LTO

LTO (countable and uncountable, plural LTOs)

Coordinate term: DLT

(computing) Initialism of Linear Tape-Open, an open standard computer storage tape format having a single spooled cartridge with half-inch tape.

Linear Tape-Open

(software compilation) Initialism of link-time optimization.

Coordinate term: TLI

lunar transfer orbit
lunar transfer orbit#English

(space science, countable) Initialism of lunar transfer orbit.

lithium titanate oxide
lithium titanate oxide#English

(electrochemistry, uncountable) Initialism of lithium titanate oxide (“Li₄Ti₅O₁₂”).


LTO

w:Land Transportation Office (Philippines)

(Philippines) Initialism of Land Transportation Office.


maximalist

en-adj

maximalist (comparative more maximalist, superlative most maximalist)

more maximalist (comparative)
most maximalist (superlative)

From maximal + -ist, by analogy with minimalist.

This, his [Frank Stella's] second Museum of Modern Art retrospective, shows him in his second incarnation, turning his back on Minimalist rationality and opting for a “maximalist,” seemingly free-wheeling Baroque complexity that helped set the stage for New-Expressionism.

1987 December 6, Roberta Smith, “Schnabel and Stella: Art, Myth and Ego”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Three elephantine examples of that trend have been in the news of late, and they call into question their underlying maximalist presumption that more is more.

1990 May 27, John Rockwell, “Complete Everything, or Is More Enough?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Mr. Shadbolt's maximalist, when-in-doubt-be-vivid style capaciously suits “Monday's Warriors,” his novel of the wars between the Maoris and the British in New Zealand in the mid-19th century; […]

1992 May 3, Ivan Doig, “Maps Made by Blind Men”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

The biennial also includes a sprawling cityscape by Chris Burden incorporating thousands of model buildings, cranes and automobiles, a maximalist vision where Mr. Ashkin's is minimalist.

1997 April 6, Trip Gabriel, “Trafficking in Toxic Waste and Human Loneliness”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Bach's choral music was once often heard in maximalist renditions, undertaken by large ensembles who by sheer vocal and instrumental weight emphasize the majestic side of his compositions.

1998 May 17, Sarah Bryan Miller, “Classical Brief”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

[Christian] Lacroix's maximalist aesthetic has been at odds with fashion trends in recent years. But fashion is just now beginning to swing back his way, with an emphasis on volume and flounce above sleekness.

2005 January 26, Jess Cartner-Morley, “Ovation for Lacroix as maximalist look makes a comeback”, in The Guardian:

At the moment, for example, while a minimalist aesthetic, or the tail end of one, still manifests itself in a lot of painting and music, we are living in age of maximalist novels—books less concerned with le mot juste than with being full-service entertainment centers.

2005 April 17, Charles McGrath, “The Souped-Up, Knock-Out, Total Fiction Experience”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

You might call [Louis] Wain’s ‘mad’ style a version of the outsider mode in its paranoid or maximalist aspect.

2011 July 28, Terry Castle, “Do I like it?”, in London Review of Books, volume 33, number 15, →ISSN:

Such a bustling, maximalist extravaganza is in keeping with the excitable energy of the crowd, who are clearly thrilled to revisit the block-party beats of Cruel Summer and tribal doo-wop of Really Sayin’ Somethin’.

2017 November 14, Graeme Virtue, “Bananarama review – hi-NRG poignancy as pop trio return for first proper tour”, in The Guardian:

Returning to the sound of her maximalist electro-pop heyday, Gaga explores buried trauma, mental illness and the complexities of fame on this return to form

2020 May 29, Michael Cragg, “Lady Gaga: Chromatica review – Gaga rediscovers the riot on her most personal album”, in The Guardian:

[Chappell] Roan draws from the mega-pop of the 2010s, from Lady Gaga to Taylor Swift – then laces it with sexually frank asides and lavish doses of camp, and performs it with a maximalist, absurd aesthetic indebted to drag, John Waters and Freddie Mercury.

2024 August 9, Laura Snapes, “It’s a femininomenon! How Chappell Roan slow-burned her way to stardom”, in The Guardian:

(art, music, literature) Preferring redundancy; tending to do or provide more rather than less.


maximalist

Concerning his own purpose in making music, Mr. Babbitt says he would call himself a maximalist: “I try to make music as much as it has ever been or as much as it could be. I may try to put too much into a piece. […]”

1982 October 17, Joan Peyser, “Milton Babbitt's Serialism”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

The music, of course, for all of its determined frivolity, is wonderfully eloquent, and composers as diverse as Webern, the great Minimalist, and Mahler, a great “Maximalist,” have come to worship at the shrine.

1986 August 24, Tim Page, “Opera: ‘Die Fledermaus’ Gets a Change of Cast”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Critics have aptly borrowed those terms to characterize the difference between Mr. Beckett, for example, and his erstwhile master James Joyce, himself a maximalist except in his early works.

1986 December 28, John Barth, “A Few Words About Minimalism”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

In the 1960's, he [Peter Gourfain] was a Minimalist, using wood beams to build allusive and ephemeral constructions. This show is primarily concerned with the artist since he became a maximalist.

1987 April 3, Michael Brenson, “Works by Gourfain at Brooklyn Museum”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

A maximalist, Mr. [Craig] Baldwin is at once a collector and curator of 20th-century visual culture.

2009 January 14, Manohla Dargis, “Star Log: Trippy Sci-Fi Mash-Up Alert!”, in New York Times:

David Foster Wallace was a maximalist. His masterpiece, Infinite Jest, is a 1,000-page, polyphonic epic about addiction and obsession in millennial America.

2015 May 25, Chris Power, “A brief survey of the short story: David Foster Wallace”, in the Guardian:

Mohawke is known as a musical maximalist, which is a polite way of saying that he lumps prodigiously distorted beats on top of each other, as if playing techno Jenga.

2015 December 11, Ian Gittins, “Hudson Mohawke review – ferocious, apocalyptic electro”, in The Guardian:

(art, literature, music) A person with maximalist beliefs or tendencies; someone who prefers redundancy or excess, especially in the arts.


stompy

stompy (comparative stompier, superlative stompiest)

stompier (comparative)
stompiest (superlative)

This Welsh five-piece plays stompy rock ’n’ roll with almost anthemic choruses and a hint of hardcore aggression — the vocalist Matt Davies has an epic scream, although he rarely employs it.

2009 January 16, “Pop and Rock Listings”, in New York Times:

(music) Of a stomping style of dance, or music appropriate to such a dance.


ultrafunky

ultrafunky (comparative more ultrafunky, superlative most ultrafunky)

more ultrafunky (comparative)
most ultrafunky (superlative)

(colloquial, chiefly music) Extremely funky.


melodeon

From French mélodium, with change of ending.

/mɪˈləʊdɪən/

The thin, nearsighted young woman who had been humped over the keyboard of the melodeon, straightened up. The worshipers relaxed a little and began to look about.

1909, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 5, in Keziah Coffin:

(historical, music) A type of reed organ with a single keyboard.

But Chae said it didn't matter, he'd bring his melodeon and Long Rob his fiddle; and faith! if that didn't content the folk they were looking for a church parade of the Gordons, not a wedding.

1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 147:

His brother, Roy, joined him as a dancer - their two-man jigs were much admired - and his nephew, Jamie Wheeler, has become the side's principal musician, on melodeon and fiddle.

2009 January 13, Derek Schofield, “Francis Shergold”, in The Guardian:

(music) An accordion where the melody-side keyboard is limited to the notes of diatonic scales in a small number of keys.


melodeon

/mɪˈləʊdɪən/


dirgelike

dirgelike (comparative more dirgelike, superlative most dirgelike)

more dirgelike (comparative)
most dirgelike (superlative)

Her “Coronation Theme: Organon,” made of black stereo speakers stacked up to the ceiling, sends dirgelike royal fanfares laced with the noise of shouting crowds shuddering through the room.

2009 January 16, Holland Cotter, “Black History, Alive in Washington”, in New York Times:

(music) Resembling a dirge: slow and depressing


folktronica

(music) A musical genre combining elements of folk music and electronica.


countryish

countryish (comparative more countryish, superlative most countryish)

more countryish (comparative)
most countryish (superlative)

Harvard's WHRB (FM 95.3) has everything from the punk-rocky “Record Hospital” at night to the country-ish “Hillbilly At Harvard” on Saturday mornings.

1998 January 24, “Boston: Vital Statistics (The Billboard Spotlight)”, in Billboard, volume 110, number 4, →ISSN, page 52:

In “Beach Baby,” a countryish waltz, and “Babys,” a ballad with an itchy piano underlay, Mr. Vernon conjures thoughts of summertime from a distance.

2009 January 18, Nate Chinen, “Sonic Adventures, From a Cappella to Zydeco”, in The New York Times:

(music) Having characteristics of country music.


Irish flute

A wooden flute used for playing traditional Irish music.


skronky

skronky (comparative more skronky, superlative most skronky)

more skronky (comparative)
most skronky (superlative)

MODESELEKTOR (Saturday) This duo, from Berlin, plays skronky, occasionally disconcerting electronic music, and has benefited enormously from the copious—and copiously heeded—praise of Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke.

2009 January 23, “Pop and Rock Listings”, in New York Times:

This is the kind of difficulty that has a kinship with skronky jazz, and avant-garde noise, and some hip-hop, and lots of punk rock.

2019, Stephanie Burt, Don't Read Poetry:

(US, music, slang) Raw and discordant, especially of an electric guitar.


multiphonic

He prefaced his next song with a row of hard, multiphonic squawks, sounding like a truck horn.

2009 January 22, Nate Chinen, “A Single Jazz Band, by Way of Two Trios”, in New York Times:

(music) Having the character of multiphonics: sounding two or more pitches at the same time


popcraft

They've mastered one of the finer points of popcraft, the ability to create a texture you want to touch.

1988 January 22, Renaldo Migaldi, “Trip Shakespeare”, in Chicago Reader:

(music) The art of composing or performing pop music


riffwise

My, they all were right up there with the Ted Nugents and Grand Funks riffwise, weren't they?

2000 February 8, George Smith, “Swede Surrender”, in Village Voice:


predisco

Coordinate term: post-disco

The intimate Sneakers Annex space, which could just as easily pass for a mid-50s combination truck stop/clip joint (except for Mark Mac Lean's clever predisco music), teems with the eternally generic[…].

1988 January 8, Lawrence Bommer, “Live Dancers Tonite”, in Chicago Reader:

(music) Of the period in the 1970s preceding the advent of disco music.


melodist

Debussy was the last melodist.

1929, Arthur Lourié, “An Inquiry into Melody”, in Modern Music, volume VII, number 1, page 10:

At the same time Mr. Elling has proved his finesse as a Hartman-like melodist, on multiple albums and many more stages.

2009 January 24, Nate Chinen, “Playfully Laying Claim to Songs of Two Jazz Greats”, in New York Times:


introitus

/ɪnˈtɹəʊ.ɪtəs/

Five have an introitus (introduction) that stands outside the isorhythmic scheme;¹⁰⁸ some of these introitus are instrumental rather than vocal […]

1954, Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance, W.W. Norton, page 22:

As summarized in Example 3.14, nearly all of these introitus […]

1992, Jon Michael Allsen, Style and intertextuality in the isorhythmic motet 1400-1440, volume 1, University of Wisconsin-Madison, page 118:

(music) A piece of music played before a mass; a musical introduction of any sort.


calypsolike

calypsolike (comparative more calypsolike, superlative most calypsolike)

more calypsolike (comparative)
most calypsolike (superlative)

The band is called Let Freedom Swing, and in Thursday night’s early set it played […] a calypsolike “We Shall Overcome”; and a version of Herbie Hancock ’s strange bossa nova “I Have a Dream.”

