barcarole

/ˈbɑːkəɹəʊl/

/ˌbɑːkəˈɹəʊl/

/ˈbɑɹkəˌɹoʊl/

A computer synthesized version of the beginning of “Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour” or the Barcarolle from The Tales of Hoffmann

Borrowed from French barcarolle, from Venetian barcaroƚa (“song sung by a boatman”), from barca (“bark, barge, boat”), ultimately from Egyptian bꜣjr (“transport ship; type of fish”).

der

Venice! dear beautiful Venice! scene of harmony and love! where all was gayety and mirth, revelry and pleasure, with what warm feelings do I recall thee to my memory; day and night were the gondoliers singing barcarolles, or the verses of [Torquato] Tasso and [Ludovico] Ariosto to Venetian airs; […]

1826, Michael Kelly, [Theodore Edward Hook], Reminiscences of Michael Kelly, of the King’s Theatre, and Theatre Royal Drury Lane, including a Period of Nearly Half a Century; with Original Anecdotes of Many Distinguished Persons, Political, Military, and Musical, New York, N.Y.: Printed by J. & J. Harper, 327 Pearl-Street, for E[vert Augustus] Duyckinck, Collins and Hannay, Collins & Co., W. B. Gilley, H. I. Megary, A. T. Goodrich, and G. & C. Carvill, →OCLC, page 90

In Venice! This night is so delicious—its air / Full of moonlight and passionate snatches of song, […] / —with a song full of dole, / A forlorn barcarole, / As my gondola glides.

1867 February, “Aureolus Paracelsus”, “In a Gondola. (Suggested by Mendelssohn’s Andante in G Minor, Book I., Lied 6, of the ‘Lieder ohne Worten.’)”, in W. H. Bidwell, editor, The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art, volume V, number 2 (New Series), New York, N.Y.: Published at No. 5 Beekman Street, →OCLC, stanza I, page 174

(music) A Venetian folk song traditionally sung by gondoliers, often in ⁶⁄₈ or ¹²⁄₈ time with alternating strong and weak beats imitating a rowing motion.

A Barcarolle, with variations for the Pianoforte and flute, ad lib. by [Jean Théodore] Latour, opens with an introduction of great feeling and elegance. The Barcarolle is composed by [Jacques Féréol] Mazas, the great violinist, and has been played by him at the Philharmonic Concerts, and is original and graceful.

1822 May, “Report of Music”, in The London Magazine, volume V, number XXIX, London: Printed for Taylor and Hessey, 93, Fleet-Street, →OCLC, page 492

But perhaps the best airs are those of Italy (particularly the Venetian) and Spain. […] The bolero, the barcarole, the canzonetta, and romance, have all the gaiety, softness, tenderness, and chivalry, which we associate with the troubadours, the gay squires, and sprightly dames, of the early ages of poetry and music.

1824, “A Collection of Admired Italian, French, German, Spanish, and English Songs, with a Progressive Accompaniment for the Spanish Guitar; by George Hervey Derwort. Nos. 1 to 13. London. Gow and Son.”, in Richard Mackenzie Bacon, editor, The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review, volume VI, London: Sold by Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, 47, Paternoster-Row, →OCLC, pages 547–548

Later in the evening Mr. [Anton] Rubinstein played his smaller pieces, such as the march from "The Ruins of Athens," his own "Barcarolle," and "Valse Caprice," and the enthusiasm and appreciation of his intelligent audience grew greater and greater.

1895 February, William Steinway, “William Steinway’s Reminiscences of Rubinstein”, in W. S. B. Mathews, editor, Music. A Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Art, Science, Technic and Literature of Music, volume VII, Chicago, Ill.: Music Magazine Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 395

(music) A piece of music composed in imitation of such a song.


alla marcia

(music) A tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played in the style of a march, usually with a 2/4 or 4/4 beat with an accent on the downbeat


alla marcia

(music) describing a passage having this mark


antiphonal

The antiphonal hymn was sung regularly at church.

(music) Characterized by antiphones or antiphony; incorporating alternate, or responsive singing by a choir split into two parts.

ainteafanúil

characterized by antiphones or antiphony


arpeggiate

en-verb

arpeggiate (third-person singular simple present arpeggiates, present participle arpeggiating, simple past and past participle arpeggiated)

arpeggiates (present singular third-person)
arpeggiating (participle present)
arpeggiated (participle past)
arpeggiated (past)

[…] Mr. Keezer arpeggiated chords a little flashily, but justifiably so; […].

2007 January 12, Ben Ratliff, “High-Toned Scats and Purrs by a Low-Profile Jazz Singer”, in New York Times

(music, transitive) To play (a chord) as an arpeggio.

(music, of the notes of a chord) To represent separately on a score.


halftone

(music) Synonym of semitone, half the interval between two notes on a scale.


cantus

Learned borrowing from Latin cantus (literally “song, chant”).


minor third

Coordinate term: major third

Alternative form: (abbreviation) m3

(music) A musical interval in Western music that approximates a frequency ratio of 6:5, spanning two degrees of the diatonic scale.


major third

Alternative form: (abbreviation) M3

(music) A musical interval in Western music that is equal to or approximates a frequency ratio of 5/4. In twelve-tone equal temperament, it consists of four standard semitones, spans three degrees of the diatonic scale, and is enharmonically equivalent to a diminished fourth. Major scales are so named because of the major third interval between the tonic and mediant of a major tonic triad.


diatonic scale

(music) A seven-note musical scale consisting of five tones and two diatonic semitones, formed by stacking six perfect fifths.


barbershop

en-noun

barbershop (countable and uncountable, plural barbershops)

(uncountable, music) A style of a cappella vocal music, sung in four-part harmony, typically by a quartet of men.


foliated

(music) Having notes added above or below, as in a plain-song melody.


trip hop

Journalistic coinage, blend of trip (“drug-induced hallucinations”, alluding to psychedelic music) + hip-hop.

blend

Trip-hop, on the other hand, takes the opposite approach. The genre can be described as a slower and dub-influenced reworking of African American hip-hop, aptly described by writer Phil Johnson as “dubbed-up hip-hop derived music...beats whose customary urgency is deconstructed into dreamy, erotic soundscapes.”

2013, Michael Veal, Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae, Wesleyan University Press, page 235

(music) A genre of slow electronica combining elements of hip hop with melodic, often psychedelic, sounds and impressionistic lyrics.


Fab Four

First, Mr. McCartney was often blamed for breaking up the Fab Four, and it took a long time for people to forgive him.

1976 May 16, John Rockwell, “McCartney—The Beatle With the Charm Is Back”, in The New York Times, →ISSN


Benedictus

From Ecclesiastical Latin benedictus (“blessed, praised”), from benedīcō (“I speak well (of)”).

bor

(music) The music that accompanies either of the above.


segno

From Italian segno, from Latin signum. Doublet of sign.

(music) The sign 𝄋, indicating the start of a passage of music to be repeated.


viola da gamba

en-noun

viola da gamba (plural viola da gambas or viole da gamba)

viola da gambas (plural)
viole da gamba (plural)

Borrowed from Italian viola da gamba (“viol for the leg”).


sotto voce

/ˌsɒtəʊ ˈvəʊtʃeɪ/

Borrowed from Italian sottovoce (literally “under [the] voice”).


sotto voce

/ˌsɒtəʊ ˈvəʊtʃeɪ/

(music) Sung or played softly, instruments or voice.


sotto voce

/ˌsɒtəʊ ˈvəʊtʃeɪ/

(music) A direction in a score that a passage in a piece should be played softly, or sung in a low voice, when applied to vocal music.


presa

From Italian presa (“capture, seizure”).

(music) A symbol, such as ※ or :S:, used to indicate where a voice is to begin singing in a canon or round.


symphony orchestra

en-noun

symphony orchestra (plural symphony orchestras)

(music) A large orchestra that traditionally plays Western classical orchestral music.


custos

(music, historical) In older forms of musical notation, an indication, at the end of a line of music, of the first note of the next line.


parlando

(music) A piece of music to be sung or played in the style of a recitative.


passaggio

(music) The transition area between a singer's vocal registers.


countermelody

(music) a secondary or supplemental melody played simultaneously with the primary melody.


rubato

rubato (countable and uncountable, plural rubatos or rubati)

Borrowed from Italian rubato (“robbed, stolen”), since the time is "borrowed".

bor+

The etudes with metronome markings should be played in tempo, all others should be considered rubato.

2007, Michele Weir, Jazz Piano Handbook, Alfred Music Publishing, page 110

(music) A tempo in which strict timing is relaxed, the music being played near, but not on, the beat.


lead vocals

(music) The primary words of a song, sung by the lead vocalist to the same tune as the primary melody


backup vocals

(music) The chorus and other words and sounds sung by backup vocalists to provide accompaniment to a song

(music) The people who sing these vocals


lead vocalist

(music) A singer (or one of a small group of singers) who provides lead vocals to a song


backup vocalist

en-noun

backup vocalist (plural backup vocalists)

(music) A member of a group of singers who provide backup vocals to a song


vocals

(music) The words of a song together with other sounds sung by a vocalist


four-on-the-floor

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(idiomatic, music) A steady, uniformly accented beat with a 4/4 time signature in which the bass drum is hit on every beat.


extemporise

en-verb

extemporise (third-person singular simple present extemporises, present participle extemporising, simple past and past participle extemporised)

extemporises (present singular third-person)
extemporising (participle present)
extemporised (participle past)
extemporised (past)

(transitive, music) To compose extemporaneously or improvise.


bagatelle

en-noun

bagatelle (countable and uncountable, plural bagatelles)

Borrowed from French bagatelle, from Italian bagattella.

One afternoon in 1920. a young pianist sat down in a shuttered room in the capital of defeated Germany and played a Bagatelle by Beethoven.

2007, Norman Lebrecht, The Life And Death of Classical Music, page 7

(literature, music) A short piece of literature or of instrumental music, typically light or playful in character.


harmonics

(physics, music) The science of musical sounds


triplex

triplex (countable and uncountable, plural triplexes)

From Latin triplex. Analyzable as tri- + -plex.


spinto

From Italian spinto (literally “pushed”).

(music) A soprano or tenor voice of a weight between lyric and dramatic, capable of handling large musical climaxes in opera at moderate intervals.


concert bass drum

concert bass drum (plural concert bass drums)

(music) A bass drum, normally suspended in a framework, used in static indoor performances


shouter

(music) A singer with an expressive, loud vocal style seen as reminiscent of shouting.

It certainly had merit as a punkish shouter with its machine-gun-spatter underbeat.

2013, James Arena, First Ladies of Disco, page 53

(music) A song performed in this manner.


DI

DI (countable and uncountable, plural DIs)

DI unit

recorded with a DI


fingerboard

(music, lutherie) A flat or roughly flat strip on the neck of a stringed instrument, against which the strings are pressed to shorten the vibrating length and produce notes of higher pitches.


rocksteady

(music) A genre of Jamaican music somewhat slower than ska.


rock steady

(music) Alternative spelling of rocksteady


filmi

(India, music) Music written especially for Bollywood films.


roundelay

From Middle French rondelet, diminutive of Old French rondel (French: rondeau). Ending -lay either from lay (“ballad or sung poem”), or from virelay.

