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A capella: Choral music without instrumental accompaniment.
Accelerando: Accelerating or becoming quicker.
Adagio: Slowly.
Agitato: Excited.
Allargando: Slowing down.
Allegro: Fast.
Allegretto: Moderately fast. Slower than allegro, but faster than andante.
Andante: A walking speed, moderately slow.
Animato: Animated or lively.
Appassionato: Passionately.
Arco: With the bow, rather than pizzicato (with the fingers). A designation for string players often seen after a pizzicato section.
Aria: A solo song in an opera, cantata, or oratorio.
Assai: Very, as in allegro assai (very fast).
A tempo: Back to the original tempo.
Attaca: Attack, or immediately begin the next movement without a pause.
Accent: Emphasis placed on a sound or note.
Accidental: A sharp or flat sign next to a musical note, or the black keys on a keyboard.
Atonal: Without tonality, in contrast to tonal or serial music.
Bravo, brava: Good, or well done. Usually exclaimed upon completion of a difficult or very well performed composition.
Cadenza: A sometimes improvisatory, often virtuosic passage played by a soloist during a concerto or aria.
Cantabile: Singing.
Chord: Two or more pitches (notes) played together.
Col legno: With the wood. An instruction for string players to use the wood of their bows, rather than the hair, in producing the sound.
Con brio: With vigor.
Concerto: A musical piece that features a soloist or soloists along with an accompanying instrumental group, usually an orchestra.
Con sordino: With a mute.
Crescendo: Becoming louder.
Da capo, D.C.: An instruction to return to the beginning of the musical piece.
Detache: Detached.
Divisi: Divided, as in a string section dividing into two sections to play two different parts.
Diminuendo: Diminishing or becoming quieter.
Dolce: Sweetly.
Dynamic: Level of loud or soft.
Espressivo: Expressively.
Fine: End.
Encore: The optional addition of an extra piece at the end of a concert, usually in response to applause by the audience.
Falsetto: A male voice singing in an unusually and artificially high register.
Finale: The final movement of a composition or the final act of an opera.
Forte: Loud, strong.
Fortepiano: Loud, then immediately soft. Also an older name for a piano.
Fortissimo: Very loud.
Glissando: Sliding from one pitch to another, or sliding up or down a scale or part of a scale.
Grave: Grave or slow.
Interval: The distance between two pitches or notes.
Larghetto: Not quite as broad or slow as largo.
Largo: Wide, stately speed.
Legato: Smooth.
Lento: Slow.
Libretto: The literary (as opposed to musical) portion or text of an opera, cantata, or oratorio.
Marcato: Marked or accented.
Moderato: Moderately.
Molto: Much or very, as in molto allegro (very fast).
Pesante: Heavy, weighty.
Pianissimo: Very quiet.
Piano: Quiet.
Pitch: The location of a particular sound on the musical scale, determined by frequency (number of vibrations per second).
Piu: More.
Pizzicato: Plucked, in contrast to bowed, on a stringed instrument.
Placido: Peaceful, calm.
Poco: A little, somewhat.
Presto: Quick. Faster than allegro.
Prima, primo: First.
Quasi: Almost, or in the style of.
Rallentando: Becoming gradually slower.
Ritardando: Becoming gradually slower.
Rubato: Lingering on certain notes, not in strict time.
Sans: Without
Scherzando: Playfully or jokingly.
Scherzo: Literally, a joke. Usually the third movement of a symphony, sonata, or quartet, distinguished by a quick tempo in 3/4 meter, vigorous rhythm, and humorous character.
Schnell: Fast.
Secondo: Second.
Segue: Continue in the same style, or proceed to the next movement without pause.
Sempre: Always.
Spiccato: Bounce the bow off the strings, rather than playing smoothly without lifting and dropping the bow.
Staccato: Short and detached.
Stringendo: Hurrying, getting faster.
Subito: Suddenly.
Sul ponticello: An instruction to play with the bow on, or very close to, the bridge of the instrument.
Sul tasto: An instruction to play with the bow over the fingerboard.
Tempo: Speed or pace of a piece.
Tremolo: On stringed instruments, a very quick reiteration of the same note or series of notes.
Troppo: Too much.
Tutti: Everybody.
Vigoroso: Vigorous.
Vivace: Lively.
Volti subito, V.S. Turn the page quickly.
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