2009 January 24, Ben Ratliff, “Jazz With a Mission, and a Groove”, in New York Times:


copublish

en-verb

copublish (third-person singular simple present copublishes, present participle copublishing, simple past and past participle copublished)

copublishes (present singular third-person)
copublishing (participle present)
copublished (participle past)
copublished (past)

(transitive, music business) To have credit as a publisher of (a work published by another).


avanzada

(music) A genre originated from the fusion of Paraguayan polka and guarania with elements of bossa nova and MPB.


carboxyfluorescein

(organic chemistry) A fluorescent dye that is used as a biological tracer


chromatic scale

en-noun

chromatic scale (plural chromatic scales)

(music) A scale including all intervals of a particular tuning within an octave.

半音階

a scale including all intervals of a particular tuning within an octave


riyaz

(music) The rigorous practice of Hindustani classical music.


energy mix

The range of energy sources of a region, either renewable or non-renewable.


duetting

(music) The singing or playing of a duet.


chamber orchestra

chamber orchestra (plural chamber orchestras)

An orchestra of modest size, to play chamber music, yet larger than the various chamber ensembles named after their number of instruments (from duo to nonet)


dijon

This is one of those dishes where you need to find a place in each bite for every flavour – intense jus, raw honey, dijon, blue cheese […].

2009 January 24, Corey Mintz, “Lunching well at Forte bistro and lounge”, in Toronto Star:

Dijon mustard, a prepared mustard containing white wine in place of vinegar


autoharp

Mr. Droste is usually the more ethereal, with the sweeter voice and the gentler melodies; he was the one strumming an autoharp for “Lullabye,” while Mr. Bear tapped a glockenspiel, and Christopher Taylor played a flute.

2007 March 9, Jon Pareles, “Three Bands on Trips That Lead to the ’60s”, in New York Times:

A string instrument having a series of chord bars attached to dampers (muting bars) which mute all the strings other than those that form the desired chord.


shoop

If you want to know
(Shoop, shoop, shoop, shoop)
If he loves you so
(Shoop, shoop, shoop, shoop)
It's in his kiss.

1963, Rudy Clark (lyrics and music), “The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)”:

But don't it make you feel good (Shoop shoop aaahh)
And don't it make you feel good (Shoop shoop aaahh)
Don't it make you feel good (Shoop shoop aaahh)
And don't it make you feel good (Shoop shoop aaahh)

1982, Bananarama (lyrics and music), “Shy Boy”, in Deep Sea Skiving:

I like what ya do when you do what ya do
You make me wanna shoop
Shoop shoop ba-doop
Shoop ba-doop.

1993, Salt-N-Pepa (lyrics and music), “Shoop”, in Very Necessary:

But there comes a point when
When we exhale (yeah, yeah, say)
Shoop, shoop, shoop
Shoo be doop shoop shoop (yeah).

1995, Whitney Houston (lyrics and music), “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)”:

(music) Used as a scat word in song lyrics.


bel canto

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-bel canto.wav

Borrowed from Italian bel canto (literally “beautiful singing”).

bor

Bel canto, or the art of beautiful singing, in 17th- and 18th-century Italy cultivated embellishment through ornaments such as cadenzas, scales, and trills which declined as the size, power, and volume of the orchestra increased.

2012 March 22nd, David Blockley, Engineering: A Very Short Introduction (309), Oxford University Press, chapter 1: “From idea to reality”, page 5

(music) An elegant style of singing characterized by beautiful tone and an effortless technique.


wireline

Most manufacturers of wirelines will construct specially designed armored electrical conductor wirelines for unique downhole operations.

2005, William C. Lyons, Gary J. Plisga, Standard Handbook of Petroleum & Natural Gas Engineering, 2nd edition, →ISBN, page 5:

(oil industry) A wire that runs from a drill rig down into the drill hole to support a dead load or other downhole tool.


ensembling

Some of the violin playing was inaudible during this section, and there was an ensembling problem between horn and trombone[…].

1988 October 7, Dennis Polkow, “New Works by Local Composers”, in Chicago Reader:

(music) Playing harmoniously together in an ensemble


hitmaker

But those who stayed saw a strong set from the hitmaker Akon, who did “I Tried” with Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.

2007 June 5, Kelefa Sanneh, “In Search of New York at a Hip-Hop Summit”, in New York Times:

(music) A musician who frequently produces hits; a star


multiplatinum

Ms. Sparks, 17, was named the winner of the competition, a television phenomenon that has spurred multiplatinum sales for an array of contestants[…].

2007 May 24, The New York Times, “Arizona Teenager Wins ‘American Idol’”, in New York Times:

(music) Having exceeded the platinum level of sales on multiple occasions


cumbia

en-noun

cumbia (usually uncountable, plural cumbias)

From Colombian and Panamanian Spanish cumbia.

There’s […] an accordion- and brass-pumped Colombian cumbia for “Cumbia de Los Aburridos” (“Cumbia of the Bored”).

2007 April 23, The New York Times, “New CDs”, in New York Times:

(music) A traditional style of Colombian dance and music, or a piece in this style.


serialist

(music) Of, pertaining to, or employing serialism


serialist

In the last decade or so, this once unabashedly complex serialist, now 68, seems to have allowed a lyrical generosity into his works.

2007 January 16, Anthony Tommasini, “Serious German Violinist Gets a Rock Star Ovation”, in New York Times:

(music) A practitioner or adherent of serialism, an approach to composing which emphasizes the use of a series of notes, especially scales, to achieve coherence


coloristic

Christian Tetzlaff […] played the work with exquisite control and coloristic fluidity.

2007 March 17, Allan Kozinn, “Muscular Approach Accented With a Ghostly Whisper”, in New York Times:

(art, music) Of, pertaining to, or focused on coloring or an enhanced use of colour


hummable

en-adj

hummable (comparative more hummable, superlative most hummable)

more hummable (comparative)
most hummable (superlative)

It wasn't as though the Dead Kennedys played hummable tunes, but lead singer Jello Biafra is a superstar in his own right.

1988 February 26, Achy Obejas, “Calendar”, in Chicago Reader:

(music) Suitable for humming or humming along to.


multitracked

When I turned it up and found it was McFerrin doing his usual multitracked, a cappella shtick, I was at first charmed.

1988 December 23, Ted Cox, “Don't Worry--Turn the Radio Off”, in Chicago Reader:


midtempo

This wry, midtempo track is familiar yet highly personal.

2009 January 31, John Sakamoto, “The Anti-Hit List”, in Toronto Star:

(music) At a medium tempo, neither fast nor slow


motivic

In fact, Tucker's use of parallel motion and open fourths as a central motivic element particularly reminded me of Stravinsky's sacred music, especially the quieter sections of Symphony of Psalms and the Mass.

1988 April 8, Dennis Polkow, “Cross Dreams”, in Chicago Reader:

(music) Used as, or relating to, a motif.


multitrack

Lush is the only word for Ulrich Schnauss’s “Goodbye” (Domino), an album that makes most multitrack pop confections sound spartan.

2007 July 15, Jon Pareles, “Sounds Dire, Droll, Dreamy and on the Edge of Kitsch”, in New York Times:

Having or involving more than one track.


multitrack

en-verb

multitrack (third-person singular simple present multitracks, present participle multitracking, simple past and past participle multitracked)

multitracks (present singular third-person)
multitracking (participle present)
multitracked (participle past)
multitracked (past)

(music) To record on multiple tracks simultaneously (typically with each performer or instrument having its own track)


banjolele

A four-stringed musical instrument with a small membrane-covered body like a banjo, with a neck fretted like a ukulele.


ranchera

/ɹænˈt͡ʃɛɹə/

Borrowed from Spanish (in Spanish the ending "a" usually is for feminine terms, like in this case, because originally is an adjective for música and/or canción, which are feminine nouns).

(music) A traditional Mexican song performed solo with a guitar.


microtonality

en-noun

microtonality (countable and uncountable, plural microtonalities)

[…] he proved that microtonality and the angular vocal and instrumental lines that typically evoke modernist angst can just as easily create manic comedy.

2007 June 23, Allan Kozinn, “Finding Inspiration in an Unlikely Place”, in New York Times:

(music) The use of microtones in composition.


chamberlike

en-adj

chamberlike (comparative more chamberlike, superlative most chamberlike)

more chamberlike (comparative)
most chamberlike (superlative)

“Fantasy” (Palmetto) is Mr. Mays’s other recent effort, and on it he presents chamberlike originals and canonical reinterpretations (again including Debussy, Bach and Scriabin).

2007 September 2, Nate Chinen, “That Ticking Sound? It’s Beck’s New Single”, in New York Times:


bachata

en-noun

bachata (countable and uncountable, plural bachatas)

/bəˈt͡ʃɑːtə/

From Caribbean Spanish bachata (“party, good time”).

“All the time they complain about it,” said Rafael Batista, the owner of Quisqueya Records, a store whose list of new releases, in keeping with the neighborhood’s large Dominican population, is divided into merengue, salsa, balada and bachata.

2007 February 4, Alex Mindlin, “Yearning to Break the Lock on a Long-Shuttered Park”, in New York Times:

A genre of music originating in the Dominican Republic.


danciness

These and other writers also consciously strive for jazz's full-bodied swingingness, its danciness, its range of allusion, its trickbag of quicksilver improvisational impulses.

1998, Robert G. O'Meally, The Jazz Cadence of American Culture, page 536:

The sheer danciness of most Balanchine ballets gives audiences a basically exhilarating time.

2007 September 25, Alastair Macaulay, “An Idiomatic Balanchine, Walking the Walk in Seattle”, in New York Times:

(music) The quality of being dancy, suitable to or filled with dance.


bandish

Borrowed from Hindi [Term?], meaning "binding together".

A composition in Hindustani classical music.


cimbalom

From Hungarian cimbalom. Doublet of cymbal.

Either/Or, including Anthony Burr, clarinetist; Jane Rigler, flutist; and Richard Carrick and David Shively, percussionists, also employed the cimbalom, the Hungarian pianolike mutant whose twang remains familiar to boozy evenings in late-night Central European bars.

2007 September 17, Bernard Holland, “Cryptic Messages or Silence From the ’60s Avant-Garde”, in New York Times:

A type of concert hammered dulcimer used primarily in the music of Central and Eastern Europe.


moonwalker

Category:People who have walked on the Moon

One who moonwalks; an astronaut who has walked on the moon.


geophone

percussion instrument
percussion instrument

(music) A percussion instrument consisting of a drum filled with pellets, played by swirling it around to produce a sound like shifting earth.


sonofusion

Up to now, Purdue has focused on two scientific papers published in 2005 that Dr. Taleyarkhan hailed as independent confirmation of his sonofusion results.

2007 May 11, Kenneth Chang, “Purdue Will Reinvestigate Its Professor Who Claimed Desktop Fusion”, in New York Times:

(physics) A nuclear fusion reaction hypothesized to occur during sonoluminescence.


sonero

This annual concert at Madison Square Garden features two salsa giants: Victor Manuelle, a leading young sonero, or improvising singer, who is not above dipping into reggaetón to score a hit, and Gilberto Santa Rosa, an unswerving traditionalist for three decades.