When merry milkmaids click the latch
And rarely smells the new-mown hay,
And the cock hath sung beneath the thatch
Twice or thrice his roundelay,
Twice or thrice his roundelay;
Alone and warming his five wits,
The white owl in the belfry sits.

1830, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Poems, Chiefly Lyrical, Song - The Owl

For then the little birds do sing their sweetest song, all joining in one joyous medley, whereof one may scarce tell one note from another, so multitudinous is that pretty roundelay;[…]

1903, Howard Pyle, “Chapter First”, in The Story of King Arthur and His Knights, Part II, page 61

(music) A poem or song having a line or phrase repeated at regular intervals.


bandmaster

(music) The conductor of a musical ensemble, especially a brass or military band.


humbucker

From hum (“noise”) + buck (“resist, overcome”) + -er.

affix

(music) A pickup, on an electric guitar, that has a pair of coils of reverse polarity connected in series in order to reduce buzzing noise caused by mains frequency.


crotalo

(music) A Turkish musical instrument, like the ancient cimbalom.


Flying V

(music) A wooden electric guitar with a futuristic shape.


Stratocaster

A compound of strato- + caster, a clipping of broadcaster.

(music) A popular electric guitar manufactured by Fender.


treble C

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


treble staff

en-noun

treble staff (plural treble staffs or treble staves)

treble staffs (plural)
treble staves (plural)

(music) A staff that starts with a treble clef.


high C

(music) The note exactly two octaves above middle C.


bass staff

bass staff (plural bass staffs or bass staves)

bass staffs (plural)
bass staves (plural)

(music) a staff which starts with a bass clef


grand staff

grand staff (plural grand staffs or grand staves)

grand staffs (plural)
grand staves (plural)

(music) a treble staff joined to a bass staff by means of a brace, with the treble staff on top


low C

(music) the C note exactly two octaves below middle C


bass C

(music) the C note exactly one octave below middle C


reed stop

(music) An organ stop having the tone of a reed instrument.


middle C

middle C (plural middle Cs or middle C's)

(music) A specific musical note, particularly the note C4, at approximately 261.6 hertz, appearing at the middle of the alto staff and directly between the treble and bass staves.

(music) The key on a piano or other keyboard instrument corresponding to this note.


diviso

Borrowed from Italian diviso (literally “divided”).

(music) An instruction that a section of the orchestra (normally the strings) should divide itself into two, each taking separate parts normally notated on the same staff; either tutti or all'unisono cancels this instruction


sectional

(music) A band sectional, in which one section of a band or orchestra practices separately.

parcial

(music) rehearsal of part of an orchestra or band


F clef

The F clef may be placed on the third or fourth or fifth line (from the bottom) of a five-line staff, and is then called the baritone clef, bass clef, or subbass clef, respectively.

(music) a clef which indicates the position of F below middle C in a given staff.


bass clef

(music) A symbol showing that the second line from the top of the staff represents the F below middle C.


hautboy

desctree

→ Russian: гобой (goboj)
→ Armenian: հոբոյ (hoboy)
→ Azerbaijani: qoboy
→ Georgian: ჰობოი (hoboi)
→ Kazakh: гобой (goboi)

From Middle French hautbois. Doublet of oboe and hautbois.

1694, uncredited translator, The Voyage into Spitzbergen and Greenland by Friderich Martens in An Account of Several Late Voyages & Discoveries to the South and North, London: Sam Smith and Benjamin Walford, Chapter 1, p. 12,
When after this manner any have lost their Ships, and cannot be seen, they discharge a Cannon from the Ship, or sound the Trumpets, or Haut-boys, according as they are provided in their Ships, that the men that are lost may find their Ship again.

[…] even in a hautboy song, or any other where a particular instrument may have an obligato accompaniment, the voice ought to be every where assisted, but no where eclipsed.

1788, Charles Dibdin, The Musical Tour of Mr. Dibdin, Sheffield, Letter 48, p. 197

1816, William Hazlitt, “Theatrical Debuts,” The Examiner, 20 October, 1816, in A. R. Waller and Arnold Glover (eds.), The Collected Works of William Hazlitt, London: J.M. Dent, 1903, p. 341,
The notes proceed from her mouth as mechanically, as unmitigated by the sentiment, as if they came from the sharp hautboy or grating bassoon.

Well, this is a bad night altogether for them that have done well in their time; and if I were ever such a dab at the hautboy or tenor-viol, I shouldn’t have the heart to play tunes upon ’em now.

1878, Thomas Hardy, chapter 7, in The Return of the Native, volume 3, London: Smith, Elder, page 69

(dated, music) An oboe or similar treble double reed instrument.

(music) A reed stop on an organ giving a similar sound.


foot-tapping

en-adj

foot-tapping (comparative more foot-tapping, superlative most foot-tapping)

more foot-tapping (comparative)
most foot-tapping (superlative)

(music) Having an insistent rhythm; catchy


hunting horn

(music) A bugle, being either simply curved (especially in heraldry), or having from one (in e.g. some Roman horns) to three (in many modern musical horns) spirals, on which signals are blown during a hunt.


tertian

From Middle English tertiān, terciān, terciāne (adjective and noun), originally often as part of the collocation fever cum terciane, after Latin febris cum tertiānā. Compare the "third" essence of tertiary.

(music) Pertaining to the mean-tone temperament, in which major thirds are perfectly in tune.


crotalum

/ˈkɹəʊtələm/

From Latin crotalum, from Ancient Greek κρόταλον (krótalon, “clapper, castanet, rattle”).

uder

(music) A kind of clapper or castanet used in religious dances by groups in Ancient Greece (including the Korybants) and elsewhere.

crótalo

a kind of clapper or castanet used in Ancient Greece


castanet

From Spanish castañeta, diminutive form of castaña, from Latin castanea, from Ancient Greek καστάνεια (kastáneia, “chestnut”), possibly of Pre-Greek origin. Related to the chest in chestnut, formerly chesten.

der

percussion instrument
percussion instrument

(music, chiefly in the plural) A single handheld percussion instrument consisting of a pair of concave shells or shell-shaped parts joined on one edge by string.


concinnity

en-noun

concinnity (countable and uncountable, plural concinnities)

Coined 1531 by Sir Thomas Elyot in his treatise, The Boke Named The Governor, from Latin concinnitās (“skillfully put together”).

uder

In the Terminology, or what, to avoid the barbarism of a word compounded of Latin and Greek, they would beg to call the Orismology of the science, they have endeavoured to introduce throughout a greater degree of precision and concinnity—dividing it into general and partial Orismology; […]

1815, William Kirby, William Spence, “Preface”, in An Introduction to Entomology: Or Elements of the Natural History of Insects: with Plates, 3rd edition, volume 1, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, published 1818, page xii

(music) The harmonious reinforcement of the various parts of a work of art.


chalumeau

en-noun

chalumeau (plural chalumeaus or chalumeaux)

Borrowed from French chalumeau, from Late Latin calamellus, diminutive of Latin calamus (“reed”), from Ancient Greek κάλαμος (kálamos, “reed”). Doublet of shawm and probably caramel.

(music) A woodwind instrument which was the predecessor of the clarinet.

chalumeau

woodwind instrument preceding the clarinet


death metal

(music) A subgenre of heavy metal typically employing moderate to fast tempos, heavily distorted guitars, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes, often having violent or dark lyrics.


sextuple

Formed (in imitation of quadruple) from Latin sextus (“sixth”): compare French sextuple.


jam session

→ Portuguese: jam session

→ Spanish: jam session

→ Polish: jam session

Coordinate term: (folk music) hootenanny

There were some prerehearsals in small groups, but more often they were put together on the spot or just minutes prior to the practice jam sessions.

2016, C. Victor Fung, Lisa J. Lehmberg, Music for Life, page 170

(music) An informal gathering of musicians to play music, especially improvised jazz or a similar genre.


schisma

Unadapted borrowing from Latin schisma, from Ancient Greek σχίσμα (skhísma, “cleft, division”), whence the orthographic borrowing skhisma. Doublet of schism.

der

(music) A very small interval equal to half a comma.


screamo

Audio (US)

(music) A genre of aggressive lo-fi guitar-driven music with predominantly screaming vocals, while preserving structural aspects of the emocore/hardcore emo genres of the early 1990's.

(music) A genre of guitar-driven music combining late 1990's emo indie rock with interludes of screaming vocals, often accompanied by hardcore or metalcore guitar riffs.

(music) Any punk rock-inspired music that involves screaming vocals, typically referring to the genres described above as well as certain subgenres of hardcore punk.


schismatic

[ʃɪzˈmæɾ.ɪk]

[ʃɪzˈmæɾ.ɪk]

From Middle English scismatik with etymological respelling, from Middle French scismatique, from
 Latin schismaticus, from Ancient Greek σχισματικός (skhismatikós), from σχίσμα (skhísma, “cleft, division”). The music sense is based on schisma, from the same ultimate Greek source; compare schism.


unplugged

(music) Using acoustic instruments, especially instead of electric ones.


electro

en-noun

electro (countable and uncountable, plural electros)

/ɪˈlɛk.tɹəʊ/

(uncountable, music) An electronic style of hip hop; electrofunk.


Motown

Blend of motor + town; see Motor City. The poker slang comes from jacks and fives sounding similar to Jackson 5, associated with Motown popular music.

They may be a rock band, but their retro style shows a heavy Motown influence.

(music, often attributive) A style of popular soul music strongly associated with Motown Records.


title track

(music, film) An audio track having the same name as the album, EP or film that it is taken from.

nimiraita

music, film: audio track with same name as the album, film etc. it is taken from


prolation

prolation (countable and uncountable, plural prolations)

/pɹəʊˈleɪʃən/

From Latin prolationem, from the past participle stem of proferre (“bring forward, produce”).

(music) The relative time value of a minim to a semibreve in medieval music.


alternative rock

It seems as if every passing year sees the mainstream embrace a longtime cult-favorite alternative rock band.

1995 June 3, David Sprague, “Buffalo Tom Reaches Crossroads: EastWest Trio At Make-Or-Break Point”, in Billboard, volume 107, number 22, page 9

(music) A genre of rock music that is normally published on independent labels, comprising of many different subgenres, mostly distinguished by the prevalence of thick and distorted guitar music.


reload

en-verb

reload (third-person singular simple present reloads, present participle reloading, simple past and past participle reloaded)

reloads (present singular third-person)
reloading (participle present)
reloaded (participle past)
reloaded (past)

We're gonna make the stars come out tonight. So why don't you reload,reload, re reload the music?

2013 February 15, “Reload” (track 3), in The Ascent, performed by Wiley, Ms D, and Chip

[Verse 2:Kano]:[…]Mad, reload ting. Pop, pop, pop that's a reload ting. And when I say "It's Kano in the house", everybody knows that's a reload ting.

2016 March 4, “3 Wheel-Ups” (track 4), in Made in the Manor, performed by Kano (British musician),Giggs (rapper),Wiley (musician)

To load (something) again.
(music) To replay music in a DJ set.

To load (something) again.
To replay music in a DJ set.


veloce

(music) (To be played) with great rapidity.


cadenced

en-adj

cadenced (comparative more cadenced, superlative most cadenced)

more cadenced (comparative)
most cadenced (superlative)

(music) Having a regular, rhythmic cadence.


flageolet

(music) A type of small flute of the fipple family.

