prop

They used the trophy as a prop in the movie.

(theater, film) An item placed on a stage or set to create a scene or scenario in which actors perform.

реквизит

item placed on a stage to create a scene


marimba

From Portuguese marimba, via a Bantu source, perhaps Kimbundu marimba (“xylophone”).

The default ringtone for your iPhone is a marimba sound, but if you'd like to change it, start at the Home screen, then tap on the Settings icon.

2009, Scott Kelby, Terry White, The iPhone Book, Third Edition (Covers iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, and iPod Touch), Peachpit Press

percussion instrument
percussion instrument

(music) A percussion instrument with African origins, similar to a xylophone with resonators, but much lower in range and darker in timbre.


drop

From Late Middle English droppe, Middle English drope (“small quantity of liquid; small or least amount of something; pendant jewel; dripping of a liquid; a shower; nasal flow, catarrh; speck, spot; blemish; disease causing spots on the skin”) [and other forms], from Old English dropa (“a drop”), from Proto-West Germanic *dropō (“drop (of liquid)”), from Proto-Germanic *drupô (“drop (of liquid)”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewb- (“to crumble, grind”).

nb...

dropan, droupe, (Northern England) droipe

afval

small quantity of liquid, just large enough to hold its own round shape through surface tension

pisara

very small quantity of liquid, or of anything

pisara

that which hangs or resembles a liquid globule

pudotettu esine

(online gaming, video games) item dropped by a defeated enemy

aleneminen

decline in degree, quality, quantity, or rate

afgrond

distance through which something drops, or falls below a certain level

La Cage's upstage drops include two of the St. Tropez harbor (one for the day and another for the night), [... an] ocean drop (used in an Act I dream sequence), and an abstract chandelier drop (used in the second act[…]).

1983, Theatre Crafts, New York, N.Y.: Theatre Crafts Associates, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 61, column 1

In The Rover, one of these esthetically important elements was the arrangement of the upstage drops. Originally the drop was split into three sections, with obvious and blatant seams between them.

2007, Michele Fields, Designing The Rover (unpublished M.F.A. dissertation), Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin–Madison, →OCLC

(theater) A curtain which falls in front of a theatrical stage; also, a section of (cloth) scenery lowered on to the stage like a curtain.

verho

But musical ancestry aside, the influence to which [Justin] Bieber is most beholden is the current trends in pop music, which means Believe is loaded up with EDM [electronic dance music] accouterments, seeking a comfortable middle ground where Bieber’s impressively refined pop-R&B croon can rub up on techno blasts and garish dubstep drops (and occasionally grind on some AutoTune, not necessarily because it needs it, but because a certain amount of robo-voice is expected these days).

2012 June 26, Genevieve Koski, “Music: Reviews: Justin Bieber: Believe”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2020-08-06

Just as dubstep has grown in popularity and combined with many different genres, the drop has become a generalized type of which there are many individually varying instances, including dubstep bass-drop. As LA Times critic Randall Roberts notes, even good-girl tween pop idol Taylor Swift uses a drop in her Max-Martin-Produced track “I Knew You Were Trouble.”

2015, Robin James, Resilience & Melancholy, Zero Books

(music) A point in a song, usually electronic music such as dubstep, house, trance, or trap, where there is a very noticeable and pleasing change in bass, tempo, and/or overall tone; a climax, a highlight.

droppi

point in a song where there is a very noticeable and pleasing change in bass, tempo, and/or overall tone — see also climax, highlight


drop

en-verb

drop (third-person singular simple present drops, present participle dropping, simple past and past participle dropped or (archaic) dropt)

drops (present singular third-person)
dropping (participle present)
dropped (participle past)
dropped (past)
dropt (archaic participle past)
dropt (archaic past)

From Middle English droppen, dropen (“to fall in drops, drip or trickle down; to scatter, sprinkle; to be covered with a liquid; to give off moisture; of an object: to drop, fall; of a living being: to fall to the ground”) [and other forms], from Old English dropian, droppian (“to drop”), from dropa (“a drop”) (see further at etymology 1) + -ian (suffix forming verbs from adjectives and nouns).