2007 February 9, The New York Times, “Pop and Rock Listings”, in New York Times:

(music) An improvising lead singer in salsa music


vocalism

The exciting vocalism of Leontyne Price

1984 December 29, Charles Henry Fuller, “Music For The Holidays”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 25:


songcraft

/ˈsɒŋkɹɑːft/

From song + -craft, sometimes after Old English sangcræft (“singing, poetry; music”).

inh

The purpose of the anecdote is to show the bold recklessness of the warrior, who could amuse himself with his song-craft in the very face of the enemy.

1846, Thomas Wright, “Essay III. The Chansons de Geste, or Historical Romances of the Middle Ages”, in Essays on Subjects Connected with the Literature, Popular Superstitions, and History of England in the Middle Ages. … In Two Volumes, volume I, London: John Russell Smith, 4, Old Compton Street, Soho Square, →OCLC, page 94:

Pause by some neglected graveyard, / For a while to muse, and ponder / On a half-effaced inscription, / Written with little skill of song-craft, / Homely phrases, but each letter / Full of hope, and yet of heart-break, / Full of all the tender pathos / Of the Here and Hereafter;— / Stay and read this rude inscription, / Read this Song of Hiawatha!

1855, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Song of Hiawatha, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, pages 8–9:

[The] Mother Hips was the first band in the 1990s to emerge from the Chico, California, music scene and introduce itself to the wider world. […] During this era, many area venues frequently invoked a "no original material" policy, but the exemplary song craft and swelling fan base of Mother Hips led many bars and clubs to abandon that edict.

1998, Dean Budnick, “Mother Hips”, in Jam Bands: North America’s Hottest Live Groups: Plus How to Tape and Trade Their Shows, Toronto, Ont.: ECW Press, →ISBN, page 176:

A child weaned on Police Academy sequels or, say, the appalling robot pimp in 1984's The Ice Pirates could have no trouble giggling at song parodies like "Eat It" or "I Lost On Jeopardy," but might come to appreciate, however unconsciously, ["Weird Al"] Yankovic's songcraft or the peculiar places his lyrics could go.

2012 July 14, Scott Tobias, “Weird Al’s UHF is uneven, but that just made it ahead of its time”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2013-11-28:

(music) The practice or skill of crafting or composing songs.


metallophone

The metallophone chimes at the end of each section signal changes in texture and harmony, a cue for the performers that permeates the consciousness of the listener like a reminder not to dwell on one thought or mood for too long.

2007 March 26, Vivien Schweitzer, “Bang on a Board: Sophisticated Music for Primitive Instruments”, in New York Times:

Any musical instrument consisting of tuned metal bars which are struck to make sound.


torchy

en-adj

torchy (comparative torchier, superlative torchiest)

torchier (comparative)
torchiest (superlative)

[…] the lovelorn Sally sings a torchy blues (the poignant "Losing My Mind"), hypocritical Ben masquerades as a carefree song-and-dance man in the bubbly, Gershwin-esque "Live, Laugh, Love," and so on.

1988 October 21, Albert Williams, “Follies; 1000 Airplanes on the Roof”, in Chicago Reader:

"I'd Be Lost Without You" seems somewhat out of place from a vocal viewpoint — Lewis's slightly reedy middle soprano is very expressive and absolutely true, but doesn't have enough dark body to fully deal with the torchy melody. It fares better in the ballads and toe-tappers that comprise the rest of the album.

1989 August 12, Caroline Foty, “Hindsights”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 5, page 7:

(music) Having the character of a torch song.


pop musician

A person who composes, plays, or sings pop music.


suitelike

suitelike (comparative more suitelike, superlative most suitelike)

more suitelike (comparative)
most suitelike (superlative)

The music of both the symphonic “Florentine Tragedy” and the more suitelike “Dwarf,” whose dances evoke the Spanish court, dramatically mirrors onstage emotions.

2007 July 30, Vivien Schweitzer, “A Double Bill of Viennese Romanticism”, in New York Times:


cathodoluminescence

en-noun

cathodoluminescence (countable and uncountable, plural cathodoluminescences)

(physics) A form of luminescence produced by the bombardment of a metal or a phosphor by electrons (as in a traditional television).


verset

From Middle English verset, from Old French verset; equivalent to verse + -et.

(music) A very short organ interlude or prelude.


dhol

From Hindi ढोल (ḍhol), from Sanskrit ढोल (ḍhola).

On the TV news men in pink and saffron turbans are at the airport, jigging frantically to the music of dhols.

2017, Salman Rushdie, The Golden House, Jonathan Cape, published 2017, page 106:


fugato

(music) A fugal passage in a composition that is not a strict or complete fugue.


salsero

This afternoon of Puerto Rican musical pride at Celebrate Brooklyn has a strong lineup, with Tito Rojas, a leading salsero since the 1980s[…].

2007 July 27, The New York Times, “Pop and Rock Listings”, in New York Times:


splittercore

(music) A subgenre of speedcore with aggressive themes and a particularly high BPM (beats per minute).


hambone

(music, dance) A certain type of dance that involves making noise with the body, especially by slapping parts of the body with one's hands


santoor

A musician plucked at his santoor.

2020, Avni Doshi, Burnt Sugar, Hamish Hamilton, page 202:

An Indian string instrument, a trapezoidal hammered dulcimer with seventy strings, believed to be derived from the Persian santur.


clavinet

(music) An electrophonic keyboard instrument, an electronically amplified clavichord with a distinctive bright staccato sound.

klavinetti

electronic clavichord with a staccato sound


tunesmith

Indications that the top tunesmiths are rewriting their version of the music publishers pot o' gold role in the tune biz can be found in reports here that Edwin H. (Buddy) Morris's relations with film cleffers Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen will be changed shortly from a "pub affiliate" structure to a "writer participation" basis.


jumpstyle

A European genre of frenetic electronic music accompanied by a jumping dance.


urtext

(music, linguistics, anthropology) The original version of a piece of music or text, as created by the composer or writer.


electronic body music

Coined in 1978 by Ralf Hütter of the German electronic band Kraftwerk.

A genre of aggressive danceable music originating in the 1980s and taking elements from industrial and electronic music.

Kraftwerk
Ralf Hütter
electronic body music


medical isotope

medical isotope (plural medical isotopes)

(medicine) a radioisotope used in medicine


motoric

en-adj

motoric (comparative more motoric, superlative most motoric)

more motoric (comparative)
most motoric (superlative)

In between were the Bang on a Can All-Stars, a contemporary chamber-music group, playing the part of their repertory — drum-driven, motoric, yet by no means primitive — closest to rock.

2007 May 18, Jon Pareles, “A Tenderhearted Introvert, Crooning in Eclectic Company”, in New York Times:

(music, of a rhythm) Based on repetition of a single note length.


marchy

marchy (comparative marchier, superlative marchiest)

marchier (comparative)
marchiest (superlative)

But halfway through, this stateliness devolves into the kind of marchy clatter that Wagner’s Italian counterparts were writing.

2009 February 27, Allan Kozinn, “A Viennese Meal Served With the Dessert First”, in New York Times:


grassfire

FIREFIGHTERS have controlled a grassfire which threatened houses in a heavily populated area in Melbourne's south.

2009 January 20, Anne Wright with AAP, “Grassfire under control after burning property in Frankston North”, in Herald Sun, archived from the original on 2009-02-24:


waterbomber

Some 50 firefighters, 10 tankers and waterbombers battled the grass and scrub blaze, which began about 12.30pm.

2009 February 28, Anthony Dowsley, Jane Metlikovec, “Relief for Victorians as weather fails to hit extremes”, in Herald Sun, archived from the original on 2009-02-28:

(firefighting, aviation) An aircraft that engages in waterbombing, usually in the course of fighting a wildfire.


makossa

A music genre from Cameroon, with a strong bass rhythm and prominent horn section.


ngoni

Mr. Kouyate’s instrument is the four-stringed West African ngoni, also called a xalam[…].

2007 October 21, Kelefa Sanneh, “Under the Hook, Rap and Rhythm Lie the Beats”, in New York Times:

A West African stringed instrument, shaped like a guitar.


lyrist

On “Kabibi” he connects breezily with the Tanzanian singer and thumb pianist Anania Ngoliga; on “Pakugyenda Balebauo,” also in Tanzania, he trades phrases with a lyrist named Warema Masiaga Cha Cha. The title track, which Mr. Fleck wrote in his own style, features the Malian ngoni players Bassekou Kouyate and Haruna Samake.

2009 March 2, The New York Times, “New CDs”, in New York Times:


bendir

A type of frame drum used in Morocco and other parts of North Africa.


tenorial

tenorial (comparative more tenorial, superlative most tenorial)

more tenorial (comparative)
most tenorial (superlative)

But for sheer Italianate tenorial beauty, Mr. Pavarotti was hard to top.

2007 September 7, Anthony Tommasini, “That Voice: Warm, Urgent, Italian, Singular”, in New York Times:

(music) Of, pertaining or proper to the tenor voice


mridangam

/mɹɪ.ˈdʌŋ.ɡəm/

Borrowed from Malayalam മൃദംഗം (mr̥daṅgaṁ), from Sanskrit मृदङ्ग (mṛdaṅga). Alternative forms are from various other Indian languages such as miruthangam, mirudhangam are borrowed from Tamil மிருதங்கம் (mirutaṅkam), mridang from Hindi मृदङ्ग (mŕdaṅg) etc.

bor+

A sarangi player set the tone and Kalavati began to sing in her sweet, melodious voce; mridangam and sitar accompanied her.

2015, Tridip Suhrud, translating Govardhanram Madhavram Tripathi, Sarasvatichandra I, Orient BlackSwan 2015, p. 145

(music) A percussion instrument used in southern Indian music, consisting of a two-sided drum whose body is usually made from a hollowed piece of jackfruit wood.


megaband

(music, informal) A particularly successful band.


drummerless

Just over a decade ago, the bassist Charlie Haden played a drummerless New York nightclub engagement with the pianist Kenny Barron.

2007 August 3, The New York Times, “Jazz Listings”, in New York Times:


marchlike

en-adj

marchlike (comparative more marchlike, superlative most marchlike)

more marchlike (comparative)
most marchlike (superlative)

His work, “La Devinette d’Arlequin,” seemed less the riddle of its title than a busy, marchlike exercise in calculated harshness […].

2007 April 24, Bernard Holland, “Composers Near and Far, Speaking a Language of Now”, in New York Times:


tenorist

This letter is noteworthy because it specifies the voice ranges, sopranos and tenorists.

1999, Paul Merkley, Lora L. Matthews Merkley, Music and Patronage in the Sforza Court, page 77:


mbalax

Borrowed from Wolof [Term?], meaning "rhythm".

Another local style — the Senegalese funk called mbalax — arrived with the singer Fallou Dieng, a protégé of the Senegalese superstar Youssou N’Dour.

2008 January 15, Jon Pareles, “To See (and Hear) the World in Five Hours: Unique Sounds Ripe for Import”, in New York Times:

(music) A genre of popular dance music chiefly performed in Senegal and The Gambia


barrelhouse

From barrel + house. Originally used to refer specifically to a bar that served whiskey directly from the barrel.

A barrelhouse blues was being shouted over the stamping of feet on a wooden floor. Miss Grace, the good-time woman, had her usual Saturday-night customers.

1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 18, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York: Bantam, published 1971, page 111:

(music) A loud, percussive type of blues piano suitable for noisy bars or taverns.


wenge

wenge:

A reddish shade of brown associated with this wood.


soukous

The title makes reference to Congolese soukous music, and so does Mr. Koenig’s guitar figure.

