wedding march

"Oh, there isn't much danger, as long as I have got breath in my nostrils," said Peik, and took a ram's horn, which he began blowing; and when he had blown a wedding march on it he put the horn to his sister's nostrils and blew life into her again and she rose up as if nothing had been the matter with her.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 197

The musicians had been quietly singing some familiar Christian songs but then the singing stopped and the music turned into a wedding march as the procession started down the small hallway. First, Sandra, in her yellow bridesmaid dress and carrying a small bouquet of yellow roses […]

2009, Jim Hayden, The Year of God's Promise, page 325

(music) A slow-tempo march played during a wedding.


secundal

(music) Relating to seconds (intervals between pairs of adjacent notes in a diatonic scale).


UST

en-noun

UST (countable and uncountable, plural USTs)

Coordinate term: OST

(music) Acronym of unofficial soundtrack.


svirel

(music) An old folk Russian wind instrument of the end-blown flute type.


zarbi

(Persian, music) A rhythmic realization of a gushe.


volti subito

Borrowed from Italian volti subito (literally “turn quickly”).

bor

(music) A direction to turn the page quickly.


water organ

(music) A form of pipe organ in which the air is generated by moving water.


click track

(music) A series of audio cues used to synchronize sound recordings, sometimes to a moving image.


tritave

(music) An interval with a frequency ratio of 3:1, usually in the context of the Bohlen–Pierce scale where it replaces the octave.


pseudo-octave

(music) An interval whose frequency ratio is not 2:1 (that of the octave), but is perceived or treated as equivalent to this ratio, and whose pitches are considered equivalent to each other as with octave equivalency.


Burzumesque

en-adj

Burzumesque (comparative more Burzumesque, superlative most Burzumesque)

more Burzumesque (comparative)
most Burzumesque (superlative)

Burzum + -esque, after the band Burzum, named for the Black Speech word burzum (“darkness”), from J. R. R. Tolkien’s fictional language.

But if, like me, you think the Mayhemesque 'Under A Funeral Moon' and Burzumesque 'Transilvanian Hunger' are Darkthrone's finest moments […]

1997, Richard Stuart, “Review of Isvind - 'Dark Waters Stir'”, in alt.rock-n-roll.metal.death (Usenet)

Two of the old ones are slow and atmospheric (one is pure acoustic "ballad", other is truly amazing burzumesque piece) […]

1998, ghaa...@geocities.com, “HELP ME WITH THESE BANDS.......”, in alt.music.black-metal (Usenet)

They used to play Burzumesque BM, but moved on to a Doomy sound.

2000, NivendE, “black doom hybrids”, in alt.music.black-metal (Usenet)

(music) similar in style to the black metal band Burzum


accidental chord

en-noun

accidental chord (plural accidental chords)

(music) A chord containing one or more tones foreign to its proper harmony.


dead march

I see a sad procession,
And I hear the sound of coming full-key'd bugles,
All the channels of the city streets they're flooding,
As with voices and with tears.
. . .
Now nearer blow the bugles,
And the drums strike more convulsive,
And the daylight o'er the pavement quite has faded,
And the strong dead-march enwraps me.

1892, Walt Whitman, “Dirge for Two Veterans”, in Leaves of Grass

A captain's guard marched before the corpse, the captain of it in the rear, the firelocks reversed, the drums beating the dead march.

1859, Washington Irving, chapter 15, in Life of George Washington

Lord Cramer . . . described the burying of his company's colonel after it—the open grave in a cleft of hills dark with pines, the solemn dead march, the noble words spoken as they left their leader forever.

1914, Amelia E. Barr, chapter 2, in Playing With Fire

At the end, the orchestra played a somber dead march that was punctuated by harsh, chilling blows on the timpani.

1983 November 22, Donal Henahan, “Musica: Sacra at Fisher Hall”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-09-10

(music) A mournful, deliberately-paced musical work suitable for a funeral or remembrance ceremony.


UK garage

(music) A genre of electronic music descended from house music, originating from England in the early 1990s, typically featuring a syncopated 4/4 percussive rhythm with "shuffling" hi-hats and beat-skipping kick drums.


gothabilly

gothabilly (countable and uncountable, plural gothabillies)

(music, uncountable) A musical genre combining rockabilly and gothic rock, and its associated subculture (style of clothing, etc).


quarter tone

(music) The musical interval equal to one quarter of a tone or 1/24 of an octave; half a semitone.


bélé

Possibly from French belle aire, though African origins have been suggested.

(music, dance, Caribbean) A genre of music and group dance from the Creole cultures of Dominica and other Caribbean islands, in modern times mostly performed to celebrate holidays and special occasions.

(music, Caribbean) A type of folk drum found on Dominica, Martinique and Saint Lucia.


hauntological

en-adj

hauntological (comparative more hauntological, superlative most hauntological)

more hauntological (comparative)
most hauntological (superlative)

Boards of Canada also pioneered the hauntological approach to creating old-timey and elegiac atmospheres through the use of sound treatments suggestive of decay and wear-and-tear.

2011, Simon Reynolds, Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to Its Own Past, Faber & Faber, page 331

In that spirit, some young musicians now are creating music that has been described as “hypnagogic” or “hauntological.” The melodies and rhythms are reminiscent of catchy pop songs of previous decades, but recorded in a way that simulates the effects of age — fuzzy and staticky — as if worn out or heard at a great distance through a grimy haze.]

[2011 August 4, Carl Wilson, “‘My So-Called Adulthood’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Vaporwave and its more developed form, Simpsonwave, are of course concerned with an entirely different set of tropes–but they are no less hauntological for it. Both are recognizably hauntological by virtue of the techniques they employ—VHS crackle, Windows start-up sounds, etc.

2019, Tom Whyman, “Oh, They Have the Internet on Computers Now?”, in Alfie Bown, Dan Bristow, editors, Post Memes: Seizing the Memes of Production, punctum books, page 212

(music, art) Using digital effects that simulate the effects of aging; reminiscent and nostalgic of obsolete media.


Peking opera

en-noun

Peking opera (countable and uncountable, plural Peking operas)

(music) A form of traditional Chinese theatre which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics.


centonate

(music) A piece composed according to the rules of centonization.


centonization

centonization (countable and uncountable, plural centonizations)

(music) A theory about the composition of a melody or piece based on pre-existing melodic figures and formulas.


superfluous interval

superfluous interval (plural superfluous intervals)

(music) An interval that exceeds a major or perfect interval by a semitone.


holding note

(music) A note sustained in one part, while the other parts move.


just intonation

(music) The correct sounding of notes or intervals; true pitch.

(music) The giving all chords and intervals in their purity or their exact mathematical ratio, or without temperament; a process in which the number of notes and intervals required in the various keys is much greater than the twelve to the octave used in systems of temperament.


dragadiddle

(music) In drumming, a paradiddle where the first note is a drag.


free jazz

(music, jazz) A form of jazz music of the 1950s and 1960s that attempted to overcome existing limitations and conventions, often by discarding features such as fixed chord changes or tempos.


skatepunk

skatepunk (countable and uncountable, plural skatepunks)

From skate + punk, from its popularity among skateboarders.

Similar to how Green Day, The Offspring, and Rancid brought the early 90s punk revival to the top of alternative rock, blink-182 took skate-punk to the masses in 1999 with Enema of the State.

2021, Mike Damante, Hey Suburbia: A Guide to the Emo/Pop-Punk Rise, Di Angelo Publications

(uncountable, music) A fast, intense, melodic form of hardcore punk music, associated with skateboarding culture.


frame drum

(music) An early form of drum with a drumhead width greater than its depth.

tambourine

both a synonym, and specific type, of frame drum


wub

For the uninitiated, a wub (or wobble bass, its technical name) is that distinctive long bass note that is “torn” or “bent” rhythmically or…wubbed, and is one of the distinctive features of dubstep music.

2012 February 2, Jimbo Ivy, “Lucky's Live!”, in The Hype Weekly, number 23, page 5

Though the audience wasn’t instantly sold on Datsik’s opening wubs, the cheer that erupted when the DJ segued into Skrillex’s remix of “Levels” further shook the already-vibrating venue.

2012 February 24, Allegra Dimperio, “Grimy chills, champagne thrills on Deadmeat Tour”, in The Badger Herald, volume 43, number 93, University of Wisconsin, page 5

It's an impressive, almost overwhelming synthesis of commercial influences, including, in their monster hit Radioactive, some rather mannered dubstep wubs.

2013 April 9, Graeme Virtue, “Imagine Dragons – review”, in The Guardian

(music) wobble bass, a style of bass synthesizer heavily deployed by dubstep and drum and bass artists


popular beat combo

popular beat combo (plural popular beat combos)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-popular beat combo.wav

From popular + beat + combo (“small musical group”).

compound

I thought it was a bit odd that the world's most popular beat combo should choose a golf tournament at Waldviertel for their reunion concert.

1999 June 12, Lawrence Donegan, Maybe It Should Have Been a Three Iron: My Year as Caddie for the World's 438th Best Golfer, Macmillan, page 199

An early indication of crabbitness can be identified in teenage years by an inability to move either hips or shoulders no matter what popular beat combo are playing.

2006 October 5, John K. V. Eunson, Crabbit Old Buggers!, Black & White Publishing

When I was younger, I was quite an adherent of the popular beat combo known as The Moody Blues.

2020 April 10, Brian Taylor, “Coronavirus: 'A question of balance' over lockdown exit”, in BBC News

(British, music, humorous or ironic) A pop group.


compound duple

(music) A metre with two beats, each divided into three.


goombay

en-noun

goombay (countable and uncountable, plural goombays)

Afro-Caribbean dialects; compare Kongo nkombi, a type of drum.

(music, dance, Bahamas, countable) A type of traditional Bahamian drum.

(music, dance, Bahamas, uncountable) A genre of folk music played with this drum.

(music, dance, Bahamas) A dance associated with this music genre.


tailgut

(music, lutherie) A cord which loops through the tailpiece and around the endpin of stringed musical instruments, and which is held at tension by a knot to secure the tailpiece to the body, traditionally made only of gut but now also made of nylon, wire and other synthetic materials.


harmonic series

harmonic series (plural harmonic series)

(music, physics) The sequence of all positive integer multiples of a base frequency.


moombahton

Blend of Moombah (the name of a track by Dutch house DJ Chuckie) + reggaeton

blend

(music) A fusion genre of house music and reggaeton.


pornogrind

"Are you fucking with me?"
"No. It's screamo, blended in with some kawaii metal, with a touch of pornogrind."

(music) A musical subgenre of grindcore and death metal that deals with sexual themes.


lead sheet

A lead sheet is often the only form of written music used by a small jazz ensemble. One or more musicians will play the melody while the rest of the group improvises an appropriate accompaniment.

