; sometimes inaccurately tre corda) literally "three strings"; an instruction to release the soft pedal (in piano music). See una corda.
• troppo – "too much" – Usually seen as "non troppo," meaning "moderately" or, when combined with other terms, "not too much," such as "Allegro non troppo."
• tutti – "all together," usually used in an orchestral or choral score when the orchestra or all voices come in, also seen in baroque-era music where two instruments share the same copy of music, after one instrument breaks off to play a more advanced form, and they both play at the "tutti." See also: ripieno.

In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for time) is the speed or pace of a given piece. ... Tremolo is a musical term with two meanings: A rapid repetition of the same note, a rapid variation in the amplitude of a single note, or an alternation between two or more notes. ... Vibrato is a musical effect where the pitch or frequency of a note or sound is quickly and repeatedly raised and lowered over a small distance for the duration of that note or sound. ... A grand piano A piano is a musical instrument which is classified as a keyboard, percussion or string instrument, depending on the system of classification used. ... Ripieno (Italian for stuffing) or tutti (Italian for everybody) is the larger of the two ensembles in the concerto grosso. ...

U

• una corda – "one string" – a directive in piano music for the musician to depress the soft pedal, reducing the volume of the sound. In some pianos, this literally results in the hammer striking one string rather than two or three. (For most notes on modern instruments, in fact it results in striking two rather than three strings.) Its counterpart, tre corde ("three strings"; see in this list), is the opposite: the soft pedal is to be released.
• un poco – "a little."
• unisono (or unis) – "in unison" – several players are to play exactly the same notes within the written part, as opposed to splitting simultaneous notes among themselves. Often used to mark the return from divisi (see in this list).

A grand piano A piano is a musical instrument which is classified as a keyboard, percussion or string instrument, depending on the system of classification used. ...

V

• vibrato – A slight variation in the pitch of a note, used to give a richer sound. Often confused with tremolo, which refers either to variation in the volume of a note, or rapid repetition of a single note.
• vittorioso – "victoriously"
• vivace – "lively," "up-tempo."
• vivacissimo – "very lively"
• volante – "flying"
• V.S. (volti subito) – "turn page quickly". Found often in orchestral parts.

Vibrato is a musical effect where the pitch or frequency of a note or sound is quickly and repeatedly raised and lowered over a small distance for the duration of that note or sound. ... Tremolo is a musical term with two meanings: A rapid repetition of the same note, a rapid variation in the amplitude of a single note, or an alternation between two or more notes. ... Sheet music is written representation of music. ...

W

• wolno – A Polish word meaning "loose" or "slowly". Found as directive in "The Elephant" from "Carnival of the Animals" by Saint-Saens. Rarely used and hard to find.

Z

• Zeitmass (Gr.) – tempo.

See also

• Modern musical symbols
• Tempo
• Eponymous musical terms

This is intended to be a comprehensive guide on the various symbols encountered in modern sheet music. ... In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for time) is the speed or pace of a given piece. ... // Compositions Rock Me Amadeus - a 1985 hit single by Falco, a Vienna-based pop star of the 1980s. ...

External links

• British vs. American Musical Terms
• Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary (contains audio samples)
• Choral Conducting Terms