(music) A technique for playing stringed instrument that produces high-pitched overtones.


c-note

(banknote): From the Roman numeral C (“100”) (which was printed on it) + note. Attested from the 1920s.

(music) The first note in the C chromatic and major scales.


neo soul

She want neo-soul, this hip-hop is old / She don't want no Rock n' Roll

2002, “The Seed (2.0)”, in Phrenology, performed by The Roots

(music) A subgenre of rhythm and blues that combines the elements of contemporary rhythm and blues, 1970s-style soul music, hip hop, rap, jazz, funk, and classical music.


synthpop

Coordinate term: electropop

As well as being forefathers of the synthpop that would dominate the 1980s and beyond, the title track of Trans-Europe Express was sampled in 1982 by Afrika Bambaataa & the Soul Sonic Force for one of the earliest hip-hop hits, Planet Rock, while Computer World was hugely influential on the house and techno music that emerged from Chicago and Detroit that decade.

2020 May 6, Ben Beaumont-Thomas, “Florian Schneider, Kraftwerk co-founder, dies aged 73”, in The Guardian

Steve Bronski, a founding member of the trailblazing British synth-pop trio Bronski Beat, has died, a source close to the group has confirmed.

2021 December 9, Laura Snapes, “Steve Bronski: co-founder of Bronski Beat dies aged 61”, in The Guardian

(music) A style of pop music in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument.


overtone

From over- + tone, calque of German Oberton.

(physics, music) A tone whose frequency is an integer multiple of another; a member of the harmonic series.


infinito

Borrowed from Italian. Doublet of infinite.

(music) infinite; perpetual, as a canon whose end leads back to the beginning


minimalism

en-noun

minimalism (countable and uncountable, plural minimalisms)

(music) A style of music that emphasises extreme simplicity of rhythms and melodic forms to achieve a trancelike effect.


semplice

(music) (To be played) simply, without embellishments.


ensalada

Borrowed from Spanish ensalada. Doublet of salad.

(music) A genre of polyphonic secular music mixing languages and dialects and nonsensical quodlibets.


industrialist

Like a lot of second-wave industrialists, Skinny Puppy's attraction to rhythm wasn't consciously political, but based in the pleasure of making and moving to a beat; Key was, after all, a drummer.

2013, S. Alexander Reed, Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music, page 174

(music) One who performs or enjoys industrial music.


Shepard scale

(music) A series of Shepard tones constructed to give the illusion of a continuously rising (or falling) series of notes.


Shepard tone

(music) A superposition of sine waves, separated by an octave, whose relative amplitude may be varied to give the illusion of a rising or falling note.


handbell

From Middle English handbelle, hande belle, from Old English handbelle (“handbell”), equivalent to hand + bell.

The bell sounded. It was a hand-bell, rung by a boy in the next class-room.

1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 58

(music) A small bell designed to be rung by hand.


megamix

(music) A remix taking the form of a medley, with radical alterations and many constituent pieces of music.

mégamix

a remix taking the form of a medley, with radical alterations and many constituent pieces of music


ossia

(music) In a musical score, an alternative version of a passage, usually just a few measures long. The alternative is usually an easier version of a particularly difficult passage.


remix

→ French: remix

→ Japanese: リミックス (rimikkusu)

→ Portuguese: remix

→ Spanish: remix

→ Turkish: remiks, remix

(music) A rearrangement of an older piece of music, possibly including various cosmetic changes.

ريمكس

(music) A piece of music formed by combining existing pieces of music together, possibly including various other cosmetic changes


remix

en-verb

remix (third-person singular simple present remixes, present participle remixing, simple past and past participle remixed)

remixes (present singular third-person)
remixing (participle present)
remixed (participle past)
remixed (past)

(music, intransitive) To create a remix.

(music, transitive) To rearrange or radically alter (a particular piece of music).


ottavino

(music) A miniature virginal, pitched one octave higher than the larger version.


pan

→? Irish: panna

→ Japanese: パン

From Middle English panne, from Old English panne, from Proto-West Germanic *pannā, from Proto-Germanic *pannǭ, from Late Latin panna, from Latin patina (“broad, shallow dish, pan, stewpan”), from Ancient Greek πατάνη (patánē, “kind of flat dish”), which is probably from Pre-Greek.
Cognate with West Frisian panne, Saterland Frisian Ponne, Dutch pan, German Low German Panne, Pann, German Pfanne, Danish pande, Swedish panna, Icelandic panna.

pan

flat vessel used for cooking — see also frying pan

The steel band transforms the people who play in it and dance to it, and fosters links between them. […] He learned to play the pan and filled in for absent members.

2009, Pnina Werbner, Black and Ethnic Leaderships, page 122


chordal

They play very well together, with Vogl providing the melodic and chordal framework and Shanbaum riffing over it.

1985 December 21, Nan Donald, “Flat-picking up a Storm”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 23, page 11

(mathematics, music) Of, pertaining to, or consisting of chords.

(music) Having an accompaniment of chords rather than a countermelody.


affettuoso

en-adv

affettuoso (comparative more affettuoso, superlative most affettuoso)

more affettuoso (comparative)
most affettuoso (superlative)

Borrowed from Italian affettuoso. Doublet of affectuous.

(music) With feeling; in a loving, tender way.


plagal cadence

A fellow could rely on Market Street only so far, and then even that began to get discouraging, plagal cadences on parlor pianos, bright lights, and mirrors to the contrary notwithstanding.

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 230

(music) A falling cadence in which a subdominant chord precedes the tonic; especially used in an ending Amen.


beatdown

en-noun

beatdown (countable and uncountable, plural beatdowns)

Deverbal from beat down; influenced by earlier throwdown.

(music) A subgenre of hardcore punk influenced by heavy metal.


in time

behind time

antonym(s) of “at or before the time assigned”

late

antonym(s) of “sufficiently early (for)”


attacco

(music) A short musical phrase treated as a point of imitation, for example as the subject of a fugue.


pitchy

en-adj

pitchy (comparative pitchier, superlative pitchiest)

pitchier (comparative)
pitchiest (superlative)

[…] “Auto Tune”—digital voice processing initially designed to correct a “pitchy” (out-of-tune) singer's voice.

2014, Mellonee V. Burnim, Portia K. Maultsby, African American Music, page 381


pop rock

(music) A musical genre combining elements of pop music and rock music.

poproko

genre combining pop music and rock music


anticipation

en-noun

anticipation (countable and uncountable, plural anticipations)

From Middle English anticipacioun, from Latin anticipātiō, anticipātiōnem.

(music) A non-harmonic tone that is lower or higher than a note in the previous chord and a unison to a note in the next chord.


hard rock

(music) A rock music genre marked by a heavy regular beat, high amplification, and usually frenzied performances.


OP

(Internet, music) Initialism of overplayed.


quodlibet

From Latin quod libet (“that which is pleasing”).

(music) A form of music with melodies in counterpoint.


boogaloo

boogaloo (countable and uncountable, plural boogaloos)

/ˈbuːɡəˌluː/

/ˌbuːɡəˈluː/

Attested as a style of dance since at least January 1966 (and found in the titles of many songs around that time), perhaps from boogie (for the ending, compare crackaloo, hullabaloo). (Compare Spanish bugalú, the Spanish name for the style of music and dance.) Kent Harris used the stage name "Boogaloo" in the 1950s. The sense "sequel or repetition" refers to the title of Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984), a sequel which was considered to be so bad it became a cult classic. Compare the sense "black person" to boogalee, a term for a Cajun, attested since 1960 or earlier.

(music, uncountable) A genre of music that blends rhythm and blues and soul music with Cuban-style rhythms, originating in the United States in the 1960s.

Basie played boogie-woogie, and Ellington boleros and boogaloos. To see the Marsalis faction rap a standard or breakdance before the blues would bring them full-circle, in full embrace, […]

They enjoy a martini or a boogaloo in bachelorette apartments in unnamed cities. These album covers plant the seeds for my growing taste for camp and for my use of music as a space for dreaming up new selves.

2013, Francesca T Royster, Sounding Like a No-No: Queer Sounds and Eccentric Acts in the Post-Soul Era, University of Michigan Press, page 34

(music, countable) A piece of music, or an instance of dancing, in or of this style.


sestina

From Italian sestina. Doublet of sextain.

(music) A chord comprising the first six members of the harmonic series.


belting

I could hear you perfectly all the way in the back of the audience! I wish my belting were as good as yours.

Traditionally belting was used by certain character roles in musicals, usually the funny, quirky or feisty female roles.

2015, Gillyanne Kayes, Singing and the Actor, 2nd edition, Routledge, page 156

Kristin Vigard was originally chosen to play Annie, but after only a few performances, she was replaced by Andrea McArdle, who gave the role a tougher veneer (reminiscent of the Our Gang kids) while conveying vulnerability without sentimentality. And McArdle's belting exceeded everyone's wildest imagination. She transformed the writers' initial conception of Annie as a spirited but vocally average little girl into a Broadway diva.

2020, James Leve, “Little girls, big voices: Annie”, in Donelle Ruwe, James Leve, editors, Children, Childhood, and Musical Theater, Routledge, →DOI, page 121

(music, uncountable) The act of singing in chest voice above one's vocal break in a higher range typically sung in head voice.


eighth note

(Canada, US, music) A note having one-eighth the duration of a whole note; a quaver.


quads

(music) a set of four tenor drums played by a drummer, typically in a marching band or drum corps


solfeggio

solfeggio (countable and uncountable, plural solfeggios or solfeggi)

Borrowed from Italian solfeggio. Doublet of solfège.


concertmaster

head

concertmaster (plural concertmasters, feminine concertmistress)

concertmasters (plural)
concertmistress (feminine)

From concert + master, as a calque of German Konzertmeister.

(music, US) The first violin in a symphony orchestra; normally plays violin solos

канцэртма́йстар

the first violin in a symphony orchestra


solfège

en-noun

solfège (usually uncountable, plural solfèges)

Borrowed from French solfège. Doublet of solfeggio.

Her note is F – F in the German naming convention, fa in the solfege system we use in Russia.

2020, Ben Creed, City of Ghosts, London: Welbeck Publishing, page 264

(music) A method of sight singing that uses the syllables do (originally ut), re, mi, fa, sol (or so), la, and si (or ti) to represent the seven principal pitches of the scale, most commonly the major scale. The fixed-do system uses do for C, and the moveable-do system uses do for whatever key the melody uses (thus B is do if the piece is in the key of B). The relative natural minor of a scale may be represented by beginning at la.


headshell

(music) A component of a record player that is attached to the end of a turntable arm. The cartridge is bolted to it.


punker

1977-1980, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure
Four big hippie bikers were out there drinking & eyeing up the punkers.

And famous punker Joe Strummer figures prominently in Mercury's life.

1988 July 29, Diana Spinrad, “Burnin' With the 8 Ball”, in Chicago Reader

She was a crack-up, she thought she was such a punker. She always had some punk group on her headset.

2006, John De Herrera, The Kingsnake in the Sun, page 72

(music, dated slang) Synonym of punk (“a musician known for playing punk rock or a fan of the genre”)


flattop

From flat + top. Sense of “aircraft carrier” attributed to the message, “Scratch one flattop,” radioed during the Battle of the Coral Sea by LCDR Robert E. Dixon to the USS Lexington, whose commanding officer credited the pilot with coining the standard USN slang.