(music) A form of written music that specifies the melody, lyrics, and harmony.


polychoral

(music) Featuring multiple choirs, or a choir that has been divided into different groups (so as to effect antiphonal exchange)


mandolute

Not content with flailing at the playwright and the movement that had nurtured him ("the little theater of cheesecloth and mandolutes"), De Voto attacked the Theater Guild, charging that its resources and prestige, its "power to compel the admiration of multitudes," where chiefly responsible for elevating O'Neill to "a grandeur" he did not deserve.

2002, Louis Sheaffer, O'Neill: Son and Artist, page 460

(music) A musical instrument similar to a mandolin, but larger.


cantus firmus

Unadapted borrowing from Latin cantus firmus (literally “fixed chant”).

ubor

(music) A preexisting melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition.


gravicembalo

/ˌɡɹævɪˈtʃɛmbələʊ/

(music) An early form of piano derived from the harpsichord


hypomixolydian

(music) Describing a mode of church music represented by a major scale from D to G


hypolydian

(music) Describing a mode of church music represented by a major scale from C to F.


hypodorian

/ˌhaɪpəʊˈdɔːɹi.ən/

(music) Describing a mode of church music represented by a major scale from A to D.


melopiano

(music, historical) A type of piano in which a system of hammers allows a note to be prolonged indefinitely


polytextual

(music) Set to two or more texts simultaneously


triplophonia

(music) The production, by the voice, of sounds of three different pitches simultaneously


diplophonia

(music) The production, by the voice, of sounds of two different pitches simultaneously


SATB

(music) Initialism of soprano, alto, tenor, bass.


upright bass

(music) A double bass. (lowest-pitched of instruments of violin family)


doghouse bass

(music) A double bass (lowest-pitched of instruments of violin family).


bass violin

(music) double bass (lowest-pitched of instruments of violin family)


tartold

Supposedly from Italian torto and German Kortholt.

(music) a low-pitched double reed musical instrument of the European Renaissance, similar to a rackett, with a bore formed from cylindrical metal tubing bent into a spiral


kortholt

(music) a low-pitched capped double reed instrument of the European Renaissance


octave clef

(music) a symbol showing that the pitch of a note is to be raised by one or two octaves.


quadruple whole

en-noun

quadruple whole (plural quadruple wholes)

(music) A musical note equal to two or three breves, i.e. four or six whole notes; a longa.


cover band

(music) A band that plays mostly or exclusively cover songs.


key up

en-verb

key up (third-person singular simple present keys up, present participle keying up, simple past and past participle keyed up)

keys up (present singular third-person)
keying up (participle present)
keyed up (participle past)
keyed up (past)

(music, transitive) To raise the pitch of.


rubboard

percussion instrument
percussion instrument

(music) A scraped percussion instrument used in zydeco music, resembling a washboard but without a frame, generally hung around the neck.


nu jazz

(music, jazz) Any music that blends jazz elements with other musical styles, such as funk, soul, or electronic dance music.


double note

It is double the length of the semibreve.


semiacoustic

(music, of a guitar) Having a soundbox as well as one or more electric pickups.


open diapason

(music) A certain stop in an organ, in which the pipes or tubes are formed like the mouthpiece of a flageolet at the end where the wind enters, and are open at the other end.


grand action

(music) A pianoforte action, used in grand pianos, in which special devices are employed to obtain perfect action of the hammer in striking and leaving the string.


beat time

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

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

(music) To measure or regulate time in music by the motion of the hand or foot.


rare groove

The brainchild of DJ Gilles Peterson, it specializes in a dance-oriented fusion of rap, rare groove and jazz, combined with 'motivational' lyrics.

2011, Simon Reynolds, Bring the Noise: 20 Years of Writing About Hip Rock and Hip Hop

(music) Soul or jazz music that is very hard to source or relatively obscure.


filksing

Welcome to the Boskone Filksing!

1972, Karen Blank, The Boskone 9 Filk-Song Song Book, Table of Contents

The next LA filksing will be February 21st in Garden Grove.

2004 February 1, Lee Gold, “Re: work-related ABEND till sometime after 8-February-2004”, in rec.music.filk (Usenet), message-ID <401D226F.5B501A45@comcast.net>

(fandom slang, music) A gathering of filkers; a filk-music performance.


Lovatic

Her performances on this tour have been affirming but unpredictable, and the Lovatics — the name for her throngs of fans — totally relate.

2011 November 23, Kent Szlauderbach, “Teenage Dream”, in The Pitch, volume 31, number 20, page 17

While making small talk with the audience, Demi's greetings were reciprocated with loud screams from the Lovatics.

2013, oan Kwek, “A Special Night with Demi Lovato”, in ArtJam, number 33, Nanyang Technological University Cultural Activities Club, page 31

This is the fourth album for Demi, which she has dedicated to all her Lovatics.

2013 August, “Demi - Demi Lovato”, in TeenZone Magazine, number 117, page 48

(music slang) A fan of American actress and singer Demi Lovato.


KatyCat

From Katy + cat, as a play on kitty cat.

The colourful pop queen entertains KatyCats with hits from her third studio album Teenage Dream at Jakarta's Sentul International Convention Centre.

2012 January, Travel 3sixty (AirAsia in-flight magazine), page 25 (image caption)

The timely releases of each single has even caused a divide between Perry's KatyCats and Gaga's Monsters (the artists' respective fan bases), […]

2013 September 4, Moriba Cummings, “Is The ‘Applause’ Louder Than The ‘Roars’?”, in The Maroon Tiger, volume 88, number 1, Morehouse College, page 11

So whether you are a die-hard Little Monster or a loyal KatyCat, or you are just looking for some good new pop music to dance to now that winter is coming, I recommend enjoying “PRISM” AND “ARTPOP.”

2013 November 18, Michael Conroy, “A Tale of Two Princesses”, in The De Paulia, volume 98, number 9, DePaul University, page 19

(music slang) A fan of American singer-songwriter Katy Perry (born 1984).


windchest

(music) A chest or reservoir of wind in an organ.


false relation

(music) A type of dissonance that sometimes occurs in classical polyphonic music, most commonly in vocal music of the Renaissance. It may be a chromatic contradiction between two notes sounding simultaneously (or in close proximity), in two different voices or parts; or the occurrence of a tritone between two notes of adjacent chords.


devil's interval

en-noun

devil's interval (plural devil's intervals)


FFO

2014, “Sea of Bones (Connecticut)/Snakewing/Titties/Spooky Basements/Ajna”
SNAKEWING (FFO: Black Flag, Negative Approach, Integrity, Melvins, the sound Sharon Osborne would make if Ozzy had a heart attack during sex)

(music) Initialism of for fans of (used by promoters to describe a band)


harmonichord

(music) A kind of upright piano whose strings are set in vibration not by the blow of the hammer but by indirectly transmitted friction.


kempul

(music) A set of pitched hanging knobbed gongs used in gamelan music.


moon guitar

Calque from Chinese 月琴 (yuèqín), "moon-shaped stringed instrument".


yüeh-ch'in

yüeh-ch'in (usually uncountable, plural yüeh-ch'ins)

The Wade romanization of Mandarin 月琴 (yuèqín, literally “moon(-shaped) stringed instrument”).

bor

(music, obsolete) Alternative form of yueqin


yueqin

From the pinyin romanization of Mandarin 月琴 (yuèqín, literally “moon(-shaped) stringed instrument; moon guitar”).

(music) A small short-necked Chinese lute-like stringed instrument (chordophone) with a round, hollow wooden body and four strings in pairs in its traditional form, now more often with three or four unpaired strings.


neopsychedelia

The Bunnymen's tasteful neopsychedelia gained fans from Courtney Love to Pavement.

2004, Nathan Brackett, Christian David Hoard, The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, page 271

(music) Music that emulates or is heavily influenced by the psychedelic music of the 1960s.


polychoric

The polychoric motets of the Venetian school (Willaert, the Gabrielis, etc., some of whose motets are found in CW vol. 10 and IM vols. 1-2) furnish striking possibilities for multiple brass choirs.

1962, Brass Quarterly, volumes 5-6, page 116

The brilliant polychoric canzona has contrasting sections of imitation and homophony; this evolved into the Baroque sonata.

1988, Harold Gleason, Warren Becker, Catherine Gleason, Music in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, page 142

Here, a spatial polychoric effect is attained in an acoustical polarity between the deaconesses and missionaries in the "hallelujah corner" and the deacons in the "amen corner," or in churches where the seating arrangement is segregated by gender.

1990, Jon Michael Spencer, Protest & Praise: Sacred Music of Black Religion, page 235

(music) Of or pertaining to the use of more than one chorus; that uses or is intended to use more than one chorus.


hosho

In the yard, unmarried uncles, cousins and aunts began on the drums and hosho in a circle, dancing and singing while individuals freestyled in the centre.

1988, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions, Faber & Faber Limited (2021), page 68

(music) Either of a pair of gourds with seeds inside, used as musical instruments in Zimbabwe.


Hi-NRG

As a regular visitor to New York's Saint and resident at the newly opened Heaven in London, Levine also pioneered hi-NRG – the sound of gay dancefloors worldwide that was later co-opted by Stock, Aitken & Waterman and sold on as pre-teen pop.

2010, Bill Brewster, Frank Broughton, The Record Players: DJ Revolutionaries, Black Cat, page 81

During the late 1980s Italo began fading away and some groups moved into the Hi-NRG genre, which combined high-paced Italo and house.

electronic dance music
electronic dance music

(music) A style of uptempo disco or electronic dance music that originated in the United States and United Kingdom in the late 1970s.


shehnai

From Hindi/Urdu, from Persian شهنای (šah-nây).

The next seven days the shehnais played in the Naupatkhana and every morning I offered my prayers to the founder of our dynasty […]

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 125

(music) An ancient reeded woodwind instrument from India with a long slim body and bulbous sound bowl, with or without keys.


stylee

In state-of-the-art dance hall, the bass booms like electrified tympani, the snare gets busy inna quasimilitary techno stylee […]

Thrill as Babyface protégé Jon B sings "Pride & Joy" inna ragga stylee, and keep in mind that hardcore reggae (see last year's blockbuster "Who Am I") makes the best crossover.

1999, SPIN, volume 15, number 8, page 155

CMJ New Music Monthly
A cornucopia of hyped-up breakbeats, keyboard squiggles, surf grooves, dancehall stylee, dumb loops and much atonal shouting along, Far In dares you not to smile.


octaviation

(music) The repetition of a chord an octave higher or lower than the original.


Gibsonesque

en-adj

Gibsonesque (comparative more Gibsonesque, superlative most Gibsonesque)

more Gibsonesque (comparative)
most Gibsonesque (superlative)

(music) Reminiscent of the guitars made by the Gibson Guitar Corporation.


cratedigger

/ˈkɹeɪtdɪɡə/

/ˈkɹeɪtˌdɪɡəɹ/

Serious vinyl collectors will have a minor epiphany at Car City Classics[…], where notorious crate-diggers like the UK's Kirk Degiorgio (a.k.a. As One) have been known to close the store.