2007 June 18, Kelefa Sanneh, “Preppie Afro-Pop and Other Odd Blends”, in New York Times:

(music) A genre of African popular music, resembling rumba, that originated in the Congo region in the 1930s.


soundboard

(music) A wide, flat board placed within, or forming part of the body of, a musical instrument in order to improve vibrations and increase volume.


tambura

He was among the singers in the celebratory chorus of “Yellow Submarine,” and he played tambura (an Indian drone instrument) on “Within You Without You,” harmonica on “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite” and percussion on “Magical Mystery Tour.”

2008 March 25, Allan Kozinn, “Neil Aspinall, Beatles’ Aide, Dies at 66”, in New York Times:

(music) A type of long-necked lute-like stringed instrument found throughout the world.


overamplification

en-noun

overamplification (usually uncountable, plural overamplifications)

Although there is some recorded music, the 10 musicians […] add further vitality to the program, despite bad overamplification.

2007 October 16, Roslyn Sulcas, “The Costumes, the Rifles, the Six-Foot Headdresses”, in New York Times:

(chiefly music) Excessive amplification.


reductivism

reductivism (countable and uncountable, plural reductivisms)

(music) A minimalist school of music with similar aims.


grand C

Grand C is the highest C on a 76-key keyboard.

(music) the C note exactly one octave above high C


narcocorrido

narcocorrido (countable and uncountable, plural narcocorridos)

From Spanish narcocorrido, from narco- (“drug”) + corrido (“ballad”).

(music) A genre of Mexican music based on the polka, depicting drug smugglers, cartels, and other criminal activities.

They were nonjudgmental first-person stories, including the notorious narcocorrido “Pacas de a Kilo,” (“One-Kilo Packets”) told from the point of view of a proud marijuana grower.

2007 February 19, Ben Ratliff, “Singing Stories From Lives Lived Far Away From Home”, in New York Times:

(music, countable) Any song in this genre.


alto saxophone

A member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments that is smaller than the tenor saxophone but larger than the soprano saxophone, with a range of D♭₃ to A♭₅ or similar.


benga

(music) A genre of Kenyan popular music in an urban style associated with stringed instrumentation.


rockish

en-adj

rockish (comparative more rockish, superlative most rockish)

more rockish (comparative)
most rockish (superlative)

(music) That has the characteristics of rock music.


moondust

The fine regolith found on the surface of the Moon.

Mondstaub

the fine regolith found on the surface of the Moon


polymetric

(poetry, music) Involving more than one metre


overamped

overamped (comparative more overamped, superlative most overamped)

more overamped (comparative)
most overamped (superlative)

(music) Excessively amplified; very loud and distorted.


krautrock

From Kraut (“German”) + rock (“rock music”).

Many krautrock bands arose out of the West German student counterculture and connected leftist political activism with experimental rock music and, later, electronic sounds.

2016, Ulrich Adelt, Krautrock: German Music in the Seventies, University of Michigan Press, →ISBN, page 2:

(music, sometimes capitalized) A genre of German experimental rock music from the 1970s.

krautrock

a genre of German experimental rock music from the 1970s


bash out

en-verb

bash out (third-person singular simple present bashes out, present participle bashing out, simple past and past participle bashed out)

bashes out (present singular third-person)
bashing out (participle present)
bashed out (participle past)
bashed out (past)

Well, by the mid-'70s Patti Smith really couldn't help it: she was bashing out guitar feedback, copping Keith Richards stances, and screaming out raw poetry laced with surreal images.

1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 348:

(colloquial, transitive) To play (a tune) clumsily on a piano or similar instrument.


gamma decay

en-noun

gamma decay (countable and uncountable, plural gamma decays)

(physics, countable) A nuclear reaction with the emission of a gamma ray.


surround sound

The effect of being surrounded by sound.


sound system

Rooted in Caribbean culture and introduced to the UK by the Windrush generation, sound systems – static or truck-bound collectives of MCs and DJs playing music through customised, bass-heavy speakers – have been integral to Notting Hill carnival since 1973.

2019 August 23, Dave Simpson, “The sound systems of Notting Hill carnival: 'I'll stop when I can't walk'”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(music, originally Jamaica) A mobile platform playing selected recorded music, set up as a social event, often with an entrance fee.


fusor

Gibor Basri
International Astronomical Union
University of California, Berkeley
fusor (disambiguation)

Coined by Gibor Basri, Professor of Astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, at the 2003 IAU conference; presumably fuse + -or.

(astronomy) A celestial body that, through self-gravity, is able to perform nuclear fusion within its core, at any point in its life. These include stars, stellar remnants, and brown dwarfs.

fuusori

celestial body that, through self-gravity, can perform nuclear fusion in its core


fusor

electrostatic inertial confinement fusion#English

(experimental physics, nuclear physics) An electrostatic inertial confinement fusion apparatus. A device that causes nuclear fusion through electrostatic field compression of the fusion fuel.

experimental physics; nuclear physics; experimental physics; nuclear physics


schlager

schlager (countable and uncountable, plural schlagers)

From German Schlager (late 19th century), from schlagen (“to hit”), thus similar to English hit (“successful song”, early 20th century).

(music, uncountable) A chiefly European style of popular music with light melodies (often easily danceable) and typically facile, sentimental lyrics.

(music, countable) A piece made in this style.


pomposo

en-adj

pomposo (comparative more pomposo, superlative most pomposo)

more pomposo (comparative)
most pomposo (superlative)

From Italian pomposo (“magnificent”). Doublet of pompous.


pomposo

(music) in a ceremonious and dignified manner


singspiel

en-noun

singspiel (countable and uncountable, plural singspiels)

(music, uncountable) An early German form of opera consisting of spoken dialogue interspersed with song.

(music, countable) An opera in this style.


pop punk

Last fall, Bring Me the Horizon kicked off a new era of their band with a standalone single called "DiE4u", which sounded like a a heavy, metallic take on My Chemical Romance-style pop-punk mixed with the electronic flair of modern emo-rap.

2022 July 6, Eli Enis, “See Bring Me the Horizon's Horrifying, NSFW Video for New Song "sTraNgeRs"”, in Revolver:

(music) A genre that combines elements of punk rock with elements of pop music.


trancester

(music, informal, rare) A musician who composes trance music.


mandocello

(music) A string instrument similar to a large mandolin


mallcore

From mall + -core, since it may be played as background music in shopping centres.

[…]a time when the hardcore scene badly needs to overthrow the mallcore bands, the naughty yet non-threatening pop punk groups who wear their tattoos like designer labels instead of inner scars.

(slang, derogatory, music) Popular music that is overproduced, mainstream, corporately controlled, etc., as opposed to popular music that is independent or artistic.

Troves of angst-ridden, mall-invading teens adopted Slipknot as their patron-saint back in 1999 (when the band’s self-titled debut came out), instantly earning the band a “mallcore” seal of disapproval by their critics

2009, Munson the Destroyer, WHY DO PEOPLE LIKE TO HATE SLIPKNOT:


emocore

Blend of emotional + hardcore; alternatively, emo + -core.

There's a new form of performance occuring out in Washington, D.C. It goes by the name of Emo-Core or Emotional Core. Bands like Embrace (featuring Ian McKaye), Rites of Spring, Beefeater, among others, are taking the severe intensity of an emotional projection and adding it totally into their respective live sets.

1986 January 1, “Notes From the Underground”, in Thrasher:

“Clarity” was a pivotal album for Jimmy Eat World, the first to feature Jim Adkins on lead vocals instead of Mr. Linton and the last to reflect the heart-on-sleeve values of emocore more than the hard gleam of pop-punk.

2009 February 25, Nate Chinen, “Years Later, an Appeal to Heart and Head”, in New York Times:

A style of hardcore punk known for emotional and introspective lyrics.


unkeyed

an unkeyed flute


silent disco

You heard “oh, Jeremy Corbyn” everywhere: at the silent disco, during Radiohead’s Friday night headlining set, midway through the Other stage appearance by rapper Stormzy, who gamely joined in.

2017 June 26, Alexis Petridis, “Glastonbury 2017 verdict: Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Lorde, Stormzy and more”, in the Guardian:

(music) An event at which people dance to music that is transmitted through wireless headphones rather than played over a speaker system.


petrostate

Under subsequent democratic regimes, as we shall see, some of these features of the petrostate were to change, while others were intensified.

1997, Fernando Coronil, The magical state: nature, money, and modernity in Venezuela:

The petrostate relies on oil as its fiscal foundation, rather than on the taxes paid by the citizens[…]

2006, Donald S Rothchild, Edmond Joseph Keller, Africa-US Relations: Strategic Encounters:

A couple of years ago, while most Canadians were out shovelling the sidewalk or sipping a coffee at Tim Hortons, the nation quietly became a petrostate.

2009, Andrew Nikiforuk, Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent:

Most delegates arriving at Cop28 will have entered the desert city of Dubai along a 12-lane highway, reeking of petrol fumes: welcome to the petrostate of the United Arab Emirates.

2023 December 1, Damian Carrington, Nina Lakhani, Oliver Milman, “Cop28 diary: expensive coffee, cheesy slogans and petrol fumes”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

A state whose wealth stems from the sale of oil.


fireperson

fireperson (plural firepersons or firepeople)

firepersons (plural)
firepeople (plural)

(nonstandard, rare) A firefighter of any gender.


tremblement

tremblement (usually uncountable, plural tremblements)

From French tremblement (“a shake, tremble”). By surface analysis, tremble + -ment.


headlighting

headlighting (countable and uncountable, plural headlightings)

Fortunately, reflectors can be polished or replaced if found defective, thereby considerably improving the efficiency of headlighting on older cars.

1940, Ralph A. Richardson, Optics and Wheels, General Motors Corporation, p. 13


sealed beam

The new Sealed Beam Headlights are designed to maintain substantially their initial efficiency throughout their life.

1940, Ralph A. Richardson, Optics and Wheels, General Motors Corporation, p. 25

(technology) A type of electric lamp for producing a beam of light in which the filament is sealed inside a unit consisting of the reflector and lens so as to ensure the alignment of the beam and to protect the reflector from becoming dirty or tarnished.


namecheck

en-verb

namecheck (third-person singular simple present namechecks, present participle namechecking, simple past and past participle namechecked)

namechecks (present singular third-person)
namechecking (participle present)
namechecked (participle past)
namechecked (past)

(transitive, intransitive, music, especially in jazz) To announce the name of a person before they play a solo.


tin cry

The crackling sound heard when a bar of tin is bent, caused by the crystal twinning in the metal.


decet

From Italian decetto, from dieci (“ten”).

(music) A group of ten musicians; a piece of music written for such a group


burnoff

en-noun

burnoff (countable and uncountable, plural burnoffs)

The burnoff was started by DSE staff yesterday at Harrison’s track, near the Anglesea Flora Reserve.

2009 March 28, Mitchell Toy, “DSE burnoff goes out of control near Anglesea”, in Herald Sun, archived from the original on 2009-03-31:

A controlled burn of vegetation, either to clear land, or to remove fuel and mitigate future uncontrolled fires.


nerdcore

Many nerdcore anthems — “You Got Asperger’s” by MC Frontalot, “Fett’s Vette” by MC Chris, “View Source,” by Ytcracker (“Eagerly awaiting my macro advances/running with my beta cuz I’m taking chances”) — are as much efforts at comedy as they are attempts at sincere hip-hop.