(music) A type of stringed instrument, most often an acoustic guitar, with a flat top (as opposed to an archtop), with strings held in place with pins, and with a complex system of bracing struts on the top.


guiro

The house band consisted of gigantic guitars, fiddles, trumpets, and accordion, with rhythms provided by a batería including timbales, guiros, and congas.

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 721

(music) A musical instrument, a shaker, made of a hollow gourd with parallel notches cut in one side, and played by rubbing a stick or scraper ("pua") along the notches to produce a ratchet-like sound.

刮瓜

musical instrument made of a hollow gourd with parallel notches cut in one side

(music) A genre of traditional Cuban music, used in santería rituals.


traverso

Borrowed from Italian traverso (or flauto traverso). Doublet of transverse.

The historical range will be confined basically to the 17th and 18th centuries, Mr. Polisi added, because the Baroque and Classical repertory allows students to transfer their skills between instruments, with, say, conventional string players adapting to gut strings and Baroque bows, and modern flutists to wooden traversos.

2007 October 29, James R. Oestreich, “Early-Music Maestros Juilliard Plans”, in New York Times

(music) A transverse flute of the Baroque period, made in three or four sections with a conical bore from the head joint down.


rhythm stick

The kids in the courtyard played with a rhythm stick so that they could learn rhythm.

(music) One of a set of cylindrical hardwood sticks used as a percussion instrument, especially by children learning the rudiments of rhythm


polyvalence

polyvalence (countable and uncountable, plural polyvalences)

(uncountable, music) A quality of music that is played in more than one harmonic function in the same key.


zhu

The atonal pinyin romanization of the standard Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 筑 (zhù or zhú).

(music, historical) An ancient Chinese string instrument thought to have had a rectangular zither-like body with silk strings played with a bow.


bis key

(music) A key using alternative fingerings for certain notes on woodwind instruments. Specifically, a key that is located between the first and second keys operated by the left hand on a saxophone. Pressing LH1 and the bis key simultaneously results in the sounding of a written Bb. This is especially useful when playing in keys with many flats.


Floydian

en-adj

Floydian (comparative more Floydian, superlative most Floydian)

more Floydian (comparative)
most Floydian (superlative)

I have my own notions, though I hesitate to expound too deeply lest anyone accuse me of taking things Floydian too seriously.

2005, Russel Reising, Speak To Me: the legacy of Pink Floyd's The dark side of the moon, page xiii

The new Gilmour-led Floyd sounds infinitely more ‘Floydian' than Roger Waters' dirge-like solo albums.

2003, Peter Buckley, The Rough Guide to Rock, page 7

The unmistakable "Floydian" sound is captured in all its glory on this LP: the use of hypnotic slow tempos, the lush textures of the instruments, the gorgeous guitar and saxophone solos, and the dark lyrical vision courtesy of Mr. Waters.

1998, Tim Morse, Classic Rock Stories: The Stories Behind the Greatest Songs of All Time, page 184

Although far from a Floydian concept album, ‘The Division Bell' has a general theme of communication gone wrong.

1995, Andy Mabbett, The Complete Guide to the Music of Pink Floyd, page 119

A ten-minute Floydian trip from the London rockers’ forthcoming ninth album [subtitle]

2021 July 23, Ellie Robinson, “Coldplay shoot for the stars with their cinematic new track ‘Coloratura’”, in NME

(music) Of, related to, or similar to the band Pink Floyd or their music; psychedelic.


capriccio

en-noun

capriccio (plural capriccios or capricci)

/kəˈpɹiːt͡ʃoʊ/

Borrowed from Italian capriccio. Doublet of caprice.

(music) A piece of music, usually fairly free in form and of a lively character.


HIP

historically informed performance
w:historically informed performance

(music) Acronym of historically informed performance.


andantino

en-adv

andantino (comparative more andantino, superlative most andantino)

more andantino (comparative)
most andantino (superlative)

From Italian andantino, the diminutive of andante.

(music) Of a tempo that is slightly faster than andante but slower than moderato.


ruan

Borrowed from Mandarin 阮 (short for 阮咸, ruǎnxián).

(music) A Chinese long-necked fretted round-bodied plucked lute which has, since the mid-20th century, been produced in a family of five sizes (from low to high).


contra-octave

(music) The octave directly below the great octave.


great octave

(music) The octave that begins on the C that is two ledger lines below the staff of the bass clef


xun

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 塤／埙 (xūn).

(music) A globular vessel flute made of clay or ceramic originating from China.


courante

(music) An old French dance from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era in triple metre.

(music) The second movement of a baroque suite (following the allemande, and before the sarabande)


qin

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 琴 (qín).

... there was no longer anyone worth playing his qin for, so he broke his instrument and never played again. The guqin was also a means of expressing love.

1989, Zhongguo fu li hui, Chung-kuo fu li hui, China Reconstructs

He makes his qin students take calligraphy with him, and calligraphy and painting students play the qin.

2006, Dana Standridge, Lessons in Essence: A Novel

Knowing that we play the qin, they told us that there was a qin in the teahouse, but only for decoration – no one there actually knew how to play it.

2016 December 30, “Oral history book explores true meaning of tradition by recounting the revival of qin”, in Shanghai Daily

(music) Any of several traditional Chinese musical instruments, most commonly the seven-stringed instrument more specifically called the guqin.


LH

en-noun

LH (countable and uncountable, plural LHs)

(music, knitting) Initialism of left hand.


vigoroso

Borrowed from Italian vigoroso. Doublet of vigorous.

(music) A tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played with emphasis, spirit, vigour or energy.


vigoroso

(music) Of a passage: (to be) played in this style.


yue

The atonal pinyin romanization of the standard Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 籥 (yuè).

(music, historical) An ancient Chinese wind instrument thought to have been a long piece of bamboo with holes drilled in


bird's-eye

bird's-eye (countable and uncountable, plural bird's-eyes)

(music, colloquial) A fermata (notation).


gusli

(music) A plucked psaltery-like string instrument, usually played on the lap and sometimes created with table legs so that the musician can play it seated next to the instrument, originating in ancient Russian music.


nai

(music) A Romanian diatonic pan flute used since the 17th century.


kantele

From Finnish kantele. Ultimate etymology contested; see Proto-Finnic *kandël for theories.

With his fingers Väinämöinen played / with its strings the kantele rang out […].

1989, Elias Lönnrot, translated by Keith Bosley, The Kalevala, section XLIV

(music) A plucked string instrument (a zither) of the Baltic psaltery family, traditionally with five strings but now more widely varying, originating in the folk music of Finland, where it is seen as a national symbol.


cold wave

cold wave (countable and uncountable, plural cold waves)

Not so much forgotten as little heard in the first place, cold wave – and its dancier, synth-powered cousin, minimal wave – finds its roots in early 80s France.

2009 July 13, Louis Pattison, “Scene and heard: Cold wave”, in The Guardian

(uncountable, music) Alternative spelling of coldwave (“European post-punk music sub-genre”)


tin whistle

(music) A small, high-pitched metal whistle with six holes that is blown using a fipple.


Cantopop

Mandopop and its Cantonese equivalent, Cantopop, are subsets of Chinese pop, or C-pop, whose roots stretch back almost 100 years.

2024 January 20, Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, “An Asian megastar who fills arenas in Europe–so who is he?”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 14

(music) Cantonese pop music, originating from Guangdong and Hong Kong.


ney

A few weeks later Adille phoned me to say that he had just met a person who had begun to make neys from special reeds that he found on an island in the Yarra River in Melbourne, of all places.

2013, Helen Cox, Peter Roberts, The Harp and the Ferryman


grandioso

Borrowed from Italian grandioso, from Latin grandis (“great, grand”) (English grand). Doublet of grandiose.

(music) A tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played in a grand and noble style


grandioso

en-adv

grandioso (comparative more grandioso, superlative most grandioso)

more grandioso (comparative)
most grandioso (superlative)


grandioso

(music) describing a passage having this mark


homophony

(music) a texture in which two or more parts move together in harmony, the relationship between them creating chords.


ophicleide

From ophi- (variant of ophio-) + Ancient Greek κλείς (kleís).

affix

(music) A keyed brass baritone bugle, now replaced by the tuba in orchestral music


pyknon

From Ancient Greek πυκνόν (puknón), form of Ancient Greek πυκνός (puknós, “dense, compressed”).

der

(music) The lower part of a tetrachord in Ancient Greek music, consisting of a composite interval (two successive intervals) that is less than the remaining (incomposite) interval.


octobass

(music) A very large double bass requiring two musicians, one to finger and one to bow.


bluesy

en-adj

bluesy (comparative bluesier, superlative bluesiest)

bluesier (comparative)
bluesiest (superlative)

When he entered the kitchen, Vida was folding clothes and singing along to some bluesy country music on the radio.

2003, Toni Morrison, Love, Vintage (2016), page 46

(music, informal) Characteristic of, or similar to, the blues (a genre of music).


page-turner

She's a famous soloist today, but she did her time as a page-turner, just as many others have done.

(music) A person who is responsible for turning the pages of another musician’s (especially a pianist or organist’s) sheet music during a performance.

tourneur de pages

person who turns another musician's pages


aeolian harp

Refers to Aeolus, who in Greek mythology was said to control the winds.

1894, Ivan Dexter, Talmud: A Strange Narrative of Central Australia, published in serial form in Port Adelaide News and Lefevre's Peninsula Advertiser (SA), Chapter III, http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks16/1600641.txt
[…] the noise made by the beating of the waves on the land and the sighing of the wind amongst the pendulous leaves—or rather pendant fringe of the casuarina or she-oak, those aeolian harps of the Australian bush, almost drowned their voices.

(music) An open box over which strings are stretched that sound when the wind passes over them.


bandoneon

From Spanish bandoneón, from German Bandoneon, named after Heinrich Band.

a. 1989, Paul Honigsheim, “Governmental Control of Music in Hitler Germany”, in Paul Honigsheim (auth.), K. Peter Etzkorn (ed.), Sociologists and Music: An Introduction to the Study of Music and Society, Second Edition, Transaction Publishers (1989), →ISBN, page 203,
Another indication of these changes in musical practice was the emphasis given to instruments that had either been eliminated from symphonic orchestras or had never been so used, such as mandolins of all classes (including mandolas and mandacellos with had lower ranges) and the bandoneon in all of its ranges. These instruments had always been popular with the German people, and with Hitler’s rise to power were included in various public bands.

Piazzolla studied piano in New York with Rachmaninoff and went to France to study with Nadia Boulanger, but his first and favorite instrument was the bandoneon, an accordion-like instrument invented in 1854 by Heinrich Band that has a series of buttons instead of piano keys.

2002, Alexander J. Morin, editor, Classical Music, Backbeat Books, page 700

Created as an aggressive dance, expressing the dancers’ sexual instincts more than their feelings, and with the addition of the bandoneon as a predominant musical instrument, the tango acquired its characteristic, definitive rhythm and sound.

2004, Carlos G. Groppa, The Tango in the United States, McFarland & Company, page 15

(music) A small Latin American accordion played with buttons which is frequently used in tango ensembles.


sound box

(music) The open chamber (resonator) of a stringed musical instrument, which intensifies its tone.

резонатор

resonant chamber of a stringed musical instrument


mandola

From Italian mandola. Doublet of pandura.

