Musical Terms

The terms "gracieusement", "grazioso" and "gracefully" - french, italian and english - all mean the same thing, which is: "play this piece gracefully." But it's not always this easy to deduce the meaning of a dynamic term in a foreign language. And there are plenty of other mysterious terms with which pianists need to cope. Luckily, there are several online music dictionaries to help. I've listed some below, in no particular order, along with a few definitions, taken from the online dictionaries, of some of the most commonly seen terms, for your convenience.

None of these dictionaries is as complete has a music library dictionary, but taken together, they encompass a useful amount of information.

Creative Music Online Dictionary of Musical Terms http://www.creativemusic.com/features/di...

Austin Symphony Online Music Dictionary http://www.austinsymphony.org/musicterms...

An Incomplete List of Music Terms Contra Costa College Music Department http://www.contracosta.cc.ca.us/music/te...

Music for the Mind Music Dictionary http://members.tripod.com/~donlevi/dicti...

a sampling of definitions

Adagio: Slow, leisurely.

Alberti Bass: A pattern of bass notes that outlines the chord being sounded in the pattern low-high-middle-high.

Allegretto: Moderately fast, lively. Faster than Andante, slower than allegro. Allegro: Lively, brisk, rapid.

Allemande: (Fr.) "German." A stately 16th-century German dance, initially in a duple meter. During the 17th and 18th centuries, it was used as the first movement of the suite. Andante: Moderately slow, a walking speed.

Arpeggio: The notes of a chord played in successsion to one another, rather than simultabniously. A broken chord.

Common Time: 4/4 meter.

Crescendo: Gradually growing louder.

Da Capo: From the beginning. A direction to repeat the entire compositon from the beginning to the place where the word "fine" appears or to the end.

Diminuendo: Gradually growing softer.

Divertimento: An entertaining instrumental piece made up of several short movements.

Gallant: an 18th century compositional style that was light, elegant, non-contrapuntal, and highly ornamented.

Grace Note: A note, or notes that are playedquickly, usually before the beat.

Grand Staff: The combination of a staff linenotated in treble clef with one notated inbass clef. Used primarily in scoring for piano, andother keyboard instruments, this staff is also sometimesused to score vocal works, such as hymns.

Maestoso: Majestic, dignified.

Obbligato: Required, indispensable.

Opus: "Work". With a number, used to show the order in which the works by a given composer were written or published. Opus numbers are most often used for composers who catalogued their own works.

Prelude: "Play-before". An introductory movement or work.

Sforzando: Explosively.

Smorzando: An Italian dynamic indication: "fading away".

Sonata: A piece for a solo, or accompanied, instrument, usually in 3 or 4 movements.

Tutto, Tutta: All, whole.

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