1998 April, Scott Sterling, “Localzine: Detroit, Michigan”, in Scott Frampton, editor, CMJ New Music Monthly, Great Neck, N.Y.: College Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 77

Our audience tends to be what I would call ‘crate diggers’—people who like digging for new stuff.

2001 November 3, Brian Garrity, quoting Derrick Oien, “MP3.com Recasts Itself as Tech Outfit, Promo Vehicle”, in Timothy White, editor, Billboard: The International Newsweekly of Music, Video and Home Entertainment, volume 113, number 44, New York, N.Y.: Billboard Music Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 71, column 4

A little crate-diggers’ paradise for collectors of Latin and easy listening music on vinyl.

2003, Fiona McAuslan, Matthew Norman, Sarah Lazarus, “Havana and around”, in The Rough Guide to Cuba, 2nd edition, London: Rough Guides, page 154

Long a crate-digger’s grail and never before available on CD, this is one obscurity that really lives up to the hype.

2008, Signal to Noise: The Journal of Improvised and Experimental Music, South Hero, Vt.: Pete Gershon, →OCLC, page 103

But it was a chance encounter with Gilles Peterson, an influential U.K. radio personality and cratedigger with a knack for discovering raw talent, that helped move his [José James's] career into high gear.

2010 April 3, David J. Prince, “All that Jazz: Jose James Covers the Classics”, in Craig Marks, editor, Billboard, volume 122, number 13, New York, N.Y.: e5 Global Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 27, column 1

The Beehive is half of a two-room shop that also contains Casbah Records, where cratediggers can flick through stacks of vinyl records while their friends or partners try on clothes next door.

2013 May, Frances Ambler, Emily Bick, Samantha Cook, Nicholas Jones, Lara Kavanagh, “South London”, in Wayne Hemingway, editor, The Rough Guide to Vintage London, London: Rough Guides, part 1 (Shopping, Eating and Drinking), page 94

(music, slang) A person who habitually looks through crates of vinyl records at music shops, especially in pursuit of interesting or rare records.


floghera

(music) A Greek folk instrument of the end-blown flute family; a simple form of recorder.


spike fiddle

(music) Any of a number of stringed instruments in which the handle passes diametrically through the resonator and which are played with a bow.


murky bass

(music) Intervals, each containing a low note followed by the pitch that is one octave higher, played on a keyboard, especially a harpsichord


tresillo

(music) A type of Latin American musical rhythm consisting of three-beat units.


phatness

Once you experience the phatness a bass amp can inject into a signal, […]

2013, Chris Buono, The Guitarist's Guide to Line 6 Studio Tools, Cengage, page 196

He's always telling Beth about the enormity of his next gig and the extraordinary phatness of his latest beats, and to be fair he can drop a good tune.

2013, Exquisite Corpse, or, How Not to Kill Your Neighbours, Blackfriars

But if a sound source is a little thin, and needs some warmth, body, or “phatness,” a tube mic could provide useful “sonic makeup.”

2015, Ian Corbett, Mic It!: Microphones, Microphone Techniques, and Their Impact on the Final Mix, Focal Press, page 76

(slang, music) Fullness, richness, body.


xenharmonics

Why, I can't even call myself avant-garde or experimental these days because that does not imply escaping the 12-tone squirrelcage; so I had to introduce the term xenharmonics to mean something that SOUNDS different.

1978 September 30, Ivor Darreg, “A Xenharmonist's Message to the Computer Musicians”, in Computer Music Journal, volume 2, number 2, The MIT Press

(music, rare) Xenharmonic music generally.


ugly stick

You may also find an authentic ugly stick. It's masterfully constructed with beer stoppers, duct tape, a tobacco can, and a few pieces of wood. It just is…

1988 June 17, Stephen Day, “Folk Music Revived at Bridgett’s”, in The Muse, volume 38, number 23, St. John’s, N.L.: Council of the Students Union, Memorial University of Newfoundland, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 7, column 4

Nobody's invited; everybody just comes. And there's no real planning, because the folks that come bring food and music with them. There are fiddles and squeezeboxes and ugly sticks and sometimes even drums to make the music.

2010, Penny Draper, “Bella”, in Laura Peetoom, editor, A Terrible Roar of Water (Disaster Strikes; 5), Regina, Sask.: Coteau Books, page 57

A lot of you know what it is. It's an ugly stick. And you can see why. [laughter] Anyway, basically what it is is an old mop, or a new one if you're playing at the Arts and Culture Centre [prolonged laughter and clapping.] And it's an old juice can with some black tape over it. A handful of three and a half inch nails. Some felt tins, beer stoppers, wherever they came from [laughter], and that's about it, and it's supposed to make some music.

2011 December, Annie Rosalind McEwen, quoting Doug Dunne, “The Concert”, in “There Was More Strength in Singing”: Community, Identity, and the Performance of Memory in the Folk of the Sea Choir, 1994–2000 (unpublished Master of Arts thesis), St. John’s, N.L.: Department of Folklore, Memorial University of Newfoundland, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-06-28, pages 64–65

In the main room a traditional Newfoundland band was playing regional folk music. People were dancing and singing and having the best time. Everyone looked so happy as they passed around the "Ugly Stick," a traditional musical instrument made from household and tool shed items like a mop handle with bottle caps, tin cans, small bells and other items to make noise. […] I'm not sure I've ever felt happier than I did while I was banging the boot with the stick attached on the floor, the nailed on bottle caps clinking to the rhythm of the folk song the band was playing.

2017, Patti Leo Bath, “Keeping Up with the Newfies”, in Amy Newmark, Janet Matthews, compilers, Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Spirit of Canada: 101 Stories of Love and Gratitude, Cos Cob, Conn.: Chicken Soup for the Soul, part 5 (We’re All in This Together), page 172

(Canada, music) A traditional Newfoundland musical instrument fashioned from household and toolshed items, typically a mop handle attached with bottle caps, small bells, tin cans, etc., which are struck with a drumstick while one end of the handle is hit against the floor.


slendro

Borrowed from Javanese ꦱ꧀ꦭꦺꦤ꧀ꦢꦿꦺꦴ (sléndro). In Javanese the term is said to derive either from "Sailendra", the name of the ruling family in the eighth and ninth centuries when Borobudur was built, or from its earlier being given by the god Sang Hyang Hendra.

bor+

(music) A pentatonic scale, the older of the two most common scales used in Indonesian gamelan music, the other being pelog.


hammer blast

(music) A blast beat played as a roll of straight eighth notes with the kick and snare in unison.


barre chord

(music) A guitar chord played by pressing down multiple strings on the fretboard.


P-Funk

Blend of parliament + funkadelic, from the names of two of the original bands associated with this style of music.

(music) A style of funk music associated with the Parliament-Funkadelic collective in the 1970s and early 1980s.


Nelsonian

(music) The Nelsonian, a one-man-band multi-instrument designed by Albert Nelson for multi-instrumentalists and one-man bands.


HC

(music, subculture) Abbreviation of hardcore.


chiff

In all these adjustments, the voicer must have regard to the steady sound of the pipe, to its promptness of speech, and to the presence or absence of any desired starting transient or chiff.

1998, N.H. Fletcher, T.D Rossing, The Physics of Musical Instruments, Springer Science & Business Media, page 570

(music) The characteristic sound made as part of the attack of certain notes on the organ.


baroque pop

(music) A subgenre of pop music that incorporates elements of classical music.


librettistic

en-adj

librettistic (comparative more librettistic, superlative most librettistic)

more librettistic (comparative)
most librettistic (superlative)


librettistics

The brief comparative excursions into the >remaining< Italian librettists are both rare and unsystematic, not to mention the entire European librettistics.

1970, Ennio Stipčević, “Review: Musica e storia tra Medio Evo e Età moderna”, in International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, volume 22, number 2

Attention is given firstly to arguments within the system which generate the typical and frequently mentioned literary defects of libretto texts, but is also directed at texts and groups of texts to which prejudices about librettistics as a second-rate dramaturgy cannot be applied.

2000, International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, page 125

For this reason, the attention I devote to the libretto might seem out of proportion to its status in the opera as a whole, yet I feel encouraged in this direction by the recent interest kindled by librettistics, a subject for which we owe much to our German and Italian colleagues.

2005, Nelly Valtat-Comet, “From Novella to Opera: Dominick Argento's The Aspern Papers”, in E-rea. Revue électronique d'études sur le monde anglophone

(see title)

2007, Fabrizio Della Seta, “Shakespeare at the opera. Drama in Italian librettistics”, in VIUZZO DEL POZZETTO


scorereader

Musical notation
musical notation#English

(music) Musical notation reading software, used to read sheet music (especially for piano) and play it back.


virtual piano

(music, computing) An online software application designed to simulate playing a piano (or other keyboard instrument) on a personal computer, mobile device or a tablet computer.


go gold

en-verb

go gold (third-person singular simple present goes gold, present participle going gold, simple past went gold, past participle gone gold)

goes gold (present singular third-person)
going gold (participle present)
went gold (past)
gone gold (participle past)

(music) To reach 500,000 in sales, thus becoming a gold record.


abbandonatamente

en-adverb

abbandonatamente (comparative more abbandonatamente, superlative most abbandonatamente)

more abbandonatamente (comparative)
most abbandonatamente (superlative)

(music) With abandonment; so as to make the time subordinate to the expression.


cinquillo

(music) A type of Latin American musical rhythm consisting of five-beat units.


Big Four

(music) A jazz rhythm derived from the marching band beat.


logogenic

en-adj

logogenic (comparative more logogenic, superlative most logogenic)

more logogenic (comparative)
most logogenic (superlative)

In the earliest biblical and historical contexts prior to the diaspora, cantillation and music were fundamentally logogenic, with distinctions between song and instrumental practices being critical to the origins of musical sound in worship.

2012, Philip Bohlman, Jewish Music and Modernity

(music) In which the words dominate any melody


melogenic

melogenic (comparative more melogenic, superlative most melogenic)

more melogenic (comparative)
most melogenic (superlative)

In this connection, I take note of the earlier theories of Curt Sachs, postulating three kinds of origins for melodic traditions: "logogenic," from language; "pathogenic," from motion; and "melogenic," from music (Sachs 1937, pp. 181-203; 1943, pp. 30-43).

1991, Joseph Harris, The Ballad and Oral Literature, page 226

(music) In which the melody dominates any words.


downbow

(music) A note performed on a string instrument by drawing the bow downward or to the right across the instrument, moving its point of contact from the frog toward the tip of the bow.


upbow

(music) A note performed on a string instrument by drawing the bow upward or to the left across the instrument, moving the point of contact from the bow's tip toward the frog.


apollonicon

Formed from Apollonic, like harmonicon from harmonic.

(music) A particular type of barrel organ that also had a keyboard.


enka

(music) A genre of Japanese music that originated in the 1960s and often features melodramatic themes.

(music) A genre of political songs spread by members of the Freedom and People's Rights Movement of Japan during the Meiji period (1868–1912).


NSBM

National Socialist
National Socialist#English

(music) Initialism of National Socialist black metal.