спадам

to decrease, diminish, or lessen in condition, degree, value, etc.

laskea

to move to a lower position; to allow to hang downwards — see also lower

laskea

to lower (a sound, a voice, etc.) in pitch or volume

The album Hip-Hop Xmas dropped in time for the holidays.

(intransitive, computing, music, television, colloquial) Of a programme, software, a music album or song, etc.: to enter public distribution.

ilmestyä

of a programme, software, music, etc.: to enter public distribution

(transitive) To lower (a sound, a voice, etc.) in pitch or volume.

(transitive, music) To tune (a guitar string, etc.) to a lower note.

They dropped the album Hip-Hop Xmas in time for the holidays.

That hacker has been threatening to drop my docs [i.e. publish my personal information].

(transitive, computing, music, television, colloquial) To release (a programme, software, a music album or song, etc.) to the public.

julkaista

to release (a programme, software, a music album or song, etc.) to the public

I love it when he drops his funky beats.

That guy can drop the bass like a monster.

To play (a portion of music) in the manner of a disc jockey.

soittaa

to play a portion of music in the manner of a disc jockey

Yo, I drop rhymes like nobody’s business.

(transitive, music)
To perform (rap music).


chromatic

en-adj

chromatic (not generally comparable, comparative more chromatic, superlative most chromatic)

more chromatic (comparative)
most chromatic (superlative)

Borrowed from French chromatique (“chromatic”) or directly from its etymon Latin chrōmaticus, from Ancient Greek χρωματικός (khrōmatikós, “relating to colour; one of the three types of tetrachord in Greek music”), from χρῶμα (khrôma, “colour; pigment; chromatic scale in music; music”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to grind; to rub; to stroke; to remove”), perhaps in the sense of the grinding of pigments) + -τῐκός (-tikós, suffix forming adjectives); analysable as chroma + -tic.

der

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

(Ancient Greece, historical) One of three types of tetrachord (the others being the diatonic and enharmonic), with an interval between half and four-fifths of the total interval of a tetrachord.

All the intervals of the scale that are a whole tone (step) distant from each other may be divided into half tones, (small steps), forming an entire scale of small intervals, (half tones), called the Chromatic Scale. […] All the tones (steps) of the scale being thus divided, either by means of the sharp or flat, we shall have for our Chromatic Scale thirteen intervals, of a half tone (small step) each.

1853, William B[atchelder] Bradbury, George F[rederick] Root, assisted by Thomas Hastings, T[imothy] B. Mason, “The Singing Class”, in The Shawm: Library of Church Music: […], New York, N.Y.: Mason Brothers, […], →OCLC, lesson VIII (Dynamics (Power of Sounds)), page 23, column 1

Relating to or using notes not belonging to the diatonic scale of the key in which a passage of music is written.

cromàtic

relating to or using notes not belonging to the diatonic scale of the key in which a passage of music is written


mechanical

From Middle English mechanical, mechanicalle, mechanycalle, equivalent to mechanic + -al.

On the other hand I heard only recently of a modern marvel — an organ of two manuals and about sixteen or eighteen stops with adequate and modern mechanicals that the pastor assures me has not been touched by repairer or even by tuner in four years!

1914, Expositor and Current Anecdotes - Volume 16, page 353

Some would like the smallest number of foot mechanicals and the greatest number of hand mechanicals; some would like to do away with the crescendo pedal; some would prefer less diapason foundation; others would want a predominance of salty reeds ;

1911, The New Music Review and Church Music Review

Mechanicals within the organ need repair; the tonal resources and much of the voicing might well be expanded and updated.

1961, Thomas Scott Godfrey Burhrman, The American Organist - Volume 44, page 16

(music) A stop on an organ that is operated by a hand or foot control rather than having to be manually set up in advance.


morendo

Borrowed from Italian morendo, present participle of morire (“to die”).


morendo

(music) A portion of music that fades away in volume or tempo.


boy band

(music) A pop group whose members are all (usually attractive) young men.

男子組合

pop group whose members are all young men


dolente

Borrowed from Italian dolente, present participle of dolere (“to hurt, regret”).