2007 August 5, Alex Williams, “Dungeons, Dragons and Dope Beats”, in New York Times:

A nerdcore track would take loop samples not from popular industrial tracks, but from the synthesizers of a popular NES game like Dig Dug…

Self-styled “nerdcore” rappers wear pocket protectors and rhyme about hard drives.

2008, Benjamin Nugent, American Nerd: The Story of My People:

(music, humorous) An intentionally nerdy style of hip-hop music.


thrashy

en-adj

thrashy (comparative thrashier, superlative thrashiest)

thrashier (comparative)
thrashiest (superlative)


overpedal

en-verb

overpedal (third-person singular simple present overpedals, present participle overpedalling or overpedaling, simple past and past participle overpedalled or overpedaled)

overpedals (present singular third-person)
overpedalling (participle present)
overpedaling (participle present)
overpedalled (participle past)
overpedalled (past)
overpedaled (participle past)
overpedaled (past)

(music, intransitive) To overuse the sustaining pedal of a piano, causing the notes to sound too loud.


balaphone

Alteration of balafon, from Mandinka balafoŋo.


choon

And the music was so sweet, see because we just knew the choon. And we could have played a hundred choons that night...

2000, E Lynn Harris, Eric Jerome Dickey, Colin Channer, Marcus Major, Got to Be Real: Four Original Love Stories:

Behind her, beneath the thatch-roofed pavilions, the guests were skanking to old rock-steady choons and slamming dominoes on plastic tables...

A sleek cosmopolitan club with mainstream choons.

2005, David Else, Oliver Berry, England:

(British, nonstandard) A song or track, especially one that is catchy.


balafon

He is performing here with his Symmetric Orchestra, an ensemble of West African musicians who play both traditional instruments (kora, balafon, bolombatto, djembe) and slightly more contemporary ones (guitars, keyboards).

2009 April 17, The New York Times, “Pop Listings”, in New York Times:

percussion idiophone
percussion idiophone

A wooden-keyed percussion idiophone of West Africa that is struck with two padded sticks.


rompler

(music, informal) An electronic musical instrument that generates sounds by replaying samples stored in ROM, unable to synthesize sounds or to record new samples.


bronzy

en-adj

bronzy (comparative bronzier, superlative bronziest)

bronzier (comparative)
bronziest (superlative)

Her bronzy tan spoke of hours spent in the sun.

Her skin had a bronzy polish under the pale dusting powder.

1963, Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar, Faber and Faber:


ORNL

Oak Ridge National Laboratory
w:Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Initialism of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.


rhaita

A shawm used as a traditional musical instrument in Morocco.


nuclear hydrogen detection meter

en-noun

nuclear hydrogen detection meter (plural nuclear hydrogen detection meters)

nuclear hydrogen detection meters (plural)

(roofing) A device that contains a radioactive source to emit high velocity neutrons into a roof system. Reflecting neutrons are measured by a gauge that is used to detect hydrogen; the quantity of hydrogen detected may be linked to the pressure of water.


Geiger-Müller counter

Geiger-Müller counter (plural Geiger-Müller counters)

Named for Hans Geiger and Walther Müller, German physicists.


polytonal

(music) That uses two or more tonalities simultaneously.


maqam

Ultimately from Arabic مَقَام (maqām).. Doublet of mugham.

Elsewhere in the evening the young Iraqi-American trumpeter Amir ElSaffar, who has studied both jazz and traditional Arabic maqam patterns and combines them in modal pieces for improvisers, demonstrated with his sextet (including an oud and a santoor, the Persian hammered dulcimer) how hungry jazz still is for sources older than itself.

2008 January 14, Ben Ratliff, “Jazz Showcase Fever Propels a Mini Marathon”, in New York Times:

At 18, late for a professional musician, he took up the oud, studying the mysteries of the Iraqi maqam, the complex system of tonal sequences and improvisation passed from master to student.

2008 May 1, Erica Goode, “A Fabled Iraqi Instrument Thrives in Exile”, in New York Times:

But he hesitated when approached to do a project that combined maqam with jazz, even though that had been his pre-quest intention.

2009 April 2, Ashante Infantry, “Baghdad jazz”, in Toronto Star:

(music) A modal structure characterizing the art of music of countries in North Africa, West Asia and Central Asia.


Madchester

Released late in 1990, the hit album Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches was a summation of the Madchester era.

2013 [1998], Simon Reynolds, Generation Ecstasy, Routledge, →ISBN:

(music) An alternative rock genre and associated social scene that originated in Manchester, England, in the late 1980s, influenced by indie, psychedelic and dance music.


hydroacoustics

Any of various sciences and technologies dealing with sound transmitted through water.


noncountry

(music) That does not have the characteristics of the music genre country.


ARS

acute radiation syndrome
acute radiation syndrome#English


manzello

(music) A modified saxello, with an upturned bell.


saxello

(music) A variation on the saxophone, with a slightly curved neck and tipped bell.


dumka

dumka (countable and uncountable, plural dumkas or dumky)

From Ukrainian ду́мка (dúmka), diminutive of ду́ма (dúma, “sung epic poem”).

(uncountable) A genre of instrumental folk music from Ukraine.


flugelhornist

Radulph could not help but notice how the breasts of a lady flugelhornist trembled whenever she blew into her instrument.

1993, Rikki Ducornet, The Jade Cabinet, Dalkey Archive Press, page 109:

Shank returned in 1974 in the company of the LA Four, a Latin-influenced, cool-bop ensemble that featured Almeida and the great double bassist Ray Brown - sometimes extending this successful group's style into broader recording projects, including the excellent trumpeter and flugelhornist Bobby Shew.

2009 April 6, John Fordham, “Bud Shank”, in The Guardian:


beat out

en-verb

beat out (third-person singular simple present beats out, present participle beating out, simple past beat out, past participle beaten out or beat out)

beats out (present singular third-person)
beating out (participle present)
beat out (past)
beaten out (participle past)
beat out (participle past)

The drummer beat out a steady slow march.

The seasons bring the flower again,
And bring the firstling to the flock;
And in the dusk of thee, the clock
Beats out the little lives of men.

1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto II:

To sound a rhythm on a percussion instrument such as a drum.


yangqin

From Mandarin 揚琴／扬琴 (yángqín), originally written 洋琴.

zh-l

揚琴／扬琴 (yángqín)

A Chinese musical instrument, a hammered dulcimer traditionally fitted with bronze strings.


ARIA

w:Australian Recording Industry Association

(music) Acronym of Australian Recording Industry Association.


spasm band

Late 19th- and early 20th-century New Orleans slang.

A musical band that plays instruments made from items not originally intended for music.


polaski

Named for a forester, Edward Pulaski, who designed the tool.

A polaski is a cross between a pick, an^([sic]) standard axe, and a broad axe. It is used to cut through buried roots.

2002, Kent J. Johnson, Garden Railroading: Getting Started in the Hobby:

A shovel, a polaski (fire axe) and a gieke can for putting out campfires, disinfectant for cleaning outhouses and picnic tables.

2011, Sid Marty, Leaning on the Wind: Under the Spell of the Great Chinook, page 285:

It was equipped with two water tanks, a pump and one inch rubber hose, plus the normal shovels, polaskis, first aid equipment, and radios.

(firefighting) A fire fighting hand tool consisting of ax or adz head on a wooden handle, used to dig a fireline.


str

str.-quartet


rute

Borrowed from German Rute (“rod, switch (slender woody plant stem)”).

bor

(music) A bundle of thin sticks, typically made of wood, sometimes bound in such a way that the binding can be moved so that it varies the tightness of the binding.


stellarator

From stellar (“star”) + -ator (“maker”).

(physics) A magnetic device used to confine a plasma, especially one used to sustain nuclear fusion


half rest

(music) A pause or interval of silence equal in duration to two quarter rests or one half of a whole rest. In common or 4/4 time, its duration is two beats.

(music) A symbol used in musical notation drawn as a solid rectangle directly above the middle line of a staff whose height is half the distance between lines.


whole rest

(music) A pause or interval of silence equal in duration to two half rests or one half of a breve rest. In common or 4/4 time, its duration is four beats.

(music) A symbol used in musical notation drawn as a solid rectangle directly below the line above the middle line of a staff whose height is half the distance between lines.


semibreve rest

(music) A semibreve rest is a pause or interval of silence equal in duration to two half rests or one half of a breve rest. In common or 4/4 time, its duration is four beats.


flip side

(music, dated, 1930-1980) The B-side of a phonograph record that carried a less popular recording.


jazzbo

And he slowed down the car for all of us to turn and look at the old jazzbo moaning along.

1957, Jack Kerouac, chapter 1, in On the Road, Viking Press, →OCLC, part 2:


maskanda

From Zulu umaskanda, from Afrikaans musikant (“musician”).

(South Africa) A style of Zulu folk music, normally played solo.


jazzer

(colloquial, rare) Something with energy or pizzazz.

Unlike the players from the other scenes, however, the Cleveland jazzers would also engage in reflexive thought even when there are no immediate problems.

2004, Harris M. Berger, Giovanna Del Negro, Identity and everyday life, page 106:

Taking an opportunity to follow jazzer Paul Whiteman's band to Berlin, he remained in the German capital until Hitler's rise to power.

2021, Gavin Plumley, “A Boulevardier Writes…”, in Literary Review, 497, June:

(colloquial) A jazz musician; someone who likes or dances to jazz music.


mauveine

en-noun

mauveine (countable and uncountable, plural mauveines)

A purple dye, the first synthetic organic dye created.


arpeggione

Whether it is better on the original arpeggione, I am helpless to say.

2007 February 1, Bernard Holland, “Schubert Whispers, Grieg Booms”, in New York Times:

A six-stringed musical instrument of the 19th century, fretted and tuned like a guitar but bowed like a cello, and held vertically between the knees.


cuprouranite

The mineral copper uranite or torbernite.


torbernite

torbernite (countable and uncountable, plural torbernites)

From Torben + -ite. From Torbern Bergman (1735-1784), Swedish chemist.

(mineralogy) A radioactive green phosphate mineral, isostructural with autunite, found in granites and other uranium-bearing deposits as a secondary mineral.


quartal

(music, of harmony) Having a distinct preference for intervals of fourths.


chest voice

(phonology, music) A kind of voice of a medium or low pitch and a sonorous quality ascribed to resonance in the chest, or thorax; voice of the thick register. It is produced by vibration of the vocal cords through their entire width and thickness, and with convex surfaces presented to each other.


head voice

head voice (countable and uncountable, plural head voices)

(phonology, music) a kind of voice of high pitch and of a thin quality ascribed to resonance in the head; voice of the thin register. In producing it, the vibration of the cords is limited to their thin edges in the upper part, which are then presented to each other.


barbat

From Persian بربط (barbat, barbot), from Middle Persian, possibly from Ancient Greek βάρβιτος (bárbitos), an unrelated musical instrument.

(historical) An ancient Persian plucked lute with a pear-shaped body, a flat belly, an angled back near the pegbox, and a fretless neck.


daf

From either Persian or Arabic دَف (daf), from Middle Persian 𐭣𐭯 (dap).

MOHAMMAD REZA SHAJARIAN (Thursday) Renowned in his native Iran, the vocalist Mohammad Reza Shajarian has been performing since the 1960s, and is now widely considered one of the finest classical Persian singers in the world. Mr. Shajarian’s son, Homayoun Shajarian, will provide additional vocals and tombak (goblet drum), while Ensemble Ava, a four-piece, will contribute additional instrumentation on the ancient Persian instruments barbat (short-necked lute), tar (long-necked lute), kamancheh (spike fiddle) and daf (frame drum).