Nunc dimittis

Named after its incipit, Latin nunc dimittis (literally “now you dismiss”).

bor

(Christianity, music) A canticle from a text in the second chapter of Luke in the Bible, often used as the final song in a religious service.


bebung

en-noun

bebung (usually uncountable, plural bebungs)

(music) A tremolo effect, such as that produced on the piano by vibratory repetition of a note with sustained use of the pedal.


protometal

(music) A style of music that was a precursor to heavy metal.


California Sound

(music) A popular music aesthetic engendered by 1960s pop and rock recording artists from the California area, associated with optimistic youth culture.


sunshine pop

(music) A pop music genre originating in the United States in the mid-1960s as an offshoot of the California Sound, and characterized by a cheerful attitude, warm sounds, prominent vocal harmonies, and sophisticated production.


false note

Sometimes he even thrums a little on the piano, and takes a part in a trio, in which his voice can generally be distinguished by a certain quavering tone, and an occasional false note.

1819, Washington Irving, “The Lovers”, in Bracebridge Hall

Her fingers wavered on the piano—she struck a false note, confused herself in trying to set it right, and dropped her hands angrily on her lap.

1860, Wilkie Collins, chapter 15, in The Woman in White

(music) An incorrect note which is sung or played in a musical performance.


pralltriller

Coordinate term: mordent

(music) A melodic embellishment consisting of the quick alternation of a principal tone with an auxiliary tone above it, usually the next in the scale.


quindecima

From Italian quindecima, from Latin quindecima (“15th”), from quindecim (“15”).

(music) The interval of a fifteenth, a double octave.


undernote

(music) A low or subdued note, such as a drone, that forms a background to the melody.


RATM

(music) Rage Against The Machine, an American rap metal band.


fake book

From fake (verb) + book: a fake book helps a musician to "fake" knowing how to play a song.

(music) A collection of musical lead sheets intended to help a performer quickly learn new songs.


twangster

The brooding, black-clad singer bridged a stark divide that emerged in the recording industry in the 1950s, as post-Elvis pop singers diverged into two camps and audiences aligned themselves with either the sideburned rebels of rock 'n' roll or the cowboy-hatted twangsters of country music.

2012, Christoper Zara, chapter 1, in Tortured Artists: From Picasso and Monroe to Warhol and Winehouse, the Twisted Secrets of the World's Most Creative Minds, part 1, page 28

(music, informal) A musician who plays a twangy instrument.


walking bass

(music) A style of bass accompaniment or line, common in baroque music and jazz, which creates a feeling of regular quarter note movement, akin to the regular alternation of feet while walking.


double canon

(music) A canon with two simultaneous themes.


nasard

Both conical nasards have a low 2 semitones above the corresponding cylindrical quint stops.

1975, Christhard Mahrenholz, The calculation of organ pipe scales from the middle ages to the mid-nineteenth century, page 83

(music) An organ stop that has a nasal, flutelike quality.


vaporwave

Largely ignored by the mainstream press, vaporwave has instead flourished on websites such as Bandcamp and SoundCloud and on Reddit […] Because vaporwave exists almost entirely outside the sphere of PR and the music industry at large, it has tremendous “underground” appeal. […] Vaporwave is critical of Western culture's preoccupation with the past, but it is not the only art form to call our collective regression into question.

2016, Grafton Tanner, Babbling Corpse: Vaporwave And The Commodification Of Ghosts, John Hunt Publishing, page 7

Vaporwave arose in reaction to huge economic and social forces that are still very much a part of our lives: globalization, runaway consumerism, and manufactured nostalgia chief among them.

2016 August 18, “How Vaporwave Was Created Then Destroyed by the Internet”, in Esquire

Recess’s website features the charms of vaporwave internet art and Lisa Frank-style nostalgia, while their Instagram account evokes the combined look of “Endless Summer” with “Floridian retiree” and the summer-camp psychedelia that has replaced “Lifestyle Lumberjack” as the default millennial style choice.

2019 January 8, Kate Carraway, “How to Make a Millennial Feel Cozy in Just One Beverage”, in New York Times

The haunting affect of Vaporwave's ghostly music is clearly seductive to a political moment which revels in dystopia, the golden years of the 90s and the sounds of the 90s: financial boom, pedestalled American Dreams and […]

2019, Emile Frankel, Hearing the Cloud: Can Music Help Reimagine The Future?, John Hunt Publishing

(music, art) A genre of electronic music and visual arts style that emerged in the early 2010s. As a musical genre, it evolved from chillwave and seapunk with influences from lounge music, elevator music, smooth jazz, and 1980s dance-pop. As an aesthetic, it is influenced by 1990s web design and digital art, anime, and cyberpunk.


organistrum

organistrum (plural organistrums or organistra)

organistrums (plural)
organistra (plural)

Those brought into use again were several forms of lutes, violins, and bagpipes, which were played upon proficiently by the "jongleurs," some of whom played also upon psalteries, organistrums, guitars, and tambours with great skill.

1912, Frederick Converse Beach, The Americana


komuz

Borrowed from Kyrgyz комуз (komuz), from Proto-Turkic *kopuŕ.
Doublet of kobza and cobza.

(music) A stringed instrument (chordophone) played by plucking, with three strings and no frets, used throughout Central Asia but especially important as a national symbol of the Kyrgyz people.


Balearic beat

(music) A style of DJ-led electronic dance music associated with the nightclubs of Ibiza.


electronic music

electronic music (usually uncountable, plural electronic musics)

(music) A type of music that employs electronic musical instruments and other electronic technology in its production.


promenade concert

promenade concert (plural promenade concerts)

(music) A concert at which the audience remains standing (originally promenading)


sidechaining

(music) The use of an audio compressor that controls the gain from main input to output based on the level of the signal at the side-chain input, typically by a disc jockey to lower the music volume automatically when speaking.


Amen break

(music) A short drum solo from the 1969 song "Amen, Brother" by the American soul group The Winstons; later very widely sampled for use in various electronic music genres such as breakbeat and drum and bass.


Schillinger system

(music) A method of musical composition based on mathematical processes, comprising theories of rhythm, harmony, melody, counterpoint, form, and semantics.


Afropunk

[…] women whom he feels his Afropunk musical tastes and skateboard transportation would otherwise drive away.

2014, Zandria F. Robinson, This Ain't Chicago, page 139

(music) Punk music or subculture with black African influences.


zhonghu

(music) A large low-pitched lute-like string instrument (chordophone) similar to the erhu, usually with two strings and played with a bow; it is part of the huqin family of instruments originating in Chinese traditional music.


subcontrabass

a subcontrabass saxophone

a subcontrabass flute

a subcontrabass tuba

(music) Having a pitch below contrabass.


face-melter

And then they launch into a face-melter by way of acoustics, playing so hard that one expects Thile's fingers either to spontaneously combust or at least start spurting blood.

2005, No Depression, numbers 55-60, page 97

Can You Rock, an Indy-based live karaoke band, gives those face-melters some actual context.

2009, Indianapolis Monthly, volume 32, numbers 10-14, page 10

Whenever it is uttered by a character on the show, the first person in the room to dash off a searing face-melter of a musical run wins the round.

2010, Greg Horne, The Couch Potato Guitar Workout, page 47

“Wee-weewee [Psycho music].” “Marvin Glasscock! Dude comes in with the total facemelter!!!”

2013, William Landay, Defending Jacob: A Novel, page 209

(slang, music) Particularly in heavy metal music, a musical passage or sung note that is particularly intense.


frontperson

It's rock and roll, a frenetic chock-a-block pulse dressed up in fuzzy guitar, all of which functions as a perfect setting in which Fetchin Bones' frontperson and secret weapon, Hope Nicholls, can gyrate and snarl in a manner that suggests a cross between Patti Smith and Janis Joplin.

1988 March 4, Renaldo Migaldi, “Fetchin Bones”, in Chicago Reader


Marshally

en-adj

Marshally (comparative more Marshally, superlative most Marshally)

more Marshally (comparative)
most Marshally (superlative)

The Tube King gives me a really good Marshally crunch, or a sweeter lead tone if I use the neck humbucker in my guitar.

1996 June 3, Matthew William Brock, “Re: Effects preferences?”, in rec.music.makers.guitar (Usenet)

The tone and tremolo controls and the inputs make a lot more sense on the AC-15 than on the AC-30. The AC-15 also has reverb which the AC-30 does not. On the AC-30 you can cascade the inputs and get a very Marshally sound at higher volumes.

2001 March 24, Mike Thomas, “Re: VOX AC-15 Reissue”, in alt.guitar.amps (Usenet)

The "Love" channel has a Fender and old Boogie vibe to it. The "Lust" channel has a more Marshally tone to it. It is an extremely loud amp, but it is not a high gain amp.

2006 May 14, Gung Ho, “Re: Mesa Boogie Heartbreaker”, in alt.guitar (Usenet)

(music, informal) Resembling or characteristic of the sound of guitar amplifiers of the brand Marshall Amplification.


tenora

(music) A tenor form of the Catalan shawm


nyckelharpa

en-noun

nyckelharpa (plural nyckelharpas or nyckelharpor)

nyckelharpas (plural)
nyckelharpor (plural)

(music) A string instrument (chordophone) with a long body and a boat-shaped soundbox, with keys attached to tangents that act like frets when the keys are depressed, and most commonly featuring chromatic and sympathetic strings in modern instruments, originating in the traditional music of Sweden.


sprechgesang

(music) A form of recitative between speaking and singing


ghana

From Maltese għana, from Arabic غِناء (ḡināʔ).


pull-off

(music) The technique, when playing a string instrument, of using a finger of the fret hand to pluck a string by pulling the finger off the fretboard.


NWOAHM

New Wave of American Heavy Metal
w:New Wave of American Heavy Metal

(music) Initialism of New Wave of American Heavy Metal.


khomok

As Paban sings, he twangs a khomok hand drum or thunders away at the dubki, a sort of rustic tambourine.

2009 September 11, William Dalrymple, “Singing and dancing with the Bauls of Bengal”, in Guardian

(music) A type of drum from Bangladesh, incorporating a plucked string.


dubki

From Bengali ডুবকি (ḍuboki), apparently equalling Hindi डुबकी (ḍubkī, “dive”) instead of Persian تنبک (tombak, “drum, tombak”).

The Lal Bazar area is still of some significance, for Kolkata is known for its excellent musical instrument production, especially its sitars, sarods, surbahars, tanpuras, violins, tablas, and harmoniums, as well as many so-called folk-music instruments, among them: thumbas, bongos, dotara, djembe, drums, violin, flute, khanjira, mandolin, banjo, khamak, matka, handi, guitar, castanets, tambourine, kanshar ghanta, conch, resso, blues harp, pan flute, spring drum, steel drum, melodica, harmonium, piano, moorcing, ektara, recorders, balalaika, dugdugi, dubki, edakkaii, cowbells, chimes, dholak, khol, madol—and more.