(music) Sorrowfully, as if the player were mourning.


allegrissimo

Borrow from Italian allegrissimo, the superlative form of allegro.

(music) A direction in musical notation indicating that the piece should be played very fast and lively.


portato

Borrowed from Italian portato, past participle of portare (“to bring, carry, bear”), from Latin portō.

(music) In an unconnected manner, as opposed to legato, but not as short as staccato.


portato

(music) A mark in music notation indicating this style of playing.


alleluia

From Latin allēlūia, from Ancient Greek ἀλληλούϊα (allēloúïa), from Hebrew הַלְּלוּיָהּ (“Praise Jah!”).

הַלְּלוּיָהּ

Down at the corner, carols bugled steamily from a mission soup-kitchen. There's no escape from it, he thought. Turn on the radio, and its alleluia licks you with tremolo tongue.

1953 December, Hortense Calisher, “A Christmas Carillon: A Story”, in John Fischer, editor, Harper’s Magazine, volume 207, number 1243, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 38, column 1

(music) A choral composition incorporating alleluia in its text.


triad

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Latin triad-, stem of trias (“three, triad”), from Ancient Greek τριάς (triás).
Sense 3 (“branch of a Chinese underground criminal society”) is due to the word being applied by the British authorities to underground society in Hong Kong based on the geometry of the Chinese character, derived from a name used by some of those societies, 三合會／三合会 (sānhéhuì, “Three Harmonies Society”), referring to the union between heaven, earth, and humanity.

(music) A chord consisting of a root tone, the tone two degrees higher, and the tone four degrees higher in a given scale OR any chord with three notes.


prestissimo

/pɹɛˈstɪsɪməʊ/

(music) Extremely fast, the fastest possible tempo.


prestissimo

/pɹɛˈstɪsɪməʊ/

A delegation of Norman gentry boldly requesting in 1771 the calling of the Normandy estates (which had been abolished in 1666) was despatched prestissimo to the Bastille.

2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 286


cantabile

Borrowed from Italian cantabile (“singable, capable being sung”), derived from cantare (“to sing”). See also Latin cantabilis (“worthy to be sung”).

bor

(music) A tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played in a lyrical manner


cantabile

en-adv

cantabile (comparative more cantabile, superlative most cantabile)

more cantabile (comparative)
most cantabile (superlative)

(music) Played in this style; singingly, lyrically


cantabile

(music) Describing a passage having this mark; singable, lyrical


moderato

Borrowed from Italian moderato. Doublet of moderate.

(music) A tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played at a moderate tempo.


ostinato

From Italian ostinato (“stubborn”). Doublet of obstinate.

The piece moves in alluring spans of swirling figures, jagged lines and pointillistic outbursts, often prodded forward by ostinatos in the perky piano.

2009 January 26, Anthony Tommasini, “Pricking Up the Ears to Listen for Echoes of California”, in New York Times

(music) A piece of melody, a chord progression, or a bass figure that is repeated over and over as a musical accompaniment.

ostinato

music: figure that is repeated over and over


complement

en-noun

complement (countable and uncountable, plural complements)

From Middle English complement, from Latin complementum (“that which fills up or completes”), from compleō (“I fill up, I complete”) (English complete). Doublet of compliment.

der

(music) An interval which, together with the given interval, makes an octave.


appoggiatura

en-noun

appoggiatura (plural appoggiaturas or appoggiature)

appoggiaturas (plural)
appoggiature (plural)

/ə.ˌpɒ.d͡ʒə.ˈtʊɹ.ə/

Borrowed from Italian appoggiatura, derived from appoggiare (“to lean”).

The following Adagietto was like a long, melting appoggiatura composed of smaller dying falls and languid resolutions.

(music) A type of musical ornament, falling on the beat, which often creates a suspension and subtracts for itself half the time value of the principal note which follows.

appoggiatura

a type of musical ornament which creates a suspension


stage

→ Japanese: ステージ (sutēji)

From Middle English stage, from Old French estage (“dwelling, residence; position, situation, condition”), from Old French ester (“to be standing, be located”). Cognate with Old English stæþþan (“to make staid, stay”), Old Norse steðja (“to place, provide, confirm, allow”), Old English stæde, stede (“state, status, standing, place, station, site”). More at stead. Doublet of étage.

cog

The band returned to the stage to play an encore.