2008 May 30, The New York Times, “Pop and Rock Listings”, in New York Times:

(music) A large frame drum, resembling a tambourine, used to accompany popular and classical music in the Middle East.


neofolk

He produced Pink Floyd’s first single, “Arnold Layne,” and helped shape British folk-rock with albums by Fairport Convention, the Incredible String Band, Nick Drake and Vashti Bunyan that have directly influenced the current generation of neofolk avant-gardists like Devendra Banhart, Espers, Joanna Newsom and P. G. Six.

2007 March 15, Ben Sisario, “Folk-Rock Memories, Psychedelic but Clear”, in New York Times:

(music) A form of experimental folk music influenced by industrial music.


bukkehorn

From Norwegian, from bukk (“buck”) + horn.

An ancient Norwegian musical instrument, made from the horn of a ram or goat, traditionally used by cowherds.


biguine

The band had three contrasting lead singers: Mr. Desvarieux, who was gruff and smoky; Mr. Marthely, a buoyant tenor; and Ms. Beroard, whose voice can be bright and poppy or sweetly affectionate. Mr. Naimro’s keyboards could sound like zinging dance-club synthesizers, an accordion, a steel drum or the clarinet used in old Martinican biguine music. Mr. Desvarieux’s guitar sometimes hinted at blues-rock or the intertwining lines of African rock before slipping back into the rhythm section.

2007 August 2, Jon Pareles, “A Wide Range of Sounds, From Antillean to Zouk”, in New York Times:

(music) A style of music that originated in Martinique in the 19th century, combining the traditional bélé music with the polka.


unfretted

(music, of a musical instrument) Not fretted; without frets.


ragtimer

A musician who plays or composes ragtime music.


Brown HT

(organic chemistry) A brown synthetic coal tar diazo dye.


sea shanty

(nautical, music) A work song that sailors historically sang in rhythm to their movement.


popera

popera (countable and uncountable, plural poperas)

McLaren is a dozy Pinkerton, an uptight Don José ("Carmen is an animal/uncontrollable stuff..."), and his American-accented voices ride perfect over the beat. "Popera," someone said. The parts may be better than the whole, though.

The popera artist continued his rise to the top of the music charts earlier this year...

2004 August, Indianapolis Monthly, volume 27, number 14:

Guests can enjoy the music of strolling musicians performing opera, "popera," and popular music as they sit, relax, and take in the sunset.

2006, Laura Lea Miller, Frommer's Walt Disney World and Orlando with Kids:

...blockbuster popera acts handled by pop labels...

2007 November, Billboard, volume 119, number 47:

(informal, music, uncountable) A crossover genre combining elements of pop music and classical opera.

(informal, music, countable) A musical or operatic work performed in this style.


keytar

(music) A relatively lightweight keyboard or synthesizer supported by a strap around the neck and shoulders, as a guitar is supported by a guitar strap.


hardstyle

hi jack. you just missed the best hardcore/gabba party: "thunderdome - a decade", here in amsterdam. 2 huge rooms filled with 15.000 people (the party had sold out weeks in advance), one room for oldstyle (92-97), one for the newer hardcore/hardstyle (97-02).

2002, mik, “gabber/terror/hardcore”, in uk.music.rave (Usenet):

Boiler Room hosted hard dance specials with young crews from across Europe, while American EDM’s absorption of Dutch hardstyle – a fusion of techno and hardcore – has reached truly terrifying levels through the likes of Guatemalan DJ Carnage.

2020 January 10, Joe Muggs, “Gift of the gabber: the return of dance music’s gloriously tasteless subgenre”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

electronic dance music
electronic dance music

(music) A genre of electronic dance music that combines elements of trance, techno, and hardcore, with origins in the Netherlands and Belgium.


changüí

(music) A style of Cuban music which originated in the early nineteenth century in the eastern region of Guantánamo Province, combining Spanish and African elements.


calypsonian

The fourth and newest volume (subtitled “African Dreams and the Piccadilly High Life”) is scattered with calypsonians like Lord Kitchener, Young Growler and Young Tiger, and high-life bands like the African Messengers.

2007 January 14, Ben Ratliff, “If You’re Going to London, Nashville or San Francisco”, in New York Times:


orpharion

(music) A musical instrument of the Renaissance, part of the cittern family, whose metal strings are tuned like a lute's and plucked with the fingers.


nonjazz

Nonjazz musicians play classical music.

An example of a nonjazz workout is a hip-hop aerobics DVD.


inharmonicity

fundamental frequency
fundamental frequency

(music) The degree to which the frequencies of overtones (known as partial tones or harmonics) depart from whole multiples of the fundamental frequency.


world music

world music (countable and uncountable, plural world musics)

Attributed to ethnomusicologist Robert E. Brown (1960s), later primarily used as a marketing term.

(music, rare) Traditional music, as opposed to popular music or classical music.

傳統音樂

traditional music, as opposed to popular music or classical music

While it can be considered a metagenre, world music is really more of a marketing category.

2016, Roy Shuker, Understanding Popular Music Culture, page 123:

(music) Music that combines elements from traditional styles from the non-Western world along with modern, popular elements, in order to create something marketed towards Western audiences.

世界音樂

music that combines elements from traditional styles with popular elements


proslambanomenos

(music) The lowest note in Ancient Greek music, appended to the bottom of the scale.


gambist

(music) Someone who plays the viola da gamba


midset

And the band appears comfortable with its pop instincts: a pair of new songs, played midset, were even frothier and looser than its album.

2009 March 17, Jon Caramanica, “Surfing Along a Foamy Wave, Constantly Changing but Ever Cynical”, in New York Times:

(music) In the middle of a set, in the middle of a gig.


rechart

en-verb

rechart (third-person singular simple present recharts, present participle recharting, simple past and past participle recharted)

recharts (present singular third-person)
recharting (participle present)
recharted (participle past)
recharted (past)

The boys would never make the stateside pop/rock 45 listings again, though British fans would later rechart the group name with takes on "My Brother Jake," "Little Bit Of Love," and "Wishing Well."

1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 263:

(music) To chart again, to return to the music charts.


Japanoise

While we allow the sounds of Japanoise to challenge our ears, this practice of sound-making reveals not only the limits of origin stories, but also the limits of the concept of “ongaku,” […]

2021 [2001], Timothy Rommen, Bruno Nettl, editors, Excursions in World Music, 8th edition, Routledge, →ISBN, page 204:

(music) A genre of postindustrial music of Japan, primarily in the 1980s and 1990s.


mbube

From Zulu imbube (“lion”) (uyimbube (“you are a lion”)).

A style of a cappella choral music originating among the Zulus of South Africa.


mbila

(music) In Southern Africa, an instrument similar to the xylophone, played by striking the bars with mallets.


firelike

en-adj

firelike (comparative more firelike, superlative most firelike)

more firelike (comparative)
most firelike (superlative)

Resembling or characteristic of fire; fiery.


phonograph record

en-noun

phonograph record (plural phonograph records)

A disc, usually made of a polymer, used to record sound for playback on a phonograph.


kickdrum

Oni shredded her guitar, jumped on top of drummer Pikachu's kickdrum, then jumped off and played a sideways riff while pretending (?

2009 January 15, Mikey Cahill, “Rock City”, in Herald Sun:


set of pipes

The old man taught the boy to play the flute, and together they constructed a set of pipes—the pipes o' Pan—and out along the river they would play.

1916, Elbert Hubbard, “Savonarola”, in Little Journeys Vol. 7: Eminent Orators:

(music) A wind instrument incorporating multiple pipes, such as a panpipe or bagpipe.


retard

/ɹɪˈtɑː(ɹ)d/

From Middle English retarden, from Anglo-Norman or Latin, from Anglo-Norman retarder, from Latin retardāre (“to retard”), from re- + tardus (“slow”).

(music) A slowing down of the tempo; a ritardando.


Fabs

At one time the Fabs told the press that: "Show business belongs to the Jews […]

1995, Henry W Sullivan, The Beatles with Lacan: rock 'n' roll as requiem for the modern age:

[…] the madness which surrounded the Fabs at the height of Beatlemania.

1998, Patrick Humphries, The complete guide to the music of the Beatles, Volume 2:

Still, Mick and the boys couldn't resist striving after whatever the Beatles attempted first, even when the Fabs flopped.

2002, Shawn Levy, Ready, steady, go!: the smashing rise and giddy fall of Swinging London:


piphat

(music) An ensemble of wind and percussion instruments in central Thai classical music.


curium bromide

(inorganic chemistry) The curium salt of hydrobromic acid, CmBr₃


isorhythm

isorhythm (countable and uncountable, plural isorhythms)

Borrowed from German Isorhythmik, coined in 1904 by composer Friedrich Ludwig (1895-1970) (iso- + rhythm).

In his motets Machaut strove for all-over patterns of rhythmic unity through isorhythms, a system codifying a few set patterns of time value, the number of repetitions of a pattern within a composition depending upon the desired length […]

1953, Herbert Weinstock, Music as an art, page 31:

Even when such preconceived structural arrangements are not used, as in the Gloria of the Machaut Mass, the idea of isorhythm is present in the suggestion of recurring and balancing strophic plans.

1955, Oscar Lee Rigsby, The Sacred Music of Elzéar Genet: Historical and analytical study:

Meaning simply "same rhythm," isorhythm refers to the practice of using the same rhythmic pattern, called in fourteenth-century treatises a talea ("cutting"), over and over in one or more part as the structural base for a motet or mass movement.

2006, Kyle Gann, The Music of Conlon Nancarrow:

(music) A technique that arranges a fixed pattern of pitches with a repeating rhythmic pattern, used in some medieval motets and in more recent works.


isorhythmic

(music) Pertaining to or using isorhythm.


kobzar

Borrowed from Ukrainian кобзар (kobzar).

An itinerant Ukrainian bard, often blind, who played the kobza.


goblet drum

(music) A drum (membranophone) with a goblet-shaped body, usually one-headed.

(music) A drum, shaped like a goblet, from the Middle East and North Africa; a darbuka.

دَرْبُوكَة

drum from the Middle-East and North Africa


DAO

DAO (countable and uncountable, plural DAOs)

(petrochemistry) Initialism of de-asphalted oil, a crude oil refinery process stream.


xalam

A traditional lutelike string instrument of West Africa.


emblaze

en-verb

emblaze (third-person singular simple present emblazes, present participle emblazing, simple past and past participle emblazed)

emblazes (present singular third-person)
emblazing (participle present)
emblazed (participle past)
emblazed (past)

(transitive) To adorn with glittering embellishments; cause to glitter or shine.

When a window screen is emblazed with a pretty design, one cannot look into the room beyond because of arrest of vision by the figure upon the screen.

1915, Robert Tuttle Morris, Doctors Versus Folks:

This feeling emblazed inside. / Every nerve like a firefly.

1997, Delerium (band), Euphoria (Firefly) (song)

(transitive, poetic) To illuminate; to etch or display in a bright, fiery way; blazon.


tumbao

From Cuban Spanish tumbar (“to knock off, fall”).

After all, its encore introduced some new musical elements, including a pulse faintly suggestive of an Afro-Cuban tumbao.

2007 February 12, Nate Chinen, “A Flamenco Master Is His Own Ensemble”, in New York Times:

(music) The basic rhythm played on the conga drum and the bass in Afro-Cuban music.


antimusic

en-noun

antimusic (usually uncountable, plural antimusics)

[…] the current vogue, on the internet, for creating “black midi” files using software to create musical performances with literally millions of notes being played […] is unlikely to appeal to the general listener and we should probably consider it a deviant case of anti-music made for frivolous purposes rather than any kind of polemic.