2018, Lars-Christian Koch, “String Instruments as Urban Icons and Rural Products”, in Sebastian Klotz, Philip V. Bohlman, Lars-Christian Koch, editors, Sounding Cities. Auditory Transformations in Berlin, Chicago, and Kolkata (KlangKulturStudien. SoundCultureStudies; 9), Zürich: LIT, page 190

(music) A type of drum from Eastern India and Bangladesh.


fourpiece

The London-based fourpiece – fronted by the shaven-headed Skin, who combined the vocal range of Mariah Carey with the swagger of Michael Hutchence, alongside bassist Cass and drummer Mark Richardson – had sold 4m albums, headlined Glastonbury, and played at Nelson Mandela's 80th birthday party.

2009 September 23, Laura Barnett, “Skunk Anansie: 'We burnt out'”, in The Guardian

(music) A group (of musicians and/or singers) comprising four people; a quartet.


Jawaiian

Blend of Jamaica + Hawaiian (also referencing Jah).

(music) A Hawaiian style of popular music that combines native styles with reggae and other Caribbean influences.


verse-chorus

(music) (of a song, sound or recording) Structured such that choruses and verses alternate, in a manner characteristic of pop music.


third stream

Coined by composer Gunther Schuller in 1957.

coin

The movement they brought into existence, "Third Stream", was for the most part an effort by jazz composers and musicians to adopt some of the conventions […]

2001, Ellen Koskoff, editor, The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: North America, Garland Publishing, page 335

(music) A form of jazz created in the 1950s, performed in ensembles in a style influenced by Western classical music, such as by using musical notation and eschewing improvisation.


answer song

(music) A song whose lyrics serve as a response or sequel to the lyrics of another song.

(music, specifically) A type of popular song in 1980s hip-hop, composed by one artist as a satirical response to a specific song by another artist.


ethnic music

en-noun

ethnic music (countable and uncountable, plural ethnic musics)

2012. Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World Volume 8. "Ethnic Music". Martin Stokes. Pg 204.
By 1920 Columbia and Victor had issued around 21,000 copies of ethnic music each.

2003. Horn Man: The Polish-American Musician in Twentieth-century Detroit. Laurie Palazzolo. Pg. 83.
This period marked the beginning of a wonderful, if short-lived, era for ethnic music.

1992. [A Passion for Polka: Old-time Ethnic Music in America]. Victor Greene. Pg. 245.
Welk is much better known for his immensely successful programs over television, which began in the early 50s after the era of "ethnic music" acceptance

(music, US) The classic body of recordings of Central and Eastern European immigrants to the United States from the early to mid-20th century, and music in that style.


percussion break

percussion break (plural percussion breaks)

(music) A percussion-focused segment of a song, chosen by a hip-hop DJ to manipulate through cutting, mixing and other techniques in order to create rhythmic music.


country & western

country and western
country and western#English

(music) Alternative form of country and western


high lonesome sound

(music) An expressively emotional, powerful and earthy style of musical expression associated mainly with bluegrass, old-time and country music, characterized by unmetered music and use of gapped scales in singing.


gapped scale

(music) A vocal technique in which certain tones out of a complete set of tones are omitted.


call-response

call and response
call and response#English

(music) Alternative form of call and response


album-oriented rock

album-oriented radio
album-oriented radio

(music, US) The kind of rock music played on album-oriented radio (AOR), a popular FM radio format in the United States from the 1970s to the 1980s.


album-oriented radio

(music) An FM radio format in the United States popular from the 1970s to the 1980s, using 1960s music perceived as underground arranged into preset playlists.


concert performance

concert performance (plural concert performances)

(music) A performance of an opera or similar piece without the normal dramatic action, or of a religious piece without the accompanying liturgy


konghou

From Mandarin 箜篌 (kōnghóu), from the name of this instrument in the local language of the region of Central Asia whence it came to China; the Sogdian name for the angular harp was [script needed] (cngryʾ /čangaryā/), [script needed] (cyngryʾ /čingaryā/), which derives perhaps from Turkic čingar.

(music) A plucked stringed instrument (chordophone) with a harp-like construction, originating in ancient Chinese music as a horizontal instrument but now made to be played vertically, and with strings that are double to allow for techniques like vibrato.


soul-blues

(music) A genre of vocal soul music with a gospel-influenced bluesy sound.


punk-blues

(music) A genre of punk rock that is influenced by the blues.


punk-jazz

(music, jazz) A genre of punk rock that is influenced by jazz.


bluegrass gospel

(music) A genre of bluegrass influenced by black gospel and Southern gospel.


club blues

(music) A genre of popular blues music intended to be played in nightclubs.


brown-eyed soul

(music) A genre of soul music characteristically performed by Latinos, mainly in southern California in the early 1960s.


club music

(music) Music intended to be played in a nightclub


Miami bass

(music) A genre of hip hop dance music associated with raunchy lyrics, deep bass rhythms and the area of South Florida.


New Weird America

(music) A genre of modern dark psych folk influenced by Americana.


Paisley Underground

(music) A genre of psychedelic alternative rock mostly associated with California in the 1980s.


progressive bluegrass

(music) A genre of bluegrass that subverts tradition by adding drums, electric guitar and other modern elements of popular music.


Piedmont blues

(music) A genre of guitar-based blues from the East Coast of the United States.


psychedelic soul

(music) A genre of popular soul music influenced by psychedelic rock and funk.


Southern gospel

(music) A genre of harmonic vocal Christian music that developed from the sacred harp (shape-note) style of singing in the Southern United States.


Southern rock

(music) A genre of rock music originating from the Southern United States with influences from blues and country music.


quiet storm

In reference to Smokey Robinson's album A Quiet Storm (1975).

(music) A radio format and genre of R&B that is performed in a smooth, romantic, jazz-influenced style usually associated with the mid to late 1970s.

A Quiet Storm
Smokey Robinson
quiet storm


post-punk revival

(music) A modern genre of post-punk influenced by indie rock and other modern styles.


San Francisco sound

(music) A genre of psychedelic rock associated with the hippie subculture of San Francisco in the late 1960s and early 1970s.


drone metal

(music) A genre of heavy metal that is influenced by drone music.


sacred harp

From the name of a songbook first published in 1844, The Sacred Harp.

(music) A genre of Christian music based on shape-note singing.


rap rock

(music) A genre of rock music that uses elements of hip-hop, especially rapping.


swamp blues

(music) A genre of blues influenced by Cajun and Creole music and associated with Baton Rouge, Louisiana.


Chicago blues

(music) A genre of popular electric guitar-based blues associated with Chicago.


country blues

(music) A genre of blues with a rural style and elements from folk music.


gospel-blues

(music) A genre of blues with Christian lyrics and influenced by gospel music.


post-grunge

(music) A genre of grunge music influenced by pop music and heavy metal.


indie rock

Coordinate term: indie pop

alternative rock
alternative rock#English

(music) A genre of modern rock, originally synonymous with alternative rock but now referring to a specific style of popular rock music.


Baltimore club

(music) A genre of staccato, dance-oriented house music associated with Baltimore, Maryland.


electric blues

(music) Any genre of blues that uses the electric guitar.


contemporary R&B

(music) A genre of modern popular hip hop dance music influenced by funk and pop music.


classic female blues

(music) The style of popular vocal blues performed by women in the early 20th century.


Texas blues

(music) A genre of blues that uses electric guitars and power riffs, associated with Texas.


post-disco

Coordinate term: predisco

Not many artists could pull off such a variety of styles (funk, post-disco, rock, easy listening, ballads) back then.

a. 2008, M. Heyliger, A State-of-the-Art Pop Album

Bridging the so-called death of disco and the birth of house, all this early-to-mid-'80s music lacks a name beyond drably functional and neutral terms like "dance" or "club music." Post-disco is better because this was music created by and for people […]who refused to accept the official decree of disco’s demise.

2009 May 29, Simon Reynolds, “Grunge's Long Shadow”, in Slate

(music) A genre of dance music formulated in the late 1970s, after a backlash against disco.


Celtic music

(music) A genre of modern world music influenced by New Age and the music of Celtic cultures, mainly Ireland and Scotland.


Celtic rock

(music) A genre of Celtic music influenced by rock music and punk rock.


psych folk

You have possibly heard the terms “psych folk” (sometimes applied to artists in the vein of Devendra Banhart) or “psych country” (which is vaguely similar to what used to be called “outlaw country”) or “psych rock” (which is what Courtney Taylor of the Dandy Warhols call his band's sound in the documentary DIG!.)]

[2005 May, Chuck Klosterman, “The Rock Lexicon”, in SPIN, page 60

More recently, a second wave of psych folk bands have surfaced, influenced by and connected to the music of Keenan's New Weird America.

2016, Ross Hair, Thomas Ruys Smith, editors, Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, Taylor & Francis, page 203

(music) A genre of folk music influenced by psychedelic rock and possessing a dark, sinister tone.


folk-metal

(music) A genre of heavy metal influenced by folk music and various traditional musical forms.


speed metal

(music) A genre of heavy metal characterized by an extremely swift, rhythmic style.


modal jazz

(music, jazz) A genre of jazz that uses chord progressions as a harmonic framework.


cool jazz

(music, jazz) A genre of jazz associated with a light, calm sound and a West Coast aesthetic.


Canterbury sound

(music) A genre of progressive rock associated with the city of Canterbury.


folk punk

(music) A genre of usually acoustic punk rock influenced by folk music.


Celtic metal

(music) A genre of heavy metal influenced by Celtic music and punk rock.


funk-rock

(music) A genre of funk that combines it with elements of rock music.


art punk

(music) A genre of punk rock influenced by art music and art rock.


hardcore punk

(music) A particularly fast and intense form of punk rock.


psychedelic rock

(music) A genre of rock music influenced by psychedelia, blues, jazz, folk music, electronic music and the hippie counterculture of the 1960s.


noise pop

(music) A genre of indie pop influenced by noise music.


glam metal

(music) A genre of heavy metal from the 1980s influenced by glam rock.


horror punk

(music) A genre of hardcore punk with influences from Gothic rock, characterized by a lyrical connection to horror movies.


noise rock

(music) A genre of indie rock influenced by noise music.


alternative metal

(music) A style of modern heavy metal influenced by alternative rock.


alt-rock

Launching a startup in 2016 is akin to assembling an alt-rock band in 1996 or protesting the Vietnam War in 1971—an act of youthful rebellion gone conformist.

2016 October 3, Tad Friend, “Sam Altman’s Manifest Destiny”, in The New Yorker


reggae rock

(music) A genre of reggae mixed with elements of rock music.


industrial metal

(music) A genre of heavy metal influenced by industrial music.


Celtic punk

Best exemplified by the English band Pogues (which was fronted by the legendary Shane MacGowan) in the 1980s, Celtic punk at its best successfully blended traditional Celtic music and punk rock with some fascinating results.