Lo! Where the stage, the poor, degraded stage, / Holds its warped mirror to a gaping age.

The theater is not merely the meeting place of all the arts, it is also the return of art to life.

(theater) A platform; a surface, generally elevated, upon which show performances or other public events are given.


hyp

en-noun

hyp (countable and uncountable, plural hyps)

A hyp act is scheduled after the acrobats.

The hyp is booked through the end of the month.


single

→ Finnish: sinkku

→ German: Single

→ Japanese: シングル (shinguru)

→ Polish: singiel

From Middle English single, sengle, from Old French sengle, saingle, sangle, from Latin singulus, a diminutive derived from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one”). Akin to Latin simplex (“simple”). See simple, and compare singular.

(music) A 45 RPM vinyl record with one song on side A and one on side B.

The Offspring released four singles from their most recent album.

(music) A popular song released and sold (on any format) nominally on its own though usually having at least one extra track.


arco

From Italian arco (“bow”). Doublet of arch and arc.

(music) A note in string instrument musical notation indicating that the bow is to be used in the usual way, usually following a passage that is played pizzicato.


period

frequency

antonym(s) of “length of time of recurrence of a periodic phenomenon”

/ˈpɪə.ɹɪ.əd/

From Middle English periode, from Middle French periode, from Medieval Latin periodus, from Ancient Greek περίοδος (períodos, “circuit, an interval of time, path around”), from περί- (perí-, “around”) + ὁδός (hodós, “way”). Displaced native Middle English tide (“interval, period, season”), from Old English tīd (“time, period, season”), as well as Middle English elde (“age, period”), from Old English ieldu (“age, period of time”).

periudhë

history: period of time seen as coherent entity

periodike

length of time during which something repeats

(music) Two phrases (an antecedent and a consequent phrase).


diminuendo

(music) A dynamic mark directing that a passage is to be played gradually more softly


diminuendo

en-adv

diminuendo (comparative more diminuendo, superlative most diminuendo)

more diminuendo (comparative)
most diminuendo (superlative)


diminuendo

(music) describing a passage having this mark


fortissimo

He claims he was doing no more than repeating the standard nationalist account. So he was, but he was also repeating that passionate liberal critique which had resounded, often fortissimo, in British debate when Indian nationalism was still a half-formed dream.

2017 September 7, Ferdinand Mount, “Umbrageousness”, in London Review of Books

(music) Indicating that the piece is played very loud.


fortissimo

en-noun

fortissimo (plural fortissimos or fortissimi)

fortissimos (plural)
fortissimi (plural)

(music) The dynamic sign indicating that the piece should be played fortissimo. Abbreviation: ff.


ocarina

Borrowed from Italian ocarina (literally “little goose”), due to the musical instrument's resemblance to the animal.

bor

(music) A woodwind musical instrument that is closed at both sides to produce an enclosed space, and punctured with finger holes.


glissando

en-noun

glissando (plural glissandi or glissandos or glissandoes)

glissandi (plural)
glissandos (plural)
glissandoes (plural)

(music) Either a continuous sliding from one pitch to another ("true" glissando), or an incidental scale played while moving from one melodic note to another ("effective" glissando).


glissando

en-verb

glissando (third-person singular simple present glissandos, present participle glissandoing, simple past and past participle glissandoed)

glissandos (present singular third-person)
glissandoing (participle present)
glissandoed (participle past)
glissandoed (past)

(music) To play with a glissando or sliding effect.


contrabassoon

Semi-anglicized version of Italian contrafagotto, probably following the model of the English word contrabass (which derives from Italian contrabbasso).

(music) A larger version of the bassoon sounding one octave lower, having a technique similar to the bassoon but offers more resistance in every way.


pianissimo

en-adv

pianissimo (comparative more pianissimo, superlative most pianissimo)

more pianissimo (comparative)
most pianissimo (superlative)


dynamics

(music) The volume with which music is to be performed, denoted by such terms as piano, mezzo piano, mezzo forte, or forte.


trill

From Middle English trillen, from Italian trillo, trillare. Compare German trillern, Norwegian trille, Swedish trilla.

