Are you a music lover? Well, you may hear a lot of songs you like in radio, television, or over the internet. What about the terminologies in orchestra or instruments, do you know the meaning each one of them?
In music, the following words are the usual stuff you’ll be heard at the concert, orchestra, concert, singing contest, especially the judges when they will scrutinize or judge based on the contestants’ performances. You can hear also these words when we talk about instruments, voices, or anything related to music.
Here are some of the words that may be new for you. Look at the meaning and them and will surely help you to add in your vocabulary. Enjoy reading!
a cappella
without instrumental accompaniment.
accelerando
with a gradual increase of speed.
accordion
a portable musical instrument with metal reeds blown by bellows, played by means of keys and buttons.
adagio
in slow tempo.
allegro
in a quick and lively tempo.
alto
the lowest female singing voice.
amplify
increase the volume of sound.
andante
at a moderately slow tempo.
annotation
the act of adding notes.
attack
a decisive manner of beginning a musical tone or phrase.
audition
perform in order to get a role.
augmented
added to or made greater in amount or number or strength.
ballad
a poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas.
banjo
a stringed instrument that has a long neck and circular body.
bar
musical notation for a repeating pattern of musical beats.
baritone
a male singing voice of medium compass between bass and tenor.
bass
the lowest part of the musical range.
bass drum
are percussion instruments and vary in size and are used in several musical genres.
bass guitar
similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a longer neck and scale length, and four to six strings that the lowest pitch.
beat
a rhythmic movement, or is the speed at which a piece of music is played.
cadenza
a solo passage occurring near the end of a piece of music.
calando
gradually decreasing in tempo and volume of sound.
cantata
a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir.
carol
a joyful song (usually celebrating the birth of Christ).
castrato
a male singer who was castrated before puberty and retains a soprano or alto voice.
choir
a musical ensemble of singers.
chord
a combination of three or more notes that combine harmoniously.
clarinet
a musical instrument family belonging to the group known as the woodwind instruments.
classical
serious or conventional music following long-established principles rather than a folk, jazz, or popular tradition.
clef
a musical symbol used to indicate the pitch of written notes.
coda
the closing section of a musical composition.
composer
someone who writes music.
composition
an original piece of music, either a song or an instrumental music piece, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating or writing a new song or piece of music.
concerto
a composition for orchestra and a soloist.
conductor
a person who conducts an orchestra, chorus, opera company, ballet, or other musical groups.
contralto
the lowest female singing voice.
crescendo
a gradual increase in loudness.
cymbal
an instrument consisting of a slightly concave round brass plate which is either struck against another one or struck with a stick to make a ringing or clashing sound.
decrescendo
a gradual decrease in loudness.
dissonance
disagreeable sounds.
dominant
the fifth scale degree of the diatonic scale.
duet
composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece.
etude
an instrumental musical composition, usually short, of considerable difficulty, and designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular musical skill.
falsetto
a musical term for a male voice that’s artificially high.
finale
the last section of an instrumental musical composition.
flat
lowered in pitch.
flute
a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group.
folk
music that originates in traditional popular culture or that is written in such a style.
forte
used as a direction in music; to be played relatively loudly.
genre
a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions.
half note
a note having the time value of two-quarter notes or half of a whole note, represented by a ring with a stem.
harmonica
also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock and roll.
harp
a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers.
hymn
a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification.
interlude
a musical composition inserted between the parts of a longer composition.
intonation
a musician’s realization of pitch accuracy, or the pitch accuracy of a musical instrument.
jazz
a genre of American music that developed in the 20th century.
key
diatonic scale providing tonal framework for a musical piece. The group of pitches, or scale, that forms the basis of a music composition
legato
indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly and connected.
lyre
a stringed musical instrument like a harp used by the ancient Greeks.
lyric
words that make up a song usually consisting of verses and choruses.
maestro
also known as “teacher” in musical terms.
masterpiece
the most outstanding work of a creative artist.
medley
a piece composed from parts of existing pieces, usually three, played one after another, sometimes overlapping.
melody
a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity.
MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface is a standard protocol for communication between electronic musical instruments and computers.
monotone
an unchanging tone.
note
the pitch and duration of a sound, and also its representation in musical notation.
obbligato
usually describes a musical line that is in some way indispensable in performance.
octet
a musical ensemble consisting of eight instruments or voices, or a musical composition written for such an ensemble.
opera
an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work.
orchestra
A group of musicians who play together on a variety of instruments, which usually come from all four instrument families.
partita
a suite, typically for a solo instrument or chamber ensemble.
pentatonic
relating to, based on, or denoting a scale of five notes, especially one without semitones equivalent to an ordinary major scale with the fourth and seventh omitted.
pitch
the high or low quality of a sound.
playback
the act of reproducing recorded sound.
pluck
to pull at something with your fingers and then release it.
prelude
usually brief, that is generally played as an introduction to another, larger musical piece.
presto
executed at a very fast tempo.
refrain
the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse.
resonance
having the character of a loud deep sound.
rhythm
the “beat” of music; the regular pattern of long and short notes.
sharp
means “higher in pitch by a semitone (half step)”, and has an associated sharp symbol (#).
soprano
the highest female voice.
symphony
an extended musical composition for orchestra in several movements, typically four.
tempo
the speed at which a section of music is played.
tenor
it’s the range between baritone and alto in the human voice or in an instrument such as a tenor saxophone.
timbre
the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or tone.
tone
refers to sound, as in music, or the feeling conveyed by the way someone speaks.
tuba
the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family.
ukulele
a small, guitarlike musical instrument associated chiefly with Hawaiian music.
variation
a formal technique where the material is repeated in an altered form.
verse
a section of a song that’s often followed by a chorus.
vibrato
a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch.
vivace
an indication to play in a very quick, upbeat tempo; “lively.”
vocal
a type of music performed by one or more singers, either with instrumental accompaniment or without instrumental accompaniment (a cappella).
serenade
a musical composition, and/or performance, in someone’s honor.
sonata
a long piece of classical music that’s usually made up of several parts.
tune
a melody, having a correct musical pitch or being in the correct key.
virtuoso
an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in a particular art or field such as fine arts, music, singing, playing a musical instrument, or composition.
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