2015, Samuel Cameron, Music in the Marketplace: A Social Economics Approach, page 2:

(music) Any form of music that defies convention to such a degree that some people would not recognise it as musical.

antimúsica

any form of music that defies convention


colorature

(music) An elaborate melody, particularly in vocal music and especially in operatic singing of the 18th and 19th centuries, with runs, trills, leaps, etc.


shoegazer

A musician who performs in the shoegaze style.


semantron

semantron (plural semantrons or semantra)

From Ancient Greek σήμαντρον (sḗmantron, “a seal, signet, in MGr. a semantron”), from σημαίνειν (sēmaínein, “to show by a sign, signify, in MGr. strike a semantron”), from σῆμα (sêma, “mark, sign”).

uder

A percussion instrument used chiefly in Eastern Orthodox monasteries to summon the brethren to prayer or to lead processions.


phthalo blue

en-noun

phthalo blue (countable and uncountable, plural phthalo blues)

From phthalo and blue, from phthalocyanine.

phthalo blue:

A bright greenish-blue crystalline synthetic pigment from the group of phthalocyanine dyes.


zambomba

A Spanish friction drum, consisting of a ceramic pot with a skin and a pole in the middle. To play it, the stick is rubbed to make a deep sound


gaida

Compare Turkish gayda. Compare also Portuguese gaita.

An ancient Thracian bagpipe, variations of which are still played in the Balkans.


bongo drum

(music) Synonym of bongo (“either of a pair of small drums of Cuban origin”).


philharmonic orchestra

philharmonic orchestra (plural philharmonic orchestras)

(music) A large group of musicians who play together on various instruments, usually including some from strings, woodwind, brass and/or percussion; the instruments played by such a group.


string orchestra

string orchestra (plural string orchestras)

(music) A music group consisting solely of stringed instruments.


string ensemble

string ensemble (plural string ensembles)

jousiyhtye

A music group consisting solely of stringed instruments


rabiz

Borrowed from Armenian ռաբիզ (ṙabiz). See it for more.

(music) A popular modern Armenian music style that shows Middle Eastern influences and is related to Russian blatnyak and Azerbaijani mugham. Most of the songs have a 6/8 rhythm.


session musician

session musician (plural session musicians)

(music) A professional musician employed by other musicians or singers, either to play live or to make recordings.


fracking

fracking (usually uncountable, plural frackings)

→ Korean: 프래킹 (peuraeking)

Still, environmentalists look to the U.S., where drilling with fracking is now a “megatrend” and where thousands of wells dot the landscape in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Colorado. They worry about higher greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional natural gas—because of the energy used to get the gas—and water contamination.

2010 July 25, Andrew Chung, “Quebec between a rock and a hard place on gas from shale”, in Toronto Star, retrieved 2010-07-26:

There is strong resistance in much of Europe to fracking, the practice of forcing liquid and sand into wells to release trapped oil and gas. France has a ban on fracking, Germany has imposed a moratorium, and opposition has cropped up and sometimes delayed shale exploration in Eastern European countries like Romania and Poland.

2014 November 9, Stanley Reed, “Britain Plans for Future of Shale Oil and Gas Industry”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

The fracking boom has been fuelled mostly by overheated investment capital, not by cash flow.

2018 August 30, Bethany McLean, “How America's ‘most reckless’ billionaire created the fracking boom”, in The Guardian:

The criticisms were made in the wake of the government’s decision on Friday to impose a moratorium on fracking in the UK. A review published by the Oil and Gas Authority concluded it was impossible to predict the likelihood or scale of earthquakes triggered by fracking.

2019 November 3, Robin McKie, “Shale gas fracking wasted ‘millions of taxpayers’ cash’, say scientists”, in The Guardian:

Hydraulic fracturing
hydraulic fracturing


downtempo

(music) A genre of house music and ambient music with an ethereal sound and a driving beat.


downtempo

en-adj

downtempo (comparative more downtempo, superlative most downtempo)

more downtempo (comparative)
most downtempo (superlative)


Riemannian

And not only theory: most central European composers of this century were schooled in Riemannian doctrine of one type or another.

1994, Daniel Harrison, Harmonic Function in Chromatic Music: A Renewed Dualist Theory and an Account of Its Precedents, University of Chicago Press, page 7:

Or take, for example, the rehabilitation by late-twentieth-century North American theorists of Riemannian Tonnetze as a means to navigate the voice-leading intricacies of much chromatic and post-chromatic music.

2004, Jairo Moreno, Musical Representations, Subjects, and Objects: The Construction of Musical Thought in Zarlino, Descartes, Rameau, and Weber, Indiana University Press, page 1:

The paper connects two notions originating from different branches of the recent mathematical music theory: the neo-Riemannian Tonnetz and the property of well-formedness from the theory of the generated scales.

2009, Marek Žabka, “Generalized Tonnetz and Well-Formed GTS: A Scale Theory Inspired by the Neo-Riemannians”, in Elaine Chew, Adrian Childs, Ching-Hua Chuan, editors, Mathematics and Computation in Music, 2nd International Conference, Proceedings, Springer, page 286:

(music) Relating to the musical theories of German theorist Hugo Riemann, particularly his theory of harmony, which is characterised by a system of "harmonic dualism".


sadcore

Near-synonym: slowcore

As proof of this, Staub points to the wide variety of press coverage the band received, from spotlights in the usual music media to reports in People, Time, NPR (which identified the band as one of the leaders of the "sadcore" movement), and even Martha Stewart Living […]

Also, The Red House Painters were the first in a wave of bands that followed in AMC's wake, making slow, bleak music that the press would later dub "sadcore" […]

1999, Seán Body, Wish the world away: Mark Eitzel and American Music Club:

Despite past disappointments, the undisputed king (and queen) of sadcore return […]

Even in 'serious' rock journalism, every sound was a kind of core: hardcore, slowcore, speedcore, sadcore. What next?

[…] one of the grayest sadcore bands on God's bleak earth, a band that for encores — however rarely it earned them — would slog through Irish jigs […]

2004, Jonathan DiMarco, Good Bullets Make Bad Neighbors:

(music, uncommon) A form of alternative rock characterised by bleak lyrics, downbeat melodies and slow tempos.


-core

Derived from hardcore (“hardcore punk; a particularly fast and intense form of punk rock”).

gloom + -core → gloomcore

metal + -core → metalcore

rap + -core → rapcore

speed + -core → speedcore

(music) Denoting a genre of music, especially one influenced by hardcore music.


Arabic scale

{\set Staff.midiInstrument=#"clarinet"c'des'e'f'g'aes'b'c2}

(music) double harmonic scale, a scale with two augmented seconds:

\relative c'{c8 cih cis cisih d dih dis disih e eih f fih fis fisih g gih gis gisih a aih ais aisih b bih \bar "|" c2}

(music) quarter tone scale, or 24 tone equal temperament:

\relative c'{c8 cih cis d dih dis e f fih fis g gih gis a aih ais b c2}

(music) 17 equal temperament, a tuning dividing the octave into 17 equal steps:

{c'd'e'f'ges'aes'bes'c}

(music) major Locrian scale, a scale similar to Locrian:


horrorcore

Lots of us remember the pioneering zeal that the Gravediggaz unleashed on their debut disc, 1994's 6 Feet Deep — a ghoulish effort that spawned the so-called horrorcore genre.

(music) A subgenre of hip-hop music with horror-themed lyrics and imagery.


antimetric

(sound engineering, especially music) Going off the rhythm, especially during a transition from one time signature to another.


houselike

houselike (comparative more houselike, superlative most houselike)

more houselike (comparative)
most houselike (superlative)


pianistics

(music) The art or technique of playing the piano.


photolyte

(chemistry) Any substance that is decomposed by photolysis


saz

From French saz, from Persian ساز (sâz).


nyatiti

The premier Luo musical instrument is the nyatiti, a lyre of eight strings converging inside a hide resonator, all housed in a trapezoid wooden frame.

2001, Okumba Miruka, Oral Literature of the Luo, EAEP, published 2001, page 14:

Recently, some nyatiti performers have collaborated with guitarists in beautiful combined productions.

2000, Radano/Bohlman, Music and the Racial Imagination, page 373:

A quiet, largely acoustic CD with beautiful melodies and captivating rhythms that starts with nyatiti, praise songs and local rhythms.

1999, Simon Broughton et al., Rough Guide to World Music, page 522:

A traditional type of lyre with eight strings, used by the Luo people of Kenya.


thrashcore

A subgenre of fast hardcore punk music that emerged in the early 1980s.


sacring-bell

A small bell or set of bells which are rung at the elevation in Mass.


chamber ensemble

en-noun

chamber ensemble (plural chamber ensembles)

A musical ensemble of modest size, to play chamber music; can be more specifically named after its number (from duo to nonet) and/or type(s) (e.g. wood, brass, strings) of instruments.

kamerorkest

a musical ensemble of modest size, to play chamber music


fipple

Perhaps related to Icelandic flipi (“lip of a horse”)

(music) The mouthpiece of a ducted flute, or the plug forming the floor of the windway.


slide whistle

A wind instrument consisting of a fipple like a recorder's and a tube with a piston in it, the pitch being varied with a slide, commonly used as a sound effect to accompany pratfalls in slapstick.


ashes of rose

There are star-fish, sea-urchins, and sea-anemones, — gorgeous creatures in ashes of rose and orange, or in pink and brown with dashes of yellow.

1883 (December), Julia C. R. Dorr, "Bermudian Days", The Atlantic Monthly, page 789

White and black added to the above combinations result in the quieter tones and tints of these — such as old rose, ashes of rose, salmon, red-brown, terra-cotta, brick red and the series of pinkish to orange greys.

1922, Edward Stratton Holloway, The practical book of furnishing the small house and apartment, page 47:

ashes of rose:


dodecaphonist

International word formed circa 1950 from Ancient Greek δώδεκα (dṓdeka, “twelve”) + φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound”) + -ist, recorded in English since 1953, presumably modeled on German Dodekaphonist.

The pioneering Austrian composer Arnold Schönberg was the leading dodecaphonist.

The schism between the dodecaphonists and the priests of tonality.

1984 April 14, Richard Knisely, “Quintessential Narcissism”, in Gay Community News, page 13:

(music) A practitioner or proponent of dodecaphony, i.e. use of the dodecaphonic musical scale, which has twelve tones per octave


sinople

sinople (countable and uncountable, plural sinoples)

From Old French sinople, from Latin Sinōpis, from Ancient Greek Σινωπίς (Sinōpís, “of Sinope”), a town that exported a red ocher. The unexpected change to meaning "green" in heraldry occurred in French texts around 1350 for unclear reasons.

der

In heraldry, sinople (the green of blazonry) also signified love, joy, abundance.

1903, George Field, Ellis A. Davidson, A grammar of colouring, applied to decorative painting and the arts:

Espinosa (Spain and Flanders) : Argent, a tree terrassé sinople, accosted by two wolves affrontés, sable […]

1903, Isidore Singer, Cyrus Adler, The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, page 128:

This shield argent with three lions sinople (green) has remained the coat of arms of the House of Lannoy. The young knight built a home in the woods around the seigneurie of Lys.

1984, Lucile Kathryn Delano, Charles De Lannoy, Victor of Pavia, →ISBN:


nanga

The "shoulder harp" or "nanga" had a boat-shaped sound chest.