(music) A rapid alternation between an indicated note and the one above it as an ornament; in musical notation usually indicated with the letters tr written above the staff.


staccato

Borrowed from Italian staccato (“detached, disconnected”), past participle of staccare (“to detach, separate”), aphetic variant of distaccare (“to separate, detach”), from Middle French destacher (“to detach”), from Old French destachier (“to detach”), from des- + atachier (“to attach”), alteration of estachier (“to fasten with or to a stake, lay claim to”), from estache (“a stake”), from Low Frankish *stakkā (“stake”), from Proto-Germanic *stakkaz, *stakô (“stick, stake”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“stick, stake”). Akin to Old High German stecko (“post”) (German Stecken (“stick”)), Old Saxon stekko (“stake”), Old Norse stakkr (“hay stack, heap”), Old English staca (“stake”). More at stake.

der

(music) An articulation marking directing that a note or passage of notes are to be played in an abruptly disconnected manner, with each note sounding for a very short duration, and a short break lasting until the sounding of the next note; as opposed to legato. Staccato is indicated by a dot directly above or below the notehead.


staccato

en-adv

staccato (comparative more staccato, superlative most staccato)

more staccato (comparative)
most staccato (superlative)

Now, play the same passage very staccato.


staccato

(music) Describing a passage having this mark.


cover version

Coordinate term: (motion pictures) remake

(music) A version of a song that is a new performance or rerecording of that song by a different artist.


contralto

en-noun

contralto (plural contraltos or contralti)

/kɒnˈtɹɑːltəʊ/

Contraction of contratenor alto, from Latin contratenor altus.

Out in the yard a womanʼs hoarse contralto intoned a hymn.

1952, Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, Penguin Books (2014), page 68

(music) The lowest female voice or voice part, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. The terms contralto and alto refer to a similar musical pitch, but among singers, the term contralto is reserved for female singers; the equivalent male form is counter-tenor. Originally the contratenor altus was a high countermelody sung against the tenor or main melody.


major scale

{c' d' e' f' g' a' b' c}

In the key of C Major, the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C form a major scale

(music) One of the diatonic scales; a group of notes or musical pitches in a particular pattern, used to make melodies. The pattern for a major scale is: tone - tone - semitone - tone - tone - tone - semitone.


crescendo

crescendo (plural crescendos or crescendi or crescendoes)

crescendos (plural)
crescendi (plural)
crescendoes (plural)

climax

antonym(s) of “the climax of a gradual increase”

/kɹɪˈʃɛn.dəʊ/

/kɹəˈʃɛn.dəʊ/

Borrowed from Italian crescendo, gerund of crescere (“to grow, to increase”).

(music) An instruction to play gradually more loudly, denoted by a long, narrow angle with its apex on the left ( < ), by musicians called a hairpin.

кресчендо

music: instruction to play gradually more loudly


crescendo

/kɹɪˈʃɛn.dəʊ/

/kɹəˈʃɛn.dəʊ/

(music) Gradually increasing in force or loudness.


allegretto

Borrowed from Italian allegretto, diminutive form of allegro.

(music) To be played rather fast and lively.


allegretto

It was only after the conception had received its fullest due, and the vast and complex organism its perfect development, that the certainty arose of an effect on human emotion comparable to that which was born when the opening bars of the allegretto in Beethoven's Seventh Symphony had been played for the first time, and the idea of them was from that moment alive and abroad in the world.

1880, Edmund Gurney, The Power of Sound, page 99

allégretto

a movement that is to be played fast and lively


legato

Borrowed from Italian legato, past participle of legare (“to tie up, tie together, to bind”), learned borrowing from Latin ligō (“tie, bind”). Doublet of ligate.

Play this passage legato, not portato.

(music) Smoothly, in a connected manner.


legato

legato (countable and uncountable, plural legatos)

It is the coördination of the finger and hand as examplified in the proportionate speed of shifting according to the speed of the musical passage, which makes for evenness, continuity, smoothness, and ultimately, a fine legato.