(music) A stringed musical instrument resembling the mandolin, but of larger size and tuned lower.


rebab

Compare Arabic رَبَابَة (rabāba), Middle French rebec, Persian رباب (robâb).

A last cricket scratched mournfully at its rebab.

2007, Michael Chabon, Gentlemen of the Road, Sceptre, published 2008, page 62

(music) A stringed musical instrument, related to the lute, used especially in Islamic countries


strophic

strophic (comparative more strophic, superlative most strophic)

more strophic (comparative)
most strophic (superlative)

through-composed

antonym(s) of “having each stanza set to the same music”

(music) Of a song, composed so that every stanza is set to the same music.


galliard

en-noun

galliard (countable and uncountable, plural galliards)

(music) The triple-time music for this dance.


sing along

en-verb

sing along (third-person singular simple present sings along, present participle singing along, simple past sang along, past participle sung along)

sings along (present singular third-person)
singing along (participle present)
sang along (past)
sung along (participle past)

If you know the song, sing along with me!

(idiomatic, music) To sing some music while someone else is singing or playing the same piece of music or while it is being broadcast or performed


tasto

(music) A key or similar part of a musical instrument that is touched to produce a sound


fallboard

(music) The hinged cover which protects the keyboard of a piano when not in use


grupetto

(music) A group of notes played together that are added to the melody, also known as the "turn" or grace notes.


drawbar

(music) A sliding bar on a Hammond organ, controlling the volume of a waveform.


sideman

(music) A soloist playing with a band or group of which he is not a regular member.


falloff

Jazz symbols include many contoured articulations and inflections, such as doits, fall-offs, and scoops.

1995, Music & Computers, volume 1, numbers 2-4, page 57

(music) A note immediately followed by a rapidly descending group of notes.


fill-in

The following abbreviations are used for all drum solos and fill-ins.

2005, Ted Reed -, Drum Solos and Fill-Ins for the Progressive Drummer

Fill-ins usually happen at the end of a four or eight-measure musical phrase.

2011, Rob Leytham, Rock Drumming & Soloing Methods, page 9

(music) A musical embellishment (usually percussion) that is added to connect musical phrases.


grand piano

(music) A large piano in which the strings are strung horizontally in a heavy frame shaped like a harp


top 40

en-noun

top 40 (countable and uncountable, plural top 40s)

(music, countable) A list of the current 40 songs that are most popular with the general public (variously measured).

Coordinate term: CHR

I was listening to a top 40 radio station.

Nearly every history of Top 40 launches from an anecdote about how radio station manager Todd Storz came up with the idea sometime between World War II and the early 1950s, watching with friends in a bar in Omaha as customers repeatedly punched up the same few songs on the jukebox.

2014, Eric Weisbard, Top 40 Democracy […], University of Chicago Press, page 4

(music, radio, uncountable) A radio format for popular music, usually including the 40 most popular songs at a given time.


probationer

(UK, music) A chorister in their training period before full admission to a choir, whether or not that period is probationary.


fioritura

/fjɒɹɪˈtjuːɹə/

He groped for his loafers and walked aimlessly for some times among the trees of the coppice where thrushes were singing so richly, with such sonorous force, such fluty fioriture that one could not endure the agony of consciousness, the filth of life, the loss, the loss, the loss.

1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin, published 2011, page 228

(music) A musical embellishment or ornamentation.


chordophone

(music) Any musical instrument that produces sound from one or more vibrating strings; a string instrument.

cordòfon

chordophone — see also stringed instrument


round robin

/ˌɹaʊnd ˈɹɒbɪn/

From round (adjective) + robin. Sense 1 (“senses relating to something with a round shape, or which goes around”) is connected with the word round, while sense 2 (“senses relating to people, animals, or plants”) is connected with some English regional senses of the word robin where it is used in the names of various fish and plants which are not related to the red-breasted bird. However, apart from the alliteration, it is not clear why the two words came to be linked together in compounds. It is possible that the term was first used to refer to sense 1.13.1 (“consecrated host”) which appears to be the earliest attested sense, and then extended to other senses either having the sense of round or robin.
Alternatively, it has been suggested that the term is a corruption of French ruban rond (literally “round ribbon”), referring to the practice in 17th-century France of signing on ribbons which were then attached to petitions of grievances in a circular manner: see sense 1.1. However, this etymology does not explain the senses of the term unrelated to a signed document.

der

If you load a saxophone sound, for example, the library gives you the entire range of the instrument, with round robins, and a depth of velocity-triggered samples for each note.

2019 August 15, L. J. Howard, Tommy Gordon, “Computing Resources (CPU) Tips”, in Music Production Tips, Tricks, and Secrets, [United States]: Fretboard Media Group

(also attributive) Senses relating to something with a round shape, or which goes around.

(music) The MIDI technique of using different sampled versions of the same sound for successive notes, to avoid an unnaturally repetitive effect.


pulsatile

en-adj

pulsatile (comparative more pulsatile, superlative most pulsatile)

more pulsatile (comparative)
most pulsatile (superlative)

From post-classical Latin pulsatilis, from the participle stem of Latin pulsāre (“to pulse”).

(music) Of a musical instrument: played by striking or beating.


modal scale

(music) A tonal scale used in most forms of Western music.


suona

From the Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 嗩吶／唢呐 (suǒnà), from Persian سورنا (sornâ). Doublet of zurna and horn.

zh-l

嗩吶／唢呐 (suǒnà)

(music) A traditional Chinese double-reeded horn with a distinctively loud and high-pitched sound.


volti

From Italian voltare (“to turn a page”).


saltato

(music) A "springing" stroke in playing the violin.


chicha

From a popular song entitled La Chichera (“the chicha seller”), referring to the fermented beverage.

/ˈt͡ʃiːt͡ʃə/

(music) A genre of popular Peruvian music related to cumbia and native Peruvian huayno.


tremando

(music) Played in a trembling, wavering manner.


tremando

(music) A passage played in a trembling, wavering manner.


scherzino

en-noun

scherzino (plural scherzinos or scherzini)


scherzando

en-adv

scherzando (comparative more scherzando, superlative most scherzando)

more scherzando (comparative)
most scherzando (superlative)

(music) In a playful or sportive manner.


scherzando

en-noun

scherzando (plural scherzandos or scherzandi)

scherzandos (plural)
scherzandi (plural)

(music) A piece of music to be played in a playful or sportive manner.


gusle

Borrowed from Serbo-Croatian gȕsle／гу̏сле. Doublet of gusli.

bor+

gȕsle//гу̏сле

Songs of Brankovich's speed are sung to the strains of the gusle.

1988, Milorad Pavić, translated by Christina Pribićević-Zorić, Dictionary of the Khazars, Vintage, published 1989, page 30

(music) A single-stringed lute-like musical instrument with a bowl-shaped body, held vertically in the lap and played a bow, originating among the Slavic peoples in the Balkans, especially in the Dinarides region.


decani

Borrowed from Latin decānī (“of the dean”).

All the extant voices participate fully in the decani-cantoris split at that point, so one is tempted to assume that the tenors split into decani and cantoris parts as well.

1988, Gordon Paine, Howard Swan, Five Centuries of Choral Music: Essays in Honor of Howard Swan, page 105

(music) The higher of two choral voice parts sung when a part splits into two; traditionally sung by members of the choir on the decani side.

(music) That half of the choir singing decani parts, collectively.


tune up

en-verb

tune up (third-person singular simple present tunes up, present participle tuning up, simple past and past participle tuned up)

tunes up (present singular third-person)
tuning up (participle present)
tuned up (participle past)
tuned up (past)

(intransitive, music) To tune one's instrument in preparation for performance.


toccata

(music) A piece of music (usually for a keyboard instrument) designed to emphasise the dexterity of the performer.


fioriture

/fjɔːɹɪˈtʊəɹeɪ/

From Italian, plural of fioritura (“a flowering”).

(music) flourishes in a melody by a singer or musician.


cambiata

(music) A pattern in a homophonic or polyphonic (and usually contrapuntal) setting of a melody where a note is skipped from (typically by an interval of a third) in one direction (either going up or down in pitch) followed by the note skipped to, and then by motion in the opposite direction, and where either the note skipped from is distinguished as a dissonance or the note skipped to is distinguished as a non-harmonic or non-chordal tone.


quinticlave

From Latin quīnque (“five”) + clavis (“key”), formed as a calque of French quinte à clef.


rigadoon

From French rigaudon. Ultimate origin unknown; perhaps related to Hebrew ריקודים or Arabic رقص.


nu metal

Sensational spelling of new + (heavy) metal

Which nu-metal song has rocked your world this year?

2004, BBC for kidz - nu-metal song of the year

Nu metal band Korn is back with a big tour, no-name album.

2007, Post Gazette (Pittsburgh), 1 Aug 2007 (headline) https://web.archive.org/web/20071208125956/http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07214/806207-388.stm

(music) A subgenre of heavy metal music from the 1990s and 2000s with some sounds and influences from grunge and hip-hop.


animato

(music) A passage to be played in a lively, animated manner.


animato

(music) (To be played) in a lively, animated manner.


portamento

en-noun

portamento (plural portamentos or portamenti)

portamentos (plural)
portamenti (plural)

/pɔːtəˈmɛntəʊ/

From Italian portamento, from portare (“bear, carry”).

The music was feral, Eastern in scale, flattened seconds and sixths, and a kind of fretless portamento between

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 945

(music) A smooth, gliding transition from one note to another; used especially with stringed instruments, and sometimes on brass.


collabo

Audio (US)

(music, slang) A collaboration with another artist, in urban contemporary music.


collabo

en-verb

collabo (third-person singular simple present collabos, present participle collaboing, simple past and past participle collaboed)

collabos (present singular third-person)
collaboing (participle present)
collaboed (participle past)
collaboed (past)

Audio (US)

The Yohimbe Brothers are DJ Logic (the jazz-influenced turntable wizard who had collaboed with Medeski Martin And Wood and Body Count) and guitarist Vernon Reid (the dreaded fret-monster behind Living Colour and various solo excursions) […]

2004, CMJ New Music Report, number 891, page 6

(music, slang, intransitive) To collaborate with another artist, in urban contemporary music.


doom metal

Perhaps from the 1986 album title Epicus Doomicus Metallicus or maybe from the 1970 Black Sabbath song "Hand of Doom".

Devotees of doom metal often cite as early instances of the sub-genre mid-1980s albums by Saint Vitus and Candlemass, the title of Candlemass' 1986 Epicus Doomicus Metallicus perhaps inspiring the sub-genre's eventual designation.

2016, Ronald Bogue, Deleuze's Way: Essays in Transverse Ethics and Aesthetics, Routledge, page 39

(music) A subgenre of heavy metal characterised by a slow tempo and low-tuned guitars, often emphasizing despairing lyrics.


black metal

(music) A subgenre of heavy metal employing fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars, double-kick drumming, raw recording and unconventional song structure, often emphasizing antireligious and misanthropic themes.

(music, dated, 1980s and early 1990s) Any form of extreme metal having a Satanic or anti-Christian theme.


limberjack

(music) An American folk percussion instrument consisting of a dancing wooden doll and a flexible plank.


tremolando

en-noun

tremolando (plural tremolandos or tremolandi)

tremolandos (plural)
tremolandi (plural)

From Italian tremolando (past participle of tremolare).

bor

past participle of <i class="Latn mention" lang="it">tremolare</i>

[…] Mr. Osorio offered Albéniz’s “Suite Española” No. 1 in a reading notable for its high-energy performances of “Granada,” with its lilting melody weaving through guitarlike figuration, and “Asturias,” in which a serpentine theme is wrapped in a hypnotic tremolando figure.