2022, Rich Weidman, Punk: The Definitive Guide to the Blank Generation and Beyond, Rowman & Littlefield, page 80

(music) A genre of punk rock influenced by Celtic rock.


industrial rock

(music) A genre of rock music influenced by industrial music.


melodic hardcore

(music) A genre of hardcore punk with melodic singing, influenced by modern rock music.


extreme metal

(music) Any style of modern heavy metal, especially thrash metal, speed metal, doom metal, black metal or death metal.


garage punk

(music) A genre of indie rock influenced by garage rock and hardcore punk.


indie pop

Indie pop tends to be “more melodic and less loud” than indie rock, which is often more raucous.

2016, Geoff King, editor, A Companion to American Indie Film, John Wiley & Sons, page 110

(music) A genre of pop music that has little mainstream appeal and is influenced by alternative rock or indie rock.


Viking metal

(music) A genre of heavy metal featuring lyrical and visual themes focused on the Vikings, and influenced by black metal, folk-metal and Nordic traditional music.


pub rock

So called because bands rejected stadium venues and returned to the small pubs and clubs of the early years of live rock music.

(music, UK, Australia) A kind of popular bluesy rock music, specifically unrelated forms of British and Australian music with a similar sound.


unblack metal

As already noted, the black metal-related church arsons in Norway in the early 1990s also spurred the development of unblack metal.

2015, Marcus Moberg, Christian Metal: History, Ideology, Scene, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 51

(music) A genre of black metal marked by Christian lyrics.


funk-metal

(music) A genre of funk that combines it with elements of thrash metal.


melodic death metal

(music) A genre of death metal with a melodic and harmonic riffing style.


indie folk

(music) A genre of folk music influenced by indie rock.


hill country blues

(music) A genre of country blues from Mississippi.


roots-rock

[…] door finds him or herself a millionaire superstar and gradually tax avoidance seems more important than roots rock.

1977, Marxism Today, volumes 21–23, London: Communist Party of Great Britain, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 13

They are favored by most blues, jazz, country, and roots-rock guitarists.

1980, Will Schmid, Hal Leonard Guitar Method, complete edition, Winona, Minn.: Hal Leonard Pub. Corp., →OCLC, page 140

Doug [Clifford] was the well-known drummer in Creedence Clearwater Revival throughout their phenomenally fruitful existence as one of America's first genuine roots-rock bands.

2006, Bob Cianci, Great Rock Drummers of the Sixties Revised, 2nd edition, Milwaukee, Wis.: Hal Leonard Pub. Corp., page 192

(music) A genre of popular rock music influenced by Americana and roots music.


glam punk

(music) A genre of punk rock influenced by glam rock.


isicathamiya

(music) A genre of popular South African vocal music derived from the Zulu genre called mbube.


album-oriented soul

(music) A genre of popular soul music characterized by a focus on LPs rather than singles and the presence of socially conscious lyrics; mostly associated with a late 1960s and early 1970s style.


jùjú

(music) A genre of popular Nigerian music that comes from traditional Yoruba percussion traditions.


folk-blues

(music) A genre of blues influenced by early 20th century folk music.


zouglou

(music) A genre of popular music originally from Abidjan, Ivory Coast.


marrabenta

Possibly from Portuguese rebentar (“to break”) (arrabentar in the local vernacular).

(music) A genre of popular Mozambican dance music.


chimurenga

(Zimbabwe, music) A genre of Zimbabwean popular music, originally focusing on revolutionary themes.


alternative hip hop

(music) A subgenre of hip-hop music encompassing a range of styles not typically regarded as mainstream music, gangsta rap or hardcore hip-hop, and drawing influences from pop, rock, jazz, funk, soul, reggae, folk and alternative.


seggae

(music) A genre of sega music that combines it with reggae and other non-native influences.


bhangramuffin

(music) A genre of raggamuffin dancehall influenced by bhangra or other music from the Indian subcontinent.


roots music

roots music (countable and uncountable, plural roots musics)

(music) Any style of folk music, or any style of modern popular music influenced by traditional styles.


chutney-soca

(music) A genre of chutney music influenced by soca.


cadence rampa

(music) A genre of modern Haitian music, derived from méringue.


reggae fusion

(music) A genre of reggae that mixes reggae and/or dancehall with other genres, such as pop, rock, hip-hop, R&B, jazz, funk, soul, disco, electronic and latin.


cadence-lypso

(music) A genre of popular dance music that combines cadence rampa with calypso.


jam band

(music) A type of band that plays any of several styles of country-influenced folk-rock and is associated with a particular subculture known for following said bands to shows, trading recordings of them and keeping their fandom alive.


ethereal wave

(music) A genre of darkwave music influenced by Gothic rock.


jazz mugham

(jazz, music) A genre that combines mugham with jazz.


lover's rock

(music) A genre of reggae influenced by soul music and modern pop.


huayno

(music) A genre of Andean popular music most closely associated with Peru.


luk thung

Borrowed from Thai ลูกทุ่ง (lûuk-tûng, literally “rural”).

bor+

After Pumpuang's death, the top luk thung slot was occupied by ‘Got’ Chakrapand Arbkornburi, whose switch from pop to full-time luk thung brought many younger listeners to the style, while the reigning female singer was Sunaree Ratchasima, but she has been superseded by the perkier Arpaporn Nakornsawan and, more recently, by Ying Lee and Tai Orathai.

2023, Rough Guides, The Rough Guide to Thailand, Apa Publications Limited

(music) A genre of Thai popular music in a rural style.


sawt

From Arabic صَوْتْ (ṣawt, literally “voice”).

(music) A style of urban popular music associated mainly with Kuwait and Bahrain.


ambient house

(music) A genre of house music influenced by ambient.


apala

(music) A genre of Yoruba Nigerian popular music based on percussion.


bluegrass-jazz

(music, jazz) A genre of bluegrass influenced by jazz.


electronic dance music

Some music, such as electronic dance music, is completely produced electronically and new practices have developed such as live coding, circuit bending, and chipmusic.

2014, William Forde Thompson, Music in the Social and Behavioral Sciences: An Encyclopedia

(music) A field of modern popular music, encompassing house, techno and other genres of percussive dance music.


bajo sexto

He sings about being spurned, drunk, rebounding and flaunting his blingy Patek Phillipe watch as Bizarrap quantizes regional Mexican acoustic sounds — the syncopated chords and trombone of a brass band, the slapping bass lines of a bajo sexto, solos on high-strung Mexican guitars — into a computerized track.

2023 June 2, Jon Pareles, Giovanni Russonello, Lindsay Zoladz, “A Lost (and Found) John Coltrane Recording, and 9 More New Songs”, in The New York Times

acoustic bass guitar
acoustic bass guitar

(music) A stringed instrument of Mexican origin, with twelve thick strings in six double-courses, with a short neck and a deep soundboard; a type of acoustic bass guitar.


semba

Borrowed from Portuguese semba, from Kimbundu semba (“belly-bump”), from Proto-Bantu [Term?]. Doublet of samba.

(music) A genre of traditional music and dance from Angola.


kizomba

Borrowed from Kimbundu kizomba (“party”).

(music) A genre of Angolan popular music derived from the traditional semba dance.


dansband

(music) A genre of Swedish popular music influenced by rock and roll, schlager and other styles.


swamp pop

(music) A genre of Louisiana pop music influenced by country and local Cajun and Creole musical elements.


contemporary gospel

It wasn't too many years ago that contemporary gospel music was hard to find. Now, there's evidence of it on all sides— on television, radio, stage, in homes and in automobiles.

1980 September 27, Paul Baker, “A Time-Honored Message Moves to a New Beat”, in Billboard, volume 92, number 39, page G-8+

(music) A style of popular contemporary R&B with Christian lyrics and influences from gospel music.


slack-key

From a translation of the Hawaiian kī hōʻalu (“loosen the [tuning] key”).

calque

Spanish-style guitars played in the standard position, though probably in altered tunings slack-key fashion.

2007, Tim Brookes, Guitar: An American Life, page 56

(music) (of a string instrument or a manner of playing one) Performed with loosened strings, such that all of the strings play in the same key (most often G major).


quelbe

(music, Virgin Islands) A style of folk and popular music from the Virgin Islands, traditionally performed by bands consisting of ukulele, banjo, guitar and washboard with various percussion instruments on rhythm.


megapop

Word that the Icelandic iconoclast had retwiddled the results of her in-studio tryst with Mr. Mosely dashed any hopes that she'd abandon herself to horny megapop escapism.

2007, SPIN, volume 23, number 6, page 90

The last remaining bankable megapop titan hanging out with an Internet-fueled hip-hop star — what a world!

2015 July 20, Jon Caramanica, “Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago Welcomes a Polyglot of Styles”, in New York Times

(music, informal) Highly successful mainstream pop music.


tsampouna

Borrowed from Greek τσαμπούνα (tsampoúna). Doublet of sinfonia, symphonia, symphony, and zampogna.

doublet

(music) A bagpipe of the Greek islands; a folk instrument without a drone but with two chanters.


Brahmsian

en-adj

Brahmsian (comparative more Brahmsian, superlative most Brahmsian)

more Brahmsian (comparative)
most Brahmsian (superlative)

The great Brahmsian slow movement of the sixth glass was broken rudely by the telephone's percussion.

1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 500

(music) Of or pertaining to Johannes Brahms (1833–1897), German composer and pianist, or his compositions.


jhala

(music) In Hindustani classical music, the fast-paced conclusion of a raga, often characterized by the overwhelming of the melodic component by the rhythmic component.


guacharaca

(music) A percussion instrument in the form of a partly hollowed tube with ridges carved in its outer surface, played with a wire fork.


jwé

(music, Saint Lucia) A type of traditional Saint Lucian music.


jing ping

(music, Dominica) A genre of traditional music from Dominica.


cariso

(music, Trinidad and Tobago) A genre of folk music from Trinidad and Tobago, an ancestor to modern calypso, performed by mainly female singers called chantwells.


gwo ka

(music, Guadeloupe) A type of drum and a genre of music associated with it, from the folk culture of the island of Guadeloupe.


himene tarava

(music) A genre of traditional choral polyphonic music from Tahiti.


pichakaree

(music, Trinidad and Tobago) A genre of Indo-Trinidadian folk music, sung in a mixture of English, Hindi, and Bhojpuri.


Big Drum

(music, dance, Caribbean) A genre of music and dance, and an associated festival tradition, found in many islands of the Lesser Antilles.


bush ballad

(music) A poem or a piece of folk music that celebrates traditional Australian culture, especially rural culture.


bouyon

Skinny also pointed out that because the artistes “are leaning on the strength and production value of a Dominican,” people are calling out the song to be that of bouyon music.