1936, Edward E. Cramer, The Basis of Artistry in Violin Playing, page 49

At the end of the prelude of Caprice V, there is a chromatic ascending and descending scale of forty-eight notes to be played in one bow in legato.

1979, Leslie Sheppard, Herbert R. Axelrod ·, Paganini, page 604

Clementi, in his "Introduction to the art of playing the piano-forte" (1801) still had to advise pianists that : "the best general rule is to keep the keys of the instrument suppressed during the whole length of the note" (p.8) and "whenver the composer leaves the legato or staccato to the taste of the performer, the best rule is to use the legato in most cases and to reserve the staccato in order to give particular passages more spirit and to enhance the higher beauties of the legato."

1989, Siglind Bruhn, Guidelines to Piano Interpretation, page 97

(music) A style of performance characterized by smoothly connected notes.

It schools the mind to watch for the legato all the time, as its absence at the organ is mor prominent than at the piano; but beyond this point it renders little assitance to the pianist.

1893, The Organ: Monthly Journal Devoted to the King of Instruments, page 198

A good pianist, however, will make his audience believe that he is as capable of performing a legato as is a singer or violinist.

1958, József Gát, The Technique of Piano Playing, page 95

Legatos are indicated in both notations by a bow between respective notes.

(music) A passage that is played legato.


interval cycle

(music) That which unfolds a single recurrent interval in a series that closes with a return to the initial pitch class.


diabolus

From Latin diabolus. Doublet of devil, diable, and diablo.


grace

grace (countable and uncountable, plural graces)

From Middle English grace, from Old French grace (modern French grâce), from Latin grātia (“kindness, favour, esteem”), from grātus (“pleasing”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerH- (“to praise, welcome”); compare grateful.
The word displaced the native Middle English held, hield (“grace”) (from Old English held, hyld (“grace”)), Middle English este (“grace, favour, pleasure”) (from Old English ēste (“grace, kindness, favour”)), Middle English athmede(n) (“grace”) (from Old English ēadmēdu (“grace”)), Middle English are, ore (“grace, mercy, honour”) (from Old English ār (“honour, grace, kindness, mercy”)).

cog

The Trill being the most usual Grace, is usually made in Closes, Cadences, and when on a long Note Exclamation or Passion is expressed, there the Trill is made in the latter part of such Note; but most usually upon binding Notes and such Notes as precede the closing Note.

1683, John Playford, An Introduction to the Skill of Musick: In Three Books, page 47


grace

en-verb

grace (third-person singular simple present graces, present participle gracing, simple past and past participle graced)

graces (present singular third-person)
gracing (participle present)
graced (participle past)
graced (past)

For D and E, the G and A fingers are generally used for gracing, though E is sometimes more conveniently graced by F#.

1987, L. E. McCullough, The Complete Irish Tin Whistle Tutor (New & Revised), page 22

(transitive, music) To add grace notes, cadenzas, etc., to.


clave

From Spanish clave, from Latin clāvis (“key”). Doublet of clef.

(music) A characteristic pattern of beats, especially the 3-2 son clave.


cover artist

(music) A musical artist who makes a cover version of a song.


basso

From Italian basso, from Latin bassus (“short, low”). Doublet of base and bass.

(music) A bass singer, especially in opera.

(music) An instrumental part written for a bass instrument.

(music) The double bass, or contrabasso.


program

→ Malay: program

→ Tok Pisin: program

/ˈpɹoʊˌɡɹæm/

/ˈpɹoːɡɹɑːm/

From French programme, from Late Latin programma (“a proclamation, edict”), from Ancient Greek πρόγραμμα (prógramma, “a written public notice, an edict”), from προγράφω (prográphō, “I set forth as a public notice”), from πρό (pró, “before”) + γράφω (gráphō, “I write”). Doublet of programma.

der

program playback
playing tracks in a custom order


duet

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
From Italian duetto (“short musical composition for two voices”), diminutive of due (“two”).

(music) A musical composition in two parts, each performed by a single voice (singer, instrument or univoce ensemble).

дуе́т