2007 January 24, Allan Kozinn, “Returning to New York, Forcefully”, in New York Times

Wolf's own Wagner paraphrases (c. 1882) often presage the piano parts of his later songs, both in their part-writing and in their transcription of orchestral effects such as string runs or tremolandos.

The characteristic surface element of the dense tremolandi is immediately projected into the ensemble and conditions all the different means of sound production available, including the unpitched sound of the tam-tam.

2017, Janet K. Halfyard, Berio's Sequenzas: Essays on Performance, Composition and Analysis


fondamento

Borrowed from Italian fondamento (“foundation”). Doublet of fundament.

John Frederick Peter, born in 1746, left behind him an ambitious work, dated 1763, entitled Partitur einer Freuden Music zum Friedens Dank Feste, scored for four-part chorus and strings, two flutes, two trumpets and fondamento."

1931, John Tasker Howard, Our American Music: Three Hundred Years of It, page 25

In the same collection there appeared a quatuor with four melodic instruments: flute, oboe, violin, and cello, besides the fondamento or figured bass.

1949, Ruth Halle Rowen, Early chamber music, page 79

Further, it is clear from the score that the "fifth horn in B-flat basso" is in reality only a fondamento part performed by the basso continuo in imitation of and to support the upper lines;

2000, Historic Brass Society Journal - Volume 12, page 152

The Fondamento really is very basic, though the detailed fingerings are of interest.

2006, Early Music Review - Issues 111-116, page 4

(music) An instrumental bass part that forms the basis of the melody, and against which other instruments provide harmony.


peghead

(music) The part of a stringed instrument, at the end of the neck, that holds the pegs or mechanical tuners used to control string tension.


coloration

en-noun

coloration (countable and uncountable, plural colorations)

From French coloration, from Latin colōrātiō.

(music) A notational device for indicating hemiola through either use of red ink (in mensural black notation) or black noteheads (in mensural white notation).

(music) Ornamental division (also called passaggi, glosas, diminutions. etc.) employing rapid black notes.


gustoso

en-adv

gustoso (comparative more gustoso, superlative most gustoso)

more gustoso (comparative)
most gustoso (superlative)


ciphering

(music) A cipher (fault in an organ valve which causes a pipe to sound continuously without the key having been pressed).


plainsong

en-noun

plainsong (countable and uncountable, plural plainsongs)

From plain + song, calque of Latin cantus planus.

(music) A form of monophonic chant in unison using the Gregorian scale, sung in various Christian churches.

(music) A cantus firmus or theme chosen for contrapuntal treatment; so called because often an actual fragment of plain-song.

(music) The simple notes of an air, without ornament or variation.


rinforzando

(music) A style of playing with special emphasis.


overproduce

en-verb

overproduce (third-person singular simple present overproduces, present participle overproducing, simple past and past participle overproduced)

overproduces (present singular third-person)
overproducing (participle present)
overproduced (participle past)
overproduced (past)

(music, derogatory) To apply excess modifications to musical recordings, such as adding effects.


tambour

en-noun

tambour (countable and uncountable, plural tambours)

Borrowed from French tambour (“drum”), from Arabic طُنْبُور (ṭunbūr), from the Middle Persian ancestor of Classical Persian تنبور (tanbūr). Doublet of tabor. Compare Armenian տաւիղ (tawiġ), and tabla.


scorrendo

(music) Gliding or passing smoothly between tones.


divisi

(music) divided (within one instrumental part, simultaneous notes between two or more players)


mordente

(music) An embellishment resembling a trill.


string instrument

string instrument (plural string instruments)

(music) A musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings.


retrograde inversion

retrograde inversion (countable and uncountable, plural retrograde inversions)

(music) A technique where the composer will take the inversion of the tone row, and write that backwards, thus creating a retrograded inversion of the original note row.

(music) A composition technique where the composer inverts the retrograde of a melody or makes the retrograde of the inversion of the melody, using only notes in the same key as the original melody.


woodwind instrument

woodwind instrument (plural woodwind instruments)

Coordinate term: brass instrument

(music) A musical instrument in which sound is produced by blowing against an edge or by vibrating a thin piece of wood or metal known as the reed, and in which the pitch is governed by the resonant frequencies of an enclosed air column.


basso continuo

basso continuo (usually uncountable, plural basso continuos)

Borrowed from Italian basso continuo (literally “continuous bass”).

bor

(music) The continuous realization of harmony throughout a musical piece, usually by a harpsichord and/or cello, typical of the Baroque period. Abbreviation: bc.


figured bass

en-noun

figured bass (countable and uncountable, plural figured basses)

(music) A musical notation in which intervals, chords and harmonizations are indicated by numbers written below a given bass note.


bouffe

Born as a French satiric form with the bouffes of Jacques Offenbach in the 1850s, it moved on, like most Parisian fashions, to Vienna[…].

2007 January 9, Anne Midgette, “Retrofitting Operetta for a 21st-Century Crowd”, in New York Times


speedcore

(music) A very fast type of hardcore techno.


stringed instrument

stringed instrument (plural stringed instruments)

Coordinate term: wind instrument

(music) Any musical instrument in which taut strings are plucked, bowed or struck in order to produce a sound.


reentrant

(music, of a ukulele or similar instrument) Having the strings not ordered according to pitch (having a re-entry).


duodene

From mediaeval Latin duodena (“dozen”), from duodeni.

(music) A schematic group of twelve notes.


mensurable

en-adj

mensurable (comparative more mensurable, superlative most mensurable)

more mensurable (comparative)
most mensurable (superlative)

/ˈmɛnt͡ʃəɹəbəl/

/ˈmɛnt͡ʃɹəbəl/

From Middle English mensurable, from Medieval Latin mensūrābilis.

Mensurable music is song measured by long and short units of time.

1998, William Oliver Strunk, Leo Treitler, Source Readings in Music History, page 227


mensuration

en-noun

mensuration (countable and uncountable, plural mensurations)

/ˌmɛnsjəˈɹeɪʃən/

[ˌmɛnʃəˈɹeɪʃn̩]

From Middle French mensuration, from Late Latin mensūrātiōnem (“a measuring”).

der

Different levels of mensuration have different roles in the musical structure. The most prominent one is the one corresponding to the compositional tactus. Rhythmic groups may contradict the mensuration temporarily, but in the examples in this book, they never do so throughout an entire piece.

2015, Ruth I. DeFord, Tactus, Mensuration and Rhythm in Renaissance Music, page 470

(music) A 13th century system for governing rhythmic relationships in music that was a precursor to the modern use of time signatures; The use of mensural notation.


stride bass

(music) A musical device with leaping between the bass and harmony notes in the left hand part of a piano accompaniment.


cross-phrasing

en-noun

cross-phrasing (usually uncountable, plural cross-phrasings)

(music) Musical device with a syncopated effect, usually when groups of three quavers cut across the beat.


virtuosic

en-adj

virtuosic (comparative more virtuosic, superlative most virtuosic)

more virtuosic (comparative)
most virtuosic (superlative)

(music) requiring a high level of technical skill.


Phrygian cadence

en-noun

Phrygian cadence (plural Phrygian cadences)

(music) A type of imperfect cadence frequently found in Baroque compositions. The gesture consists of a iv⁶–V final cadence in the minor mode at the end of a slow movement or slow introduction. It implies that a fast movement is to follow without pause, generally in the same key.


Picardy third

(music) A major third in the final tonic chord of a minor-key passage.


submediant

(music) The sixth note of a scale, shown as VI.


supertonic

(music) The second note in a diatonic scale.


pavane

→ Welsh: pafán

From French pavane, from dialectal Italian pavana, contraction of the older padovana, feminine of padovano, meaning from the city of Padua (Italian Padova, dialectal form Pava).

[…] if the men should not agree what to play, but one would have a grave Pavane, another a nimbler Galliard, a third some frisking toy or Iigg, and then all of them should be wilful, none yield to his fellow, but every one scrape on his own tune as loud as he could: what a hideous hateful noise may you imagine would such a mess of Musick be?

1656, Robert Sanderson, Twenty Sermons, London: Henry Seile, Sermon 13, p. 267

(music) A musical style characteristic of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Why then be merry; be merry, or I’le be
Out of humour, and then who shall dance the Pavan
With Ossorio?

1664, Thomas Porter, The Carnival, London: Henry Herringman, act II, scene 1, page 25

From the wings I heard and watched the pavane of tragedy move steadily toward its climax.

1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 33, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York: Bantam, published 1971, pages 218–219

(music, dance) A moderately slow, courtly processional dance in duple time/meter.


stringendo

stringendo (plural stringendos or stringendi)

stringendos (plural)
stringendi (plural)

(music) A passage in music to be played gradually faster; a section of music with in which the tempo slowly increases.


stringendo

(music) Played with gradually increasing tempo.


kanon

From Ancient Greek κᾰνών (kanṓn, “straight rod, bar”). Doublet of cannon, canon, and canyon.

der

(music) Synonym of monochord (used mainly in reference to ancient Greek music)


kanon

(music) Synonym of qanun (used mainly in reference to Armenian music)


altissimo

He could fold the full pitch range of the horn into a short solo, from altissimo to the lowest notes, and connect rarefied ideas to the rich, soulful phrasing of saxophonists like Junior Walker.

2007 January 14, Ben Ratliff, “Michael Brecker Dies at 57; Prolific Jazz Saxophonist”, in New York Times

(music) The highest register of a woodwind instrument, or a specific note in this register


opera buffa

From Italian opera buffa (“comic opera”).

(music) A form of Italian comic opera popular in the 18th century.


part song

(music) A form of unaccompanied, often homophonic, vocal composition usually for a few voices or a small choir


gnossienne

(music, often capitalized) Any of several compositions having a dance-like quality


incipit

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-incipit.wav

Borrowed from Latin incipit (“it begins”).

(music) The first few bars of a piece of music.


e-flat major

(music) Alternative spelling of E flat major


minor chord

(music) Any musical chord which has a minor third, as opposed to a major third, above its root, especially a minor triad.


raking

(music) a bass guitar playing technique in which multiple notes are played rapidly from one string to another.


transposing

Trumpet is a transposing instrument while trombone is not.

(music) Written in a different pitch to how it sounds.

transponerend

written in a different pitch to how it sounds


purfling

The purfling on this violin is exceptionally beautiful.

(music, chiefly lutherie) Two or more very narrow strips of black wood enclosing a lighter-coloured strip of wood set close to the edge of the top and back of a string instrument such as a violin, cello or a guitar, following its outline, or this effect simulated with paint.


sortita

From Italian sortita. Doublet of sortie.

(music) A closing voluntary; a postlude.


signature tune

(music, broadcasting) The tune that opens and/or closes a radio or television programme.


pasillo

Borrowed from Spanish pasillo (literally “corridor”).

bor+

(music) A South American genre of music with some of the features of European classical dance.


lamellophone

percussion idiophone
percussion idiophone

(music) Any of several musical instruments (percussion idiophones) in which the sound is produced by plucking a series of thin lamellae attached to a sounding board.


sanza

Sanza making is not at all specialized; anyone who wants to play the sanza makes their own. This xylophone is an instrument whose use crosses ethnic groups; one variation of it is known as the balafon.