2019 January 11, “Skinny Fabulous dampens controversy over labeling of bouyon as soca”, in Dominica News Online

(music, Dominica) A genre of popular music from Dominica.


bemba

(music, Trinidad and Tobago) A type of folk drum used in Trinidad and Tobago.


chouval bwa

From Antillean Creole chouval bwa (literally “wood horse”).

bor

(music, Martinique) A genre of rural folk music that originated on the slave plantations of Martinique.


boom pipe

(music, Caribbean) A musical instrument made from a piece of pipe blown in at one end to provide the bass in the folk music traditions of Antigua and Barbuda and Montserrat.


toombah

(music, Antigua and Barbuda) A small drum used in the traditional music of Antigua and Barbuda.


ditti

(music, Antigua and Barbuda) A genre of traditional music from Antigua and Barbuda; benna, a style of calypso-like music.


iron band

(music, Antigua and Barbuda) A kind of traditional musical group in the folk culture of Antigua and Barbuda, characterized by the use of pieces of metal as musical instruments.


ant'em

A variant of anthem. The spelling and pronunciation may simply reflect th-stopping, but could possibly be a retention of the historical pronunciation of anthem (the modern pronunciation of anthem with /θ/ is a late spelling pronunciation).

(music, Bahamas) A type of traditional Bahamian folk song derived from old slave music and Christian hymns.


chantwell

Probably from French chanterelle (“female bird used by hunters as a decoy to attract other birds; treble string of a musical instrument”), from chanter (“to sing, crow”) + -erelle (variant of -elle (suffix forming feminine nouns, often with a diminutive sense)).

der

The weird, off-beat music known as "calypso" is played in all the English-speaking islands of the Caribbean, but the place to hear it at its best is in Trinidad, where it originated. Every year the calypso singers, or "chantwells," as they are called, hold a "war" to decide the championship. The singer whose songs are judged best by popular acclaim becomes "king" for the year.

1952, The American Magazine, volume 154, New York, N.Y.: Crowell-Collier Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 97, column 1

Calypso began with the "chantwells." These were slaves who entertained plantation owners in colonial times. The chantwells made up songs about the people they knew and the things that happened to them.

1976, Robert J. Alexander et al., edited by John P. Augelli, Caribbean Lands, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Fideler Co., page 89, column 1

Calypso has, however, been linked to the kalinda, to which stick-fighters chanted and fought. The chantwell, or lead singers, of the stick-fighting groups functioned as social commentator and haranguer and so may be considered very early calypsonians. The chantwells, however, were thought to possess supernatural powers, and so their pronouncements of the injury the opponent would receive were taken seriously.

2008, “Calypso”, in Richard M. Juang, Noelle Morrissette, Melissa Fullmer, editors, Africa and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History: A Multidisciplinary Encyclopedia (Transatlantic Relations Series), volume I, Santa Barbara, Calif., Denver, Colo.: ABC-CLIO, page 224, column 1

Subaltern jamette women predominated as the chantuelle, the singers of topical song, who led bands of people in Canboulay rituals, including kalinda (stick-fighters). The chantuelle were the forerunners of the predominantly male calypso artists who emerged as popular singers in the twentieth century.

2013, Rochelle Rowe, “Cleaning Up Carnival: Race, Culture and Power in the Trinidad ‘Carnival Queen’ Beauty Competition, 1946–59”, in Imagining Caribbean Womanhood: Race, Nation and Beauty Contests, 1929–70, Manchester: Manchester University Press, page 48

(chiefly Trinidad and Tobago, music) A (generally female) lead singer of traditional cariso music, or of a calypso band.


rake and scrape

(music, Bahamas) A type of traditional Bahamian folk music, characterized by a reliance on improvised musical instruments, such as a ripsaw.

ripsaw

rake and scrape; more often used for a separate genre of Turks and Caicos music, but occasionally a synonym of


chac-chac

(music, Caribbean) A type of rattle used in the traditional music of Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago; it is made from a gourd and used to provide a rhythm.


shak-shak

(music, Caribbean) Any of several kinds of traditional shakers or rattles found throughout the Caribbean.

maraca

a general synonym for rattles or shakers in general


shack-shack

(music, Caribbean) A child's rattle, used in various Caribbean folk music traditions.


ensansi

(music) A type of rattle worn on the wrist and used in the traditional Kongo-Angola dance and music of Cuba.


xaque-xaque

(music) A type of Brazilian rattle, usually played in pairs and mounted on a stick.


chak-chak

(music, Saint Lucia) A musical instrument filled with seeds or grain and used as a rattle in traditional Saint Lucian music.


maruga

(music) A kind of traditional Cuban shaker or rattle made of metal.


octaviate

en-verb

octaviate (third-person singular simple present octaviates, present participle octaviating, simple past and past participle octaviated)

octaviates (present singular third-person)
octaviating (participle present)
octaviated (participle past)
octaviated (past)

Modelled on French octavier; see octavate for more.

He octaviates some fragments of the tune (including the first note) without even the excuse of avoiding difficult stopping.
[…]
The transcriber adapts chords to his instrument, sometimes octaviates or simplifies the bass on technical grounds, but a peculiarity of this setting is the inclusion of some thorough-bass realization at places where the solo part plays in unison […]

1992, Chelys, volumes 21-22, page 33 & 37

As the fundamentals of each fof begin to octaviate, they are desynchronized by individual envelopes, […]

2000, Richard Charles Boulanger, editor, the csound book, page 317

In Marseille, I also generated some synthetic sounds with the MUSICV program. I chose a defective major-minor pitch scale, which does not exactly octaviate […]

2002, J C Risset, “Examples of the musical use of digital audio effects”, in Journal of New Music Research


lahara

(music) a repetitive instrumental melody used to accompany a tabla or pakhawaj solo in Hindustani classical music of North India; it is also used to accompany kathak dance performances


tzouras

From Greek τζουράς (tzourás), from Turkish cura.

(music) A Greek long-necked fretted lute.


toubeleki

From Greek τουμπελέκι (toumpeléki), from Turkish dümbelek.


fork F

(music) An alternative fingering for the note F when playing oboe. The index and ring fingers of the right hand are depressed and the middle finger raised, creaking a 'fork' appearance.


Xaenorphica

From the instrument's original German name, Xänorphika.

Xaenorphica. A bow stringed instrument with a Keyboard, invented by Röllig, 1801, the sounds of which were produced by bows set in motion by a pedal.

1895, Otto Ebel, Handbook of Music, Arthur P. Schmidt, page 212

(music) A little-known stringed instrument with a keyboard, invented by Carl Leopold Röllig in 1801.


dutar

(music) A two-stringed lute with a long neck, found in Central Asia.


nattuvangam

(music) Cymbals played to accompany a Bharatanatyam performance.


marimbaphone

percussion idiophone
percussion idiophone

(obsolete, music) A kind of percussion idiophone, like the marimba, but with either wooden or steel keys designed to be bowed as well as played normally, developed by J.C. Deagan in early 20th century United States.


sertanejo

I hate sertanejo music. This has something to do with when I was a teenager and my dad liked sertanejo while I wanted to be totally different.

2010, Felipe Trotta, Annoying Music in Everyday Life


melodicist

(music) A musician who performs the melody, as opposed to one who plays the rhythm.


zinkist

(music) A person who plays the zink (cornett).


tenor drum

(music) A low-pitched drum used in Western orchestral music and for marching, such as in the military and in parades.


afterlength

Some luthiers believe it to be important to tune the afterlengths.

(music, lutherie) The shorter length of string between the bridge and the tailpiece of a stringed instrument, on the other side from that which is usually played.


crowdy-crawn

(music) A type of sheepskin-covered hoop (a crowd) used as a frame drum, originating in the traditional music of Cornwall, England.


percussion idiophone

en-noun

percussion idiophone (plural percussion idiophones)

(music) An idiophone that produces sound when it vibrates due to being struck by an object that does not vibrate; a xylophone-like instrument played percussively.


slit drum

(music) A type of idiophone, consisting of a material (usually bamboo or wood) hollowed out and possessing one or more slits on the top.


c/w

(music) Abbreviation of comes with, coupled with or combined with. Commonly used with 45 RPM singles, referring to the flip side (B-side) of the record.


monoharmonic

(music) That produces only a single tone


Pavani

(music) Name of a rāgam in Carnatic music. It is the 41stmelakarta rāgam in the 72 melakarta rāgam system of Carnatic music.


Rasikapriya

From Sanskrit रसिक (rasika) + प्रिया (priyā).

(music) A rāgam in Carnatic music. It is the 72nd melakarta rāgam in the 72 melakarta rāgam system of Carnatic music.


Kosalam

(music) Name of a rāgam in Carnatic music. It is the 71st melakarta rāgam in the 72 melakarta rāgam system of Carnatic music.


liuti attiorbati

(music) A type of small archlute; a fretted and double-necked stringed musical instrument with double courses in the bass and two sets of tuning pegs.


nylon-string guitar

nylon-string guitar (plural nylon-string guitars)

(music) A guitar strung with nylon strings and with a neck that joins the body at the twelfth rather than the fourteenth fret, as in a typical guitar.

classical guitar

most commonly synonymous, though there are nylon-string acoustic-electric guitars


balalaikist

(music) Someone who plays the balalaika.


thumb piano

(music) Any type of lamellophone having a small sound box fitted with a row of tuned tabs that are plucked with the thumbs; a mbira.


Named after C86, a compilation cassette released in 1986 by NME magazine on which independent rock featured heavily. The album title itself was a play on the labelling and length of blank compact cassettes—commonly C60, C90 and C120—combined with the year 1986.

Ralske, who studied jazz trumpet at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, moved to London around the time the whole C86 scene (with bands like the Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine) was thriving.

From the latest new releases to rare collectables, including indie, punk, grunge, C86 etc.

1999, advertisement for, “www.indiemusic.co.uk”, in CMJ New Music Monthly, page 72

The same papers that had championed C86 in the middle of the decade then spent years writing off small, pop-oriented bands such as Belle and Sebastian — particularly if they had an air of mimsy or femininity.

2007, Scott Plagenhoef, Belle & Sebastian's If You're Feeling Sinister, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, page 57

(music) A genre of British rock music most prominent in the late eighties and early nineties, with a lo-fi aesthetic, unconventional instrumentation and romantic lyrics.


hand drum

(music) A drum (membranophone) played with the hand, as opposed to being struck with a drumstick, mallet or other object.


keyboard instrument

keyboard instrument (plural keyboard instruments)

(music) Any musical instrument which features a keyboard, such as a piano, synthesizer or celesta.

(music) Any musical instrument that produces sound directly from the manipulation of a keyboard by the performer, including a piano and a celesta.

