A
A is the note of the musical scale used generally for tuning (= French, Italian, Spanish: la). Notes in English are given letter names, A,B,C,D,E,F & G.Accelerando
Accelerando (Italian: becoming faster) is a term in general use to show that the music should be played at an increasing speed.Accompaniment
An accompaniment is an additional part for a performer of any kind that is less important than another, which it serves to support and enhance. The piano is often used to provide an accompaniment to a solo singer. In instrumental works for, say, violin and piano the rôles may be reversed.Adagio
Adagio (Italian: slow) is an indication of tempo and is sometimes used to describe a slow movement, even when the indication of speed at the start of the movement may be different. The diminutive form adagietto is a little faster than adagio.Agogic Accent
An accent created by duration or rhythm rather than by loudness or metrical positionAir
Air (= Italian: aria) appearing sometimes with the earlier English spelling ayre, means a tune or melody, for voice or instrument.Alberti Bass
Stereotyped figures of accompaniment for the pianist's (or harpsichordist's) left hand, consisting of broken chords. They are named for Domenico Alberti (1710-40?), who used them extensively. Similar broken-chord patterns occur in the works of the virginalists (c.1600) and in various keyboard compositions of the 17th century. They are common in the works of Mozart, Haydn, and early Beethoven.Aleatory (Chance) Music
Music of the mid-20th century in which the composer assigns a major creative role to the performer. In such music, the composer may provide a set of detailed materials or a vague outline of the entire piece, leaving the order of execution or the filling in of details to the performer. If the performer is to work out the actual pitches and rhythm, the composer will normally abandon traditional musical notation and work out one that will convey his particular ideas. The shape of a musical gesture (phrase) may be suggested by a line, for example, or intensity or duration by the size of the figure. Different performances of the same work may vary greatly, and the receptivity and imagination of the performer becomes of far greater importance than in traditional music.Since neither composer nor performer is necessarily
bound by the limitations of metrical rhythm, great rhythmic freedom may
be achieved in chance music. In addition to traditional vocal and
instrumental sound, tonal resources comprise also vocal and instrumental
sounds produced in abnormal fashion and sounds from extramusical sources
(e.g., striking or dragging of chars or stands). Intensive interest
in chance music began in the 1950's with works of such diverse composers
as Stockhausen and Cage.
Milhaud's "Cocktail" (1921) might be cited as an early example of the concept,
as well as certain 18th-century works that assemble short bits of music
in an order determined by the casting of dice.
Alla
The Italian alla means 'in the manner of' (= French: ˆ la) and may be found in titles like that of Mozart's 'Rondo alla turca', Rondo in the Turkish Style.Alla breve
(It., "at the breve") The meter indicated by the sign
,
in which each measure is conceived as consisting of two half notes, each
given one beat, rather than the four quarter notes indicated with the sign 
. It is thus the equivalent of 2/2 as compared with 4/4. It
is sometimes referred to as cut time. In modern practice this implies
relatively rapid tempo, as in military marches, which often employ this
meter. But its use with respect to tempo varied considerably from
the 17th through the 19th centuries, so it cannot always be regarded as
indicating rapid tempo. Historically "alla breve" derives from the
system of proportions, in use in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, in which
it indicated that the "tactus" or metrical pulse was to be "at the breve"
rather than at "at the semibreve." This it represented in theory,
as it still does, a diminution of the duration of any note value by one-half,
given a fixed tempo or rate of beats, and was known as "tempus imperfectum
diminutum" or "proportio dupla." It could also be represented in
that system by the fraction 2/1. (See Mensural
Notation)
Allegro
Allegro (Italian: cheerful, lively) is generally taken as fast, although not as fast as vivace or presto. Allegretto is a diminutive, meaning slightly slower than allegro. These indications of speed or tempo are used as general titles for pieces of music headed by instructions of this kind. The first movement of a classical sonata, for example, is often 'an Allegro', just as the slow movement is often 'an Adagio'.Allemande
An allemande is a German dance (the word itself is French) in 4/4 time, often the first dance in a baroque dance suite, where it is frequently followed by a courante, a more rapid dance. The allemande, which appears in earlier English sources often as alman, almain or with similar spellings, is generally moderate in speed.Alto
The alto (= Italian: high) is the lower female or unbroken male voice, or male falsetto of similar range. The alto clef (see Clef) is a sign written on the musical stave to show that the middle line of the stave is middle C. It is now used for much of the music written for viola and other instruments of similar range. Female alto soloists are usually described as contralto rather than alto.Ambitus
The range of the melodies of Gregorian chant, varying from a fourth, (in some of the simple antiphons) to an octave or more (Graduals, Alleluias, etc.). In the Graduals, the ambitus of the verse is often one or two tones higher than that of the Respond.In the theory of the church
modes, the ambitus is the chief mark of distinction between and authentic
and a plagal mode.
