Music Terms Every Musician Should Know
Music Terms Every Musician Should Know
Any musician worth his or her salt needs to know some musical terms without having to look them up. What follows is a list of commonly used terms, along with a short definition.
Musical terms are words — mostly in a language other than English. The vast majority of music terms are Italian. Some are German or French. If you speak any of those languages, it will be obvious that there is nothing “magic” about these terms. They mean what they say — in that particular language.
For example, the music term accelerando means gradually faster. This would apply whether you were playing the piano or running. In the same way that you can combine words in English, music terms can also be combined.
For example, the Italian word con means with. The word moto means motion. Put them together and you get the musical term, con moto or with motion.
Terms are listed within categories, depending on type. Each category is defined to help you think of similar terms in relation to one another.
Tempo or Speed
These music terms provide direction about how fast (or slow) you should perform the music. Although there is no hard and fast rule about what fast or slow means, generally accepted metronome markings have been included. All metronome markings are in beats per minute.
Largo — slowly, stately (mm 40)
Grave — heavy, dragging (mm 44)
Lento — slowly, faster than largo (mm 52)
Adagio — slowly (mm 70)
Adagietto – faster than adagio, slower than andante (mm 70 — 80)
Andantino — a little slower than andante (mm 70), however sometimes this term is used to mean a little faster than andante
Andante – moderately slowly (mm 80-100)
Moderato — moderately (mm 100)
Allegretto – fairly fast (mm 110)
Allegro — fast (mm 120)
Vivace — quick, lively (mm 140-160)
Presto — very fast (mm 180)
Prestissimo — as fast as possible (mm 200)
Tempo Changes
These terms refer to speeding up or slowing down.
Accelerando – gradually faster
Stringendo — hastening, accelerating suddenly
A tempo – back to the original tempo
Allargando – slowing down, broadly
Rallentando – growing slower (rolling)
Ritardando — also, growing slower but more abruptly
Dynamics
These musical terms provide instruction related to the loudness or softness of the music.
Crescendo — swelling, increasing in loudness
Decrescendo — decreasing in loudness
Diminuendo — diminishing in loudness
Forte – loud
Forte-piano – loud then immediately soft
Fortissimo – very loud
Pianissimo – very soft
Sotto voce – soft voice or under the breath
Style
The terms listed below have to do with musical style.
Agitato – agitated
Brio — fire, sometimes seen as con brio meaning with fire
Cantabile — in a singing style
Dolce – sweetly
Fuoco — with fire, spirited
Giocoso – playfully
Legato – smoothly connected
Maestoso – majestically
Marcato — marked or accented
Meno mosso – less movement
Pesante — heavily
Piu mosso – more movement
Sforzando — with force
Simile – similar
Sostenuto – sustained
Staccato — detached, separated
Tranquillo – tranquilly
Directions or Duration
These musical terms essentially provide direction about where to go in the music or how to play or sing a certain note or group of notes.
Da capo – return to the beginning of the piece
Dal segno – return to the sign represented by this symbol
Fermata – hold at will represented by the symbol for fermata
Tenuto – held slightly longer than note value
Add-on Terms
These terms can be combined or added to other terms above to provide more detailed instructions about the music.
Assai – very
Con – with
e – and
Ma – but
Meno – less
Mezzo – half
Molto – much
Non — not
Piu – more
Poco – little
Sempre – always
Senza – without
Subito – suddenly
Tempo – time/speed
Troppo – too much
Suggested Resource
Since no online article could ever hope to provide all necessary possible information about a subject as large as music terms, you might want to consider owning a resource that does — or comes very close to it.
That resource would be the Schirmer Pronouncing Pocket Manual of Musical Terms, sold many places, including Amazon. It is available in both a Kindle version as well as paperback. It will set you back somewhere between $3.50 and $5.50 and is worth every penny.
*******************************************************************************************