2015, Toyin Falola, Daniel Jean-Jacques, editors, Africa: An Encyclopedia of Culture and Society, ABC-CLIO, page 217

(music) Any type of mbira (thumb piano, a plucked lamellophone) of Southern African origin.


harmonizer

(music) An electronic pitch shift effect where the shifted version is played alongside the original in harmony.


double reed

(music) A pair of reeds, in any of several wind instruments, that are joined together and vibrate together.

To me, the bassoon is the greatest of the double reeds.

(music, by extension) An instrument using a double reed.


lagerphone

1991, Experimental Musical Instruments, Volumes 7-8, page 19,
In Dunsan Makavejev′s film “The Coca-Cola Kid” (1984) the country band (Conways Carnival) performing “Waltzing Matilda” includes a lagerphone player who, in addition to hitting the stick against the ground strikes it with a stick swung in mock-bowing fashion.

2003, John Shepherd et al. (editors), “Lagerphone”, entry in Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, Volume II: Performance and Production, page 379,
In its modern form the lagerphone is of Australian origin and is a percussive instrument that produces a rhythmic effect similar to that of the tambourine.

Our three piece band consisted of Robyn on lagerphone, me on guitar and a Norwegian guitar player called Tore Nielsen.

2011, Chris Buch, Hello Sunshine: A Blitz Kid′s Journey to the Sunshine State, page 227

(Australia, music) A generally homemade percussion instrument consisting of crown cap beer bottle tops loosely nailed to a pole (often a broom handle) and a board mounted cross-ways on the pole (the head of the broom), and played by striking the pole on the ground or with a stick, by drawing the serrated stick across the pole, or by shaking the instrument.


downbeat

(music) The accented beat at the beginning of a bar (indicated by a conductor with a downward stroke).


spiccato

en-adj

spiccato (comparative more spiccato, superlative most spiccato)

more spiccato (comparative)
most spiccato (superlative)

Borrowed from Italian spiccato, past participle of spiccare (“to detach, to separate”).

(music) Detached; separated; with every note performed in a distinct and pointed manner.


spiccato

Most libraries have smooth, buttery legatos and exciting, natural-sounding spiccatos.

2019, Gina Zdanowicz, Spencer Bambrick, The Game Audio Strategy Guide: A Practical Course

(music) A manner of playing a stringed instrument such that the bow is bounced off the strings after each note.


cithara

en-noun

cithara (plural citharas or citharai or citharae or (archaic) citharæ)

citharas (plural)
citharai (plural)
citharae (plural)
citharæ (archaic plural)

From Latin cithara, from Ancient Greek κιθάρα (kithára). Doublet of cither, guitar, kithara, kissar, and zither.

doublet

(music) An ancient Greek stringed instrument, which could be considered a forerunner of the guitar


string band

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


inharmonious

en-adj

inharmonious (comparative more inharmonious, superlative most inharmonious)

more inharmonious (comparative)
most inharmonious (superlative)


Gt

(music, Japan) Abbreviation of guitar (of a rock band)


consonance

en-noun

consonance (countable and uncountable, plural consonances)

From Middle English consonance, from Middle French consonance, from Latin cōnsonantia. Doublet of consonancy. By surface analysis, con- + son- + -ance.

surf

Like a musical string, the optic nerve responds to the waves with which it is in consonance, while it refuses to be excited by others of almost infinitely greater energy, whose period of recurrence are not in unison with its own.

1865, John Tyndall, On Radiation: The "Rede" Lecture, Delivered in the Senate-house Before the University of Cambridge on Tuesday, May 16, 1865, page 33

(chiefly music) Harmony; agreement; absence of discordance.


dangdut

From the Javanese onomatopoeia for the sound of the tabla, reportedly coined by the music magazine Aktuil.

(music) A genre of Indonesian music that combines elements of Arab and Malay folk music.


mensural

From Latin mēnsūrālis, from mēnsūra (“measure”) + -ālis.


darbuka

/ˌdɑːˈbuːkə/

Borrowed from Arabic دَرْبُوكَة (darbūka).

(music) A type of goblet drum, originating in the Middle East and North Africa.


torcher

/ˈtɔːt͡ʃə(ɹ)/

-ɔː(ɹ)tʃə(ɹ)

[…] their set includes a Patsy Cline torcher and reaches some sort of peak with a 29-song Irving Berlin medley.

1988 August 26, Neil Tesser, “Montgomery, Plant & Stritch”, in Chicago Reader


psychobilly

(music) A genre of popular music, blending rockabilly with punk rock, that has grotesque or humorous lyrics which often draw heavily on the imagery of 1950s science fiction and horror films.


samplist

(music) A person who makes music by use of sampling


sampladelic

en-adj

sampladelic (comparative more sampladelic, superlative most sampladelic)

more sampladelic (comparative)
most sampladelic (superlative)

(music) Describing a form of popular music in which sampling is used to create a psychedelic effect


punkabilly

en-noun

punkabilly (countable and uncountable, plural punkabillies)

(music) A subgenre of psychobilly that blends rockabilly with punk rock.


anthemic

en-adj

anthemic (comparative more anthemic, superlative most anthemic)

more anthemic (comparative)
most anthemic (superlative)

Hardly inspirational stuff, but this beatmix collection of popular House/garage cuts by DJ Pierre, Roger S, Ultra Naté and others is probably the easiest place to find Farley's anthemic "Love Can't Turn Around".

1999, Sean Bidder, House: The Rough Guide, page 109

Honing the band's anthemic sound and stance, they relocated to Richmond and created a solid lineup.

2014, Kevin Prested, Punk USA: The Rise and Fall of Lookout Records, page 79

But something new was rippling through a million MySpace profiles. The sound was electro, and bass-laced synthetic dance pop would soon start streaming in from producers in Paris, dizzying the twenteens of Britain with its accessible, anthemic funk.

(music) Suggestive of an anthem; rousing.


anthemic

Passionate anthemics, prog-rock twists and turns, and several Hendrix-ian guitar burnouts by self-aware showman Patrick Krief aimed straight for the cheap seats and left everyone feeling pleasantly dazed.

2009 March 16, Ben Rayner, “Hot sounds”, in Toronto Star

(music) A song that is suggestive of an anthem.


turntablist

(music) A DJ who uses a combination of turntables as a musical instrument.


tracklisting

(music) A list of tracks appearing on an album, EP, LP etc.


lo-fi

lo-fi (comparative more lo-fi, superlative most lo-fi)

more lo-fi (comparative)
most lo-fi (superlative)

(music) Having a rough quality, not musically smooth and refined.


lo-fi

(music) A subgenre of hip-hop that includes traditional jazz elements and drum machine samples.

(music) A subgenre of rock music characterized by minimal production, giving a raw and unsophisticated sound.


brass band

(music) A group of musicians who play brass instruments (sometimes accompanied by percussion)


incidental music

The incidental music helped give the programme its evocative atmosphere.

(music) Music that is played as a background to a film, television programme, video game, etc.


whole note

(Canada, US, music) A semibreve, a musical note four beats long in 4/4 time.


subtonic

(music) The note immediately below the upper note of a musical scale.


gigging

(film, music, television, theater) The act of engaging in a musical performance, acting in a theatre production, etc.


trad

I've been listening to trad jazz lately.

There are a couple of soups, a hot dish, a quichey option, a salad of the day, good trad puds and that’s about it.

2002 October, Charles Campion, The Rough Guide to London Restaurants, 2003/5th edition, London: Rough Guides, page 187


trad

en-noun

trad (countable and uncountable, plural trads)

2017, Lonely Planet Ireland's Best Trips, https://books.google.com/books?id=N6x9BAAAQBAJ&pg=PT251&dq=%22trad+music%22+irish+music&hl=en&sa=X&ei=I0qUVaWXLIjjsAWYyILQDg&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAg
Miltown Malbay hosts the annual Willie Clancy Irish Music Festival, one of Ireland's great trad music events.

2010, Fodor's Ireland 2010 https://books.google.com/books?id=dhfTd0wKanIC&pg=PA443&dq=%22trad+music%22+irish+music&hl=en&sa=X&ei=I0qUVaWXLIjjsAWYyILQDg&ved=0CFAQ6AEwCQ
Galway is the heart of Trad— the city and its environs have nurtured some of the most durable names in Irish music.


hypo-

From Ancient Greek ὑπο- (hupo-), combining form of ὑπό (hupó, “under”). Doublet of sub-.
Etymology tree
Ancient Greek ὑπο- (hupo-)der.
English hypo-

etymon

(music, of a mode) Having a range which extends from a perfect fourth below the tonic to a perfect fifth above.


figurate

From figure + -ate (adjective-forming suffix).


ricercata

From Italian ricercata. Doublet of recherche.


furioso

Borrowed from Italian. Doublet of furious.


tanbur

(music) In classical Turkish music, a long-necked, fretted, plucked lute, or various similar lutes of West and Central Asia.


sarangi

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

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

(music) A bowed string instrument used in the Hindustani classical music of North India.


bansuri

Borrowed from Hindi बाँसुरी (bā̃surī); see there for more.

A cool breeze began to blow, carrying on it the undulating notes of a bansuri from some village downriver.

2004, Khushwant Singh, Burial at Sea, Penguin, published 2014, page 94

(music) A bamboo transverse flute used in the classical music of North India.


septenary

From the Latin septēnārius (“consisting of seven each”), from septēnī (“seven each”, “seven at a time”) + -ārius (whence the English suffix -ary).

der

(music) The seven notes of the diatonic scale.


norteño

From Spanish norteño (“Northern [Mexico]”).

Coordinate term: Tejano

At a party in an isolated mountain community in central Mexico, the host may well take out his accordion and play norteño corridos until the dawn breaks.

2000, Simon Broughton, Mark Ellingham, James McConnachie, Orla Duane, World Music: The Rough Guide. Latin and North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, Rough Guides, page 470

The two-stage festival's lineup reads like a who's who of norteño, duranguense and banda sinaloense acts, including Los Tigres del Norte, Banda el Recodo, Conjunto Primavera, Los Tucanes de Tijuana and K-Paz de la Sierra.

2010 April 17, Ayala Ben-Yehuda, “Field of Dreams: Vive Grupero Festival Snares Regional Mexican Artists For Free”, in Billboard, volume 122, number 15, page 8

(music) A genre of Mexican music related to polka and corridos, emerged in the late 19th century.


perdendosi

Then towards the end you hear them both interlaced, and both are being resolved in a perdendosi.

1958, Edgar Mittelhölzer, The Old Blood, page 495

For the AnC period, Karlgren (Études, pp. 38-39) describes the Four tones p'ing ('even perdendosi'), shang ('rising perdendosi'), ch'u ('probably falling perdendosi'), ju (ex abrupto), but then ...

1959, University of California Publications in East Asiatic Philology

The final nine bars must be played in strict time: the perdendosi effect relies on the lessening of rhythmic activity rather than a slackening of tempo.

1999, Graham Steed, The Organ Works of Marcel Dupré, page 79


half step

(music, US) The distance between two tones. In 12-tone equal temperament, its frequency ratio is 2^(1/12), or about 1.059 or 18/17.


whole step

(music) An interval equal to two half steps; a whole tone.


bisbigliando

From Italian bisbigliando (“whispering”).