(music) Any musical instrument (a chordophone) that uses a keyboard to manipulate strings which produce sound, including a piano.


stone xylophone

stone xylophone (plural stone xylophones)

(music) A musical instrument (a lithophone) consisting of pieces of stone as sounding bars that produce tuned sounds when struck, like a xylophone.


hardstep

(music) A subgenre of drum and bass music characterised by a gritty production style and urban feel.


dhimay

(music) A double-headed cylindrical drum of South Asian origin.


karyenda

(music) A drum of Burundian origin, revered as a national symbol of spiritual importance.


damphu

(music) A double-sided disk-shaped drum of Nepalese origin.


dhantal

(music) A percussion instrument (idiophone) of Indo-Caribbean origin, consisting of a steel rod that is struck by a horseshoe shaped beater, sounding similar to a triangle.


ugal

(music) A bronze metallophone used in the classical gamelan music of Indonesia.


skrabalai

(music) A set of tuned wooden bells of Lithuanian origin, held in trapezoidal racks with several vertical rows, and played by a pair of wooden sticks.


morsing

(music) A type of Jew's harp (a lamellophone), a metal ring with two parallel forks and a tongue in the middle, used mainly in India and Pakistan.


glasschord

(music) A crystallophone similar to a celesta that uses glass bars in place of metal ones.


vest frottoir

(music) A frottoir designed to be worn like a vest.


gandingan

(music) A musical instrument, consisting of an array of four hanging gongs, of Filipino origin.


saxonette

(music) A soprano clarinet with a curved barrel and an upturned bell.


nail violin

(music) A musical instrument consisting of a wooden soundboard with metal nails attached, tuned to produce notes when played with a bow.


splash cymbal

(music) Either of a pair of small cymbals used to provide a special effect or accent, part of a modern drum kit.


hokyo

(music) A metallophone of Japanese origin.


devil chase

(music) A musical instrument (idiophone) made from a split stalk of bamboo struck against a performer's hand, originating in South Asia.


washint

(music) An endblown flute of Ethiopian origin.


babendil

(music) A narrow-rimmed gong of Filipino origin, used singly to provide a rhythm in a kulintang ensemble.


kolenang

(music) A type of bonang (a gong chime) with gongs laid out in a V or U-shape, used in the gamelan degung music of Sunda.


gragger

(music) A type of ratchet (an idiophone musical instrument) used mainly in Purim celebrations in Jewish tradition; it consists of a board and a gearwheel attached to a handle, and is played by swinging the mechanism to make the gearwheel scrape against the board, producing a percussive sound.


banghyang

(music) A metallophone of Korean origin.


array mbira

(music) A type of plucked lamellophone, a Western adaptation of the African mbira.


bonang

(music) A set of small gongs placed on a rack and usually struck with a padded stick, a type of gong chime, used in the gamelan music of Java.


reyong

(music) A type of gong chime, a set of gongs laid out on a rack and sometimes played by up to four people simultaneously, used in the gamelan music of Bali.


kisanji

(music) A small plucked lamellophone, originating among the Ngala people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.


saron

(music) A percussion idiophone with bronze bars, of Indonesian origin, used in gamelan music.


sudrophone

Invented by François Sudre (1844–1912), + -phone.

(music) A brass instrument with a cylindrical bore and four valves.


huiringua

(music) A slit drum made from a hollow log, of Mexican origin, struck with a pair of wood mallets.


agidigbo

(music) A lamellophone worn around the neck, originating among the Yoruba of Nigeria, played by striking the box frame of the instrument with a ring worn around a thumb.


ghanta

The abhisheka of the ghanta, or bell, is the fourth abhisheka of the vase. Presenting the student with the ghanta signifies that he is not only concerned with personal realization but is also willing to proclaim the teachings for the benefit of others.

1991, Chögyam Trungpa, The Heart of the Buddha, Shambhala Publications, page 123

The ghantas are hand bells and represent the wisdom the practitioner is attempting to cultivate.

2002, Bradley K. Hawkins, The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Buddhism, page 111

The ritual hand-bell or ghanta represents the feminine principle of the 'Perfection of Wisdom' (Skt. prajna-paramita), which directly realizes emptiness.

2003, The Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols, Serindia Publications, Inc, page 92

(music) A type of bell, usually constructed of brass, used in Hindu rituals.


ring of bells

(music) A set of large bells of English origin, played by means of a wheel that moves each bell in a nearly 360-degree arc.


kouxian

Borrowed from the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 口弦 (kǒuxián).

(music) A type of mouth harp, of Chinese origin, usually made of bamboo or sometimes brass, and often consisting of more than one lamellae.


pibgorn

(music) A Welsh single-reed wind instrument or pipe with a horn at each end.


kubing

(music) A type of Jew's harp, of Filipino origin, most often made of bamboo.


bonsho

(Buddhism, music) A very large bell used in Buddhist temples in Japan to mark time and call monks in for prayer.


octavin

(music) A single-reed instrument with a conical bore, originating in Germany.


bianzhong

/ˈbi.ænˈd͡ʒɔŋ/

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 編鐘／编钟 (biānzhōng).

The bianzhong (編鐘) is an ancient Chinese musical instrument consisting of 65 chime bells. Because it was only used for performances at the imperial court, it came to be known as the “instrument of kings” (王者之器).

2014 February 20, Hsiang-yi Tang, “The sound of kings”, in Taipei Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-09-28, Features, page 12

(music) A set of bronze bells played to provide melody, of ancient Chinese origin.


dulcijo

(music) A type of three-stringed clawhammer banjo that is tuned diatonically, like a dulcimer, with a shortened third string and a drum resonator.


banjo dulcimer

Appalachian dulcimer
Appalachian dulcimer

(music) An Appalachian dulcimer that has been modified with the addition of a vibrating membrane like the body of a banjo.


trichordo

(music) A trichord (three-stringed) old-fashioned bouzouki; a type of chordophone.


tetrachordo

(music) A tetrachord (four-stringed) bouzouki; a type of chordophone.


elektro-baglama

(music) A baglama modified with magnetic pickups so as to be a modern electric instrument.


moshable

en-adj

moshable (comparative more moshable, superlative most moshable)

more moshable (comparative)
most moshable (superlative)

The fired-up foursome takes itself very seriously, singing politically charged lyrics, which, in the tradition of Strife and Damnation AD, are strategically placed in the middle of slamming, moshable breakdowns.

1999, CMJ New Music Report, volume 59, number 631, page 28

(music, colloquial) Befitting the moshing style of dance.


buzuq

(music) A mandolin-shaped lute of Arab origin, with a long neck, movable frets and two or three strings played with a plectrum.


Irish bouzouki

(music) A bouzouki adapted for use in Irish traditional music with a short neck, and a flat back and sides.


chitarronist

(music) Someone who plays the chitarrone.


acoustic-electric

(music, of an acoustic instrument) Modified with the addition of pickups or a microphone, in order to make the sound louder and more noticeable.


semi-acoustic

(music, of an electric instrument) Modified with a wholly or partially hollow soundbox, producing a sound similar to but different than a normal acoustic version of the same instrument.


tea chest bass

en-noun

tea chest bass (plural tea chest basses)

(music) A washtub bass that uses a tea chest as the resonator for an upright stringed bass guitar.


jazzical

From the smoothest symphonic dance pieces to the most highly seasoned jazzical eccentricities runs the range; there is a spiced variety of good things for every taste.

1995, Mark Tucker, The Duke Ellington Reader, page 34

(music, informal) Combining elements of jazz and classical music.


bass violist

(music) Someone who plays the bass viol (double bass).


jabisen

From Japanese 蛇皮線 (jabisen, literally “snakeskin strings”).

bor

Introduced into China from Central Asia and thence to Ryūkyū in the very late 14th century, the jabisen gives a special flavor to the folk culture of Okinawa.

1973 June, “OKINAWA, The Islands That Fortune Overlooked”, in The East, volume 9, number 5, Tokyo: East Publications, →ISSN, page 48, columns 1–2


idakka

(music) An hourglass-shaped drum originating in Kerala in India; it is struck with a stick, and its pitch can be altered by means of the lacing between the two heads.


cigar box guitar

en-noun

cigar box guitar (plural cigar box guitars)

(music) A simple guitar-like string instrument that uses a cigar box as a resonator, and traditionally has a broomstick for a neck.


s-hole

(music) A sound hole, shaped like the letter s, through the top surface of a string instrument.


yazh

(music) A fretless harp of ancient Tamil origin, with a variable number of gut strings, characterized by a boat-shaped resonator.


contraguitar

(music, historical) An old form of guitar originating in Vienna, with a standard six-string neck and a second bass neck with up to nine strings.


c-hole

(music) A sound hole, shaped like a lower-case c, through the top surface of a string instrument.


ff-hole

(music) A sound hole, shaped like the letters ff, through the top surface of a string instrument.


d-hole

(music) A sound hole, shaped like the letter D, through the top surface of a string instrument.


guitjo

(music) A banjo-like string instrument, with fourteen strings in seven courses, tuned like a guitar and having a guitar-like neck.


diddley bower

(music) Someone who plays the diddley bow.


console steel guitar

console steel guitar (plural console steel guitars)

(music) A type of large electric lap steel guitar, usually with two necks and seven or eight strings.


diddley bow

(music) A one-stringed instrument (monochord) that consists of a wire string attached to something solid like the side of a house, and played with a piece of metal or glass, originating in the African American traditional music of Mississippi in the United States.


gopuz

(music) A komuz (a stringed instrument).


domra

(music) A round-bodied lute of East Slavic origin with either three or four strings.


temir komuz

(music) A type of Jew's harp, of Central Asian origin.


lap steel guitar

lap steel guitar (plural lap steel guitars)

(music) A type of steel guitar held in the lap, usually with six strings and a square neck.


table steel guitar

table steel guitar (plural table steel guitars)

(music) A type of electric guitar and steel guitar where the fretboard is mounted on a table, which has no resonator body.


octophone

(music) A modern stringed instrument intended to be able to play the tone combinations of the tenor guitar, tenor banjo, ukulele, taro-patch fiddle, tiple, mandolin, mandola and mandocello.


waldzither

(music) A type of stringed instrument, a cittern of German origin, with nine strings in five courses.


mandora

(music) A type of bass string instrument.


psalmodicon

(music) A simple zither-like single-stringed chordophone (stringed instrument), played with a bow, of Scandinavian origin.


lute guitar

(music) A stringed instrument that combines a normal guitar six-string layout over a lute-like bowl-shaped body, originating in German folk traditions.


electric dulcimer

electric dulcimer (plural electric dulcimers)

(music) A dulcimer that uses electronic amplification to produce sufficient sound.


electric sitar

(music) A type of electric guitar that mimics a sitar while being loud enough to be used in rock and pop music; it is characterized by an asymmetric body, the use of a large, flat bridge and sympathetic strings.


zhongruan

(music) A plucked long-necked lute-like string instrument (chordophone) of Chinese origin, a medium-sized tenor ruan with four strings and twenty-four frets.


electric harp

(music) A type of harp with a solid body and electric pickups on each string, in order to amplify the instrument's sound.


harp guitar

(music) Any of several designs of guitars with at least one unstopped string that can be plucked, like that of a harp.


kit violin

(music) A very small long-necked violin that came in a variety of shapes and configurations, meant to be carried in a pocket and intended for dancing instructors to carry to accompany their students.


scratchband

scratchband (countable and uncountable, plural scratchbands)

(uncountable, dated, music, Virgin Islands) The genre of music such musicians create; scratch, quelbe or fungi music.


Vienna horn

(music) A brass aerophone used mainly in Austria in the performance of orchestral and classical music.