1950, Roslyn Rensch, The harp: from Tara's halls to the American schools:

The nanga of Nubia is similar; here also, long wooden pegs prevent the strings from slipping.

1975, Sibyl Marcuse, A survey of musical instruments, page 403:

The artist uses his voice, he sings his laws to the accompaniment of the nanga, the harp; he twists his body to the rhythm of the drums, to proclaim his rules.

(music) A simple wooden harp or zither used in central and eastern Africa.


antiopera

(opera) An opera (dramatical production) that deliberately avoids the typical conventions of the opera.

antiópera

an opera that deliberately avoids typical conventions


guaracha

en-noun

guaracha (countable and uncountable, plural guarachas)

(music, uncountable) A genre of Cuban popular music with rapid tempo and lyrics.

“Harry was there to be able to tell us what is the difference between a guaracha and a mambo and what’s the montuno and who is really the top-notch danzón band,” she said.

2007 February 19, William Neuman, “Amid Squeal of Trains at Times Square, Melody of a Store’s Rebirth”, in New York Times:

(music, countable) A piece performed in this style.


montuno

From Spanish montuno (literally “from the mountain”), referring to rural music.

bor

The piano montunos showered down on us from the speaker. The cries of the leader were like great gasps in the air.

1957, Jack Kerouac, On the Road, Viking Press, →OCLC:

(music) The counterpoint in Cuban salsa music.


delta ray

(physics) An electron ejected by recoil when a rapidly moving alpha particle or other charged particle passes through matter.


archicembalo

(music) A form of harpsichord that had extra keys and strings


audio frequency

en-noun

audio frequency (plural audio frequencies)

A frequency or range of frequencies of sound waves that are audible.


international orange

The width of the chrome-yellow or international orange bands should be one-seventh the height of the structure for all structures less than 250 feet […]

1937, United States Bureau of Air Commerce, Aeronautics Bulletin:

This specification covers the general requirements for international orange paint for use on steel, concrete and wood surfaces, such as galvanized steel […]

1945, United States Civil Aeronautics Administration, Civil Aeronautics Bulletin:

Colors such as black lettering on an international orange background are common and are easily visible in most conditions.

1993, Robert J. Johnson, C. Daniel Mote, John Zelcer, Skiing Trauma and Safety: Ninth International Symposium:

A reddish-orange colour used to set things apart from their surroundings, especially in the aerospace industry.


white metal

white metal (countable and uncountable, plural white metals)

(music) Christian-themed heavy metal, as distinguished from black metal.


zurna

From Turkish zurna, from Ottoman Turkish زورنا (zurna), from Classical Persian سرنا (surnā); see there for more. Cognate with English horn, Latin cornu (“horn”).

(music) A double-reed outdoor wind instrument, usually accompanied by a davul (bass drum) in Anatolian folk music.


gigster

(dated) A horse that pulls a gig (a two-wheeled carriage).


depaint

en-verb

depaint (third-person singular simple present depaints, present participle depainting, simple past depainted, past participle depainted or (archaic, rare) depainten)

depaints (present singular third-person)
depainting (participle present)
depainted (past)
depainted (participle past)
depainten (archaic participle past rare)

(archaic, transitive) To colour; to decorate with colours.


aftertouch

en-noun

aftertouch (countable and uncountable, plural aftertouches)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-aftertouch.wav

(music, uncountable) Pressure sensitivity on an electronic synthesizer, allowing the musician to change the tone or sound of a note after it is struck.


string quartet

(music) A group of four musicians playing string instruments, usually two violins, a viola and a cello.

(music) A musical composition for such a group.


methylene blue

(organic chemistry) A heterocyclic aromatic chemical compound with many uses in biology and chemistry.


malachite green

(organic chemistry) A toxic chemical used as a dye, as a treatment for infections in fish (when diluted), and as a bacteriological stain


a little bit of bread and no cheese

/ə ˌlɪtl̩ ˈbɪt‿əv ˈbɹɛd‿n̩ nəʊ ˈt͡ʃiːz/

/ə ˈlɪt(ə)l ˈbɪt‿əv ˈbɹɛd‿n̩ noʊ ˈt͡ʃiz/

En-au-a little bit of bread and no cheese.ogg

Onomatopoeic; the bird’s song is thought to resemble the rhythm of the phrase.

The song of the yellow-hammer consists of little more than a monotone, repeated quickly several times, some emphasis being laid on the last note, which is also uttered at greater length. It is almost the only bird whose note is heard in the heat of a summer's day. The cow-boys in some parts of the country have given the following interpretation to the yellow-hammer's song:— "A lit—tle bit of bread, and no cheese."

1839 July 13, “British Birds”, in The Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, volume VIII, number 467, London: Charles Knight & Co., […], →OCLC, page 266, column 1:

In Devonshire it [the yellowhammer] goes by the names of "Little-bread-and-no-cheese," and "Gladdy." Of the latter name I do not know the origin; that of the former is clear enough; for if the words "A little bit of bread and no cheese" be chanted rapidly in one note, descending at the word "cheese," the performance, both in matter and style, will bear a close resemblance to the bird's song.

1862, C[harles] A[lexander] Johns, “The Yellow Hammer. Emberíza citrinella.”, in British Birds in Their Haunts, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; […], →OCLC, page 192:

[A]s twilight sets in, the Yellow Hammer may still be heard, and is perhaps the last bird to give a parting note to the retiring day, with the exception of his congener the Corn-Bunting, who sings till it is quite dusk. Country people imitate the note of the Yellow Hammer by the words, "a little bit of bread and no cheese," the accent on the last word; but sometimes the utterance alters in tone, the request being for a "little bit of bread and no cheese," the last word being dropped and the accent on the penultimate.

1871–1881, H[enry] E[eles] Dresser, “Emberiza citrinella. (Yellow Bunting.)”, in A History of the Birds of Europe, […], volume IV, London: […] [Taylor and Francis for] the author, […], →OCLC, page 4:

[T]he yellowhammer, who also had words as well as tune, sang his refrain of "a little bit of bread and no cheese," with a tremendous emphasis on the no; […]

1875, [Walter Besant, James Rice], chapter VIII, in With Harp and Crown. […], volume I, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 139:

It is delightful to hear the yellowhammer's song—his only song: "A little bit of bread and no c h e e s e."

1896, “the Amateur Angler” [pseudonym; Edward Marston], “Spring and Summer Rambles”, in By Meadow and Stream: Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Places, London: Sampson Law, Marston and Company […], →OCLC, page 38:

There were several sorts of little birds, twittering different songs. The first one sang—“Who’s bin digging-up my nuts? Who’s-been-digging-up my nuts?” And another sang—“Little bita bread and - no - cheese! Little bit - a - bread an’ - no - cheese!”

1911, Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes, London, New York, N.Y.: Frederick Warne & Co., →OCLC, page 21:

"A little bit of bread and no cheese!" cry the yellowhammers petulantly. But no one takes any notice of them.

1931 May 20, Louis Golding, “A Rosary of Lovely Places”, in The Commonweal: A Weekly Review of Literature, the Arts and Public Affairs, volume XIV, number 3, New York, N.Y.: Calvert Publishing Corporation, →OCLC, page 74, column 1:

The Africans, it seems, have the British countryman's habit of making a phonetically similar sentence out of a bird's call. The yellow-hammer, for instance, is supposed to say "a-little-bit-of-bread-and-no-cheese". In Zande, the laughing dove calls urugu nolu akpi akpi, which can be translated as "the planter of eleusine [a local cereal] will die".

1961 January 26, “Notes and Comments: Bird Calls and Beer Drinking in African Language”, in Bernard Dixon, editor, New Scientist, volume 9, number 219, London: IPC Magazines, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 197, column 1:

In Europe the song of the Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella) can be heard, with a little poetic licence, as ‘a little bit of bread and no cheese’, the Quail (Coturnix coturnix) as ‘wet my lips’.

2015, Nick Baker, “Feathered and Flighty: Birds”, in The Complete Naturalist, London, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Natural History, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 51:

Emberiza citrinella
Emberiza citrinella#English

(British, idiomatic) Used to represent the song of the yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella).


safranin

safranin (countable and uncountable, plural safranins)

A biological stain used in histology and cytology.


boom bap

Imitative, representing the sounds of the bass drum and snare drum, respectively.

onomatopoeic

Imitative

A beat made with the 808 drum kit isn't boom bap!

The story of Boom Bap is closely associated with the development and practice of sampling, and as such, Boom Bap is often described as a production technique, a sound, a style, or a subgenre.

2023, Michail Exarchos, Reimagining Sample-based Hip Hop: Making Records within Records, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 1997:

(music) A style/subgenre of hip hop characterized by hard-hitting drums, usually containing the kick drum/snare drum/hi-hat combination rather than claps, snaps, TR-808 bass drums, cowbells, shakers, and various other percussion sounds used for rhythm.


British Invasion

So in a stealth, surreptitious move of intrigue, he had named us the Golliwogs. “We're trying to have you guys be like the British Invasion here. So we wanted to give you a hip-sounding name. Mod. It’s mod.”

2015, John Fogerty, Fortunate Son, New York: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 145:

Kenner had passed the song on to Fats Domino; Rufus Thomas had picked it up for his Stax LP Walking the Dog; along the way, it had been lyrically updated and adopted as an easy-to-play floor-filler and crowd-pleaser by seemingly every white garage band that had popped up across the United States in the wake of the British invasion.

2017, Tony Fletcher, In the Midnight Hour: The Life and Soul of Wilson Pickett, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 91:

The rise in British music bands' popularity in the United States in the 1960s.


CMA

Country Music Association Awards
w:Country Music Association Awards

(music) Initialism of Country Music Association Awards.


surge suppressor

en-noun

surge suppressor (plural surge suppressors)


soullike

en-adj

soullike (comparative more soullike, superlative most soullike)

more soullike (comparative)
most soullike (superlative)

(music) Resembling or characteristic of soul music.


thymolsulphonephthalein

Thymol blue, a brownish-green or reddish-brown crystalline powder used as a pH indicator.


Swiftian

Swiftian (comparative more Swiftian, superlative most Swiftian)

more Swiftian (comparative)
most Swiftian (superlative)

Swiftian chorus

You could hear Martin and Shellback's touch in the bright, punchy sound of those songs, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “I Knew You Were Trouble,” and “22.” Yet the songs are unmistakably Swiftian; unlike other Martin songs, ...

2016, Tyler Conroy, Taylor Swift: This Is Our Song, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 156:

Katie is herself deeply invested in the kind of heteronormative propriety that other fans see in Taylor Swift's music, and she [...] suggests that she can incorporate Swift's image of sweet wholesomeness into her own experience and articulation of lesbian relationships; yet, Katie desires to appropriate a piece of heteronormative culture—“Swiftian” propriety and sentimentality—without considering the ways that this strict view on the expression of sexual desire is connected to the ways that she is marginalized within the community because of her sexual identity.

2016, Steven Seidman, Nancy L. Fischer, Chet Meeks, Introducing the New Sexuality Studies: 3rd Edition, Routledge, →ISBN:

The music itself is classic Taylor Swift, with a high degree of syncopation at the sixteenth-note level and a chorus melody [...] Despite the fact that the song is jointly credited to Swift and Sheeran, the verses, too, contain some typically Swiftian attributes, including unexpected lengthening and truncations of phrases.

2017, James E. Perone, The Words and Music of Taylor Swift, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 51:

Of or pertaining to Taylor Swift (1989–), American singer-songwriter, or her musical and lyrical style.