(music) Tremolo produced by a bowed or plucked string instrument such as a harp.


new wave

New York to east California / There's a new wave coming, I warn ya

1981, “Kids in America”, performed by Kim Wilde

(music) An alternative and broad pop and rock music genre that existed during the late 1970s and the early to mid-1980s, incorporating punk sensibilities and/or other forms of music, but made with more accessibility.


serenata

Borrowed from Italian serenata. Doublet of serenade.

More’s the pity, for this work (technically a serenata) is a little gem, and Aulos polished it to a fine luster.

2007 January 25, James R. Oestreich, “The Shepherd, the Sea Nymph and the Big Rock, Abridged”, in New York Times

(music) A type of baroque cantata performed outdoors, in the evening, with mixed vocal and instrumental forces


nonmetrical

(music) Without the constraints of a metronome; not played or sung with a strict underlying rhythmic method.


arp

The arp can be applied to instruments by inserting it as a MIDI effect before your synth of choice.

2014 June 4, Bruce Aisher, “COMPLEX ARPS”, in Attack, archived from the original on 2018-09-16


compas

(music) A form of string music from Haiti


chocolo

(music) A shaker that plays a note throughout a samba piece or performance


merengue

en-noun

merengue (countable and uncountable, plural merengues)

From American Spanish merengue, from French meringue. Doublet of meringue.

The marina was a mainstay of the neighborhood, and Mr. O’Rourke was known for staging salsa and merengue concerts.

2007 January 7, Alex Mindlin, “For a Shuttered Marina, Some Regret, Some Relief”, in New York Times

(music, uncountable) A type of music common in the Caribbean, originally associated with the Dominican Republic.


plagal

en-adj

plagal (comparative more plagal, superlative most plagal)

more plagal (comparative)
most plagal (superlative)

From Late Latin plagalis, from plaga, from plagius, from Byzantine Ancient Greek πλάγιος (plágios, “plagal”), πλάγιος (plágios, “oblique”).

der

(music) Designating a mode lying a perfect fourth below the authentic form.

(music) Designating a cadence in which the subdominant chord precedes the tonic.


dolcissimo

From Italian dolcissimo, superlative of dolce (“sweet”).


electronic rock

(music) Any of various genres of rock music that feature electronic synthesisers.


gruppetto

en-noun

gruppetto (plural gruppetti or gruppettos)


hammered dulcimer

hammered dulcimer (plural hammered dulcimers)

(music) A type of dulcimer whose metal strings are stretched over a trapezoidal sounding board that has two bridges, one bass and one treble, set on a stand and played with small mallet-like hammers.


stabat mater

Borrowed from Latin stabat mater (“the mother was standing”) (the first words of the hymn).

bor

(music) A hymn, sung in Latin, telling of the sorrow of the Virgin Mary at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ; the music for this hymn.


partiture

(music) The printing of each instrument's part on a separate stave


tribute band

(music) A group of musicians and singers which exists solely to play the music of a well-known band that has disbanded or no longer tours.


pedaling

(music) The set of pedal movements to be performed when playing a piano or organ.


d.c. al coda

(music) A music notation roughly meaning "go back to the beginning, playing everything again up to the coda."


trem

Remember that the footswitch has to be working and plugged in for the trem and vibrato to work.

1995, Mike Thompson, Great Tube Amp and Guitar Mods, page 31

When you pick up the bar to use it, the trem unlocks and becomes a floating bridge again.

2002, Barry Lipman, Guitar Questions: The Novice's Guide to Guitar Repairs, page 89


tubular bells

en-noun

tubular bells pl (normally plural, singular tubular bell)

(music) A percussion instrument consisting of a set of tuned metal tubes that are struck with a mallet, producing sounds like those of church bells.

آلة إيقاعية

percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes


queercore

(music) The aggressive rock music associated with this group of people.


valiha

(music) A form of bamboo zither from Madagascar


kaval

MATT DARRIAU’S PARADOX TRIO (Thursday) In addition to Mr. Darriau — on clarinet and saxophones as well as kaval (an end-blown flute) and gaida (a kind of bagpipe) — this exuberant Bulgarian-improv band features Brad Shepik’s guitars, Rufus Cappadocia’s cello and Seido Salifoski’s hand drums.

2007 July 27, The New York Times, “Jazz Listings”, in New York Times

(music) A chromatic end-blown flute of Asia and eastern Europe.


Chopsticks

Originally called The Celebrated Chop Waltz, because of the chopping motion of the fingers on the keys.

(music) A simple waltz, written in 1877 by Arthur de Lulli, that serves as a two-finger exercise for beginner piano players.


EG

(music) Initialism of envelope generator.


bombardon

From French bombardon, from Italian bombardone.

(music) A brass instrument, the bass version of the tuba.

(music) A bass instrument of the shawm family


OG

(music, US, slang) Initialism of Original Gangsta; a person associated with the earliest era of gangsta rap.


front man

Pete Doherty is the front man of the Libertines.

(music) The lead singer in a musical group.


glass harmonica

glass harmonica (plural glass harmonicas)

(music) A musical instrument composed of a series of spinning glass bowls, played with the fingers, invented by Benjamin Franklin.


A minor

{\key a\minor a b c'd'e'f'g'a'2}

(music) The minor key with A as its tonic, consisting of the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G.

(music) The minor chord with a root of A.


crossfader

(music) A device consisting of two volume controls which control separate records, allowing the DJ to change the source of the sound between the records.


f-hole

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


shoegazing

/ˈʃuːɡeɪzɪŋ/

From shoe + gazing, because of the tendency of such performers to look down rather than at the crowd and the heavy use of effect pedals.

"[…]Anyway, correct me if I'm wrong here, Danny, but wasn't it you who told me that true shoegazing began and ended with Slowdive's 12-inch debut: the imaginatively titled, 'Slowdive'?”
“You're taking me out of context here, dude. What I meant was that it was the epoch of the genre. The other bands still made a valid contribution, they just didn't define the moment."

2006, James Buckley, Celebrate Myself, page 12

Johansson and Sitek started out in more faithful lo-fi style before filtering the songs through an indie-rock sensibility that's equal parts postpunk-gothic, 4AD dreampop, shoegazing drone, and TV on the Radio epicness.

2011, Barney Hoskyns, Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits, page 491

Then in 2003, they released Still Electric only on their website; with this album, they'd taken on more of a shoegazing style of rock, similar to Chapterhouse or Catherine Wheel.

2013, Pete Crigler, Majorlabelland And Assorted Oddities, page 91

(British, music) A subgenre of alternative rock music popularised in early 1990s, characterised by a dreamlike sound making much use of effect pedals, and by a detached or introverted performance style.


arpeggiando

(music) A passage to be played in the style of a harp.


arpeggiando

(music) (To be played) in the style of a harp.


bitonality

(music) The simultaneous presence of two keys in a piece of music


semicroma

semicroma (plural semicromas or semicrome)


bichord

(music) A chord of two notes played at the same time.


bichord

(music, of a musical instrument) Having two strings


bitonal

(music, of a musical instrument) That has two tonic centres simultaneously


semicrome

(music) Alternative form of semicroma (“semiquaver”)


buccina

Borrowed from Latin būcina, buccina. Doublet of buisine and posaune.

Coordinate term: buisine

(historical, music) A curved brass instrument used by the Ancient Roman army.


Hammond organ

From the name of the inventor, Laurens Hammond.

Georgie Fame plays all types of keyboards including electric piano, organ, and Hammond organ.

(music) A type of electronic organ with a highly distinctive sound.


chamber music

(music) A genre of classical music written for a small group of instruments


codetta

(music) A brief coda, or a brief segment between the themes of a fugue.


clavicembalo

clavicembalo (plural clavicembalos or clavicembali)

clavicembalos (plural)
clavicembali (plural)

Also we recall that Agnesi's life was bound up with that of a younger sister, Maria Teresa, who is known in the history of music as a composer and pianist, that is, virtuoso on the clavicembalo.

1970, Edna Kramer, The Nature and Growth of Modern Mathematics, Princeton, published 1982, page 706

He taught me composition and how to improve my playing on the clavicembalo [translating Jnſtrument] and also the harp […].

1999, Mike Mitchell, translating HJC von Grimmelshausen, Simplicissimus, III.17, Dedalus 2016, p. 253

(music, now chiefly historical) A harpsichord.


capotasto

From Italian capotasto, from capo (“head”) + tasto (“fret”).

(music) A device, placed across the strings of a fretted instrument such as a guitar, to shorten the strings and thus allow upward transposition without altered fingering


bemol

From Italian bemolle, from Medieval Latin b mollis (“B-flat”, literally “soft B”).

der

F natural has a Bemol on b. [...] B flat has a Bemol on b and e.

Now B♭, which is ſuppoſed to be repreſented by Nº 6. of the hammers, is the generator of the next modulation or key in the bemol or flat mode, F.

1818, George Jones, History of the Rise and Progress of Music, Theoretical and Practical, page 345

Sol major has only one dièse for a signature; therefore sol ♭ major must have six bemols; six and one make seven.

1841, Terence Joseph O'Donnelly, The Academy of Elementary Music, page 133

(music, obsolete) The flat symbol (♭), or a flattened note.


clonewheel organ

en-noun

clonewheel organ (plural clonewheel organs)

(music) Any kind of electronic musical instrument which can emulate the sound of any of the tonewheel-based Hammond organs.


electric piano

(music) A type of lightweight piano with electronic pickups to amplify the sound. The strings, or string substitutes, are struck mechanically such that the action is similar to that of a normal piano.


concertato

concertato (countable and uncountable, plural concertatos)

Every piece chosen explored the concept of concertato, the musical equivalent of a conversation in a lively, eclectic social setting: a boisterous pub, perhaps, as the program note suggested.

2008 June 16, Anthony Tommasini, “Can We Talk? Lively Musical Conversations, With a Contemporary Slant”, in New York Times

(music) An early Baroque genre or style of music in which groups of instruments or voices share a melody, usually in alternation, and almost always over a basso continuo.


keyboard bass

(music) An electronic keyboard instrument specifically used to reproduce the bass note range.


digital piano

(music) A type of lightweight piano which reproduces the sound of a standard piano by electronic means. The keys are designed to feel like the keys of a real piano, and often to resemble them also.


concertante

From Italian concertante, originally present participle of concertare (“to form or perform a concert”).

(music) A concert for two or more principal instruments, with orchestral accompaniment.


tritone

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin tritonus, itself borrowed from Ancient Greek τρίτονος (trítonos). By surface analysis, tri- + tone.

lbor

/ˈtɹaɪˌtəʊ̯n/

[ˈt̠ɹ̠̊˔ʷaɪˌtʰoʊ̯n]

[ˈt̠͡ʃɹ̠̊˔ʷäɪˌtʰoʊ̯n]

Near-synonyms: augmented fourth, diminished fifth

The tritone has a pitch ratio close to 17:12.

The mini-epic “Seasons in the Abyss,” with its ringing tritone interval at the beginning, its extended solos, its medium tempo, was as close as Slayer got to a groove.

2007 February 17, Ben Ratliff, “For Some Unmellowed Metalheads, Middle Age Is Nothing to Fear”, in New York Times

(music) An interval of three whole tones.


countersubject

(music) The secondary melody in contrapuntal music