Andante
Andante (Italian: walking) is a word used to suggest the speed of a piece of music, at walking pace. The diminutive andantino is ambiguous and means either a little faster or a little slower than andante, more often the former.Antecedent and Consequent
Two musical phrases, the second of which is a concluding response to or resolution of the first. The two phrases often have the same or similar rhythms, but have complementary pitch contours and / or tonal implications, e.g., a rising contour in the first and a falling contour in the second, or a conclusion on the dominant in the first and a conclusion on the tonic in the second.Anthem
An anthem is a short vocal composition. In the Church of England the word indicates such a composition often using a non-liturgical text (i.e. not part of the official service). A full anthem is for full choir, without soloists, while a verse anthem makes contrasting use of solo singers. Both these forms flourished in the Church of England from the late 16th century.Anticipation
A metrically weak dissonant tone that is immediately reharmonized as a consonance (it anticipates the next note/harmony).Appogiatura
A metrically strong dissonance, normally arrived at by leap and resolved by descending step. (Also possible is the reverse appogiatura, in which a downward leap prepares the upward resolution by step.) (See Nonharmonic Tones)Arabesque
The word 'arabesque' originally indicated a decorative pattern in Arab style found in painting or architecture. Its most common use in music has been as a descriptive title of short decorative piano pieces of the 19th or early 20th century. There are two well known Arabesques by the French composer Debussy.Arco
Arco (Italian: bow) is used as an indication to string-players that they should use the bow, rather than pluck with the fingers (see pizzicato).Aria
An aria is a song or air. The word is used in particular to indicate formally constructed songs in opera. The so-called da capo aria of later baroque opera, oratorio and other vocal compositions, is an aria in which the first section is repeated, usually with additional and varied ornamentation, after the first two sections. The diminutive arietta indicates a little aria, while arioso refers to a freer form of aria-like vocal writing.Arpeggio
A chord whose pitches are sounded successively, usually from the lowest to highest, rather than simultaneously.Assai
Assai (Italian: very) appears often in indications to performers of the speed of a piece of music, as in allegro assai, very fast, or allegro assai moderato, very moderately fast.Atonal
Atonal music is music that has no specific tonality, is not in a specific key and therefore has no specific 'home' note or chord. The word atonality refers technically to various forms of 20th century music not in a key.Aubade
An aubade is a morning-song. A well known example is the Siegfried Idyll, a work written by Richard Wagner to be played for his second wife Cosima on the morning of her birthday.Augmentation / Diminution
The presentation of a subject in doubled values (augmentation) or in halved values (diminution), so that, e.g., the quarter note becomes a half note (augmentation) or an eighth note (diminution). The note values may also be augmented (or diminished) in higher ratios, such as 1:3 (or 3:1) and 1:4 (4:1). These devices provide an important element of variety in fugal writing. They are usually introduced toward the end of the fugue. Augmentation and diminution are also used in the development sections of symphonies, particularly by Brahms and Bruckner.These devices occurred first in a number of two-voice
clausulae
of the Perotin period, in which
a plainsong melody is used twice
in succession, first in "duplex longae" (dotted half notes in modern transcription),
then in plain "longae" (dotted quarter notes). In the 14th century, diminution
is explained in detail by theoretical writers (J. de Muris, Prosdocimus
de Beldemandis) and is used almost regularly in the
motets
of Machaut, the tenor having the
cantus
firmus twice, the second time in halved values. With the beginning
of the 15th century, augmentation and diminution become notational devices,
since the change of note values is no longer indicated by longer or shorter
notes but by proportional signs or by verbal instructions. Many 16th
century
ricercars use augmentation
and diminution. They are also of basic importance in the fantasias
of Sweelinck.
Augmented Sixth Chords (Italian, German, French)
These chords generally function as pre-dominant chords -- leading to the dominant of the key. The interval of the augmented sixth (diminished third) is formed between the raised fourth scale degree and the minor (or lowered) sixth scale degeree. The raised fourth scale degree functions as a lower leading-tone moving up to the dominant pitch, while the minor (or lowered) sixth scale degree (generally the lowest sounding pitch) functions as an upper leading-tone moving down to the dominant pitch. All three versions (Italian, German, French) of this chord have three pitches in common and one differnt, which sets them apart. (See below. SD = scale degree)| Italian Aug. 6th | Tonic pitch | Raised 4th SD | Minor 6th SD | Doubled tonic |
| German Aug. 6th | Tonic pitch | Raised 4th SD | Minor 6th SD | Minor 3rd scale SD |
| French Aug. 6th | Tonic pitch | Raised 4th SD | Minor 6th SD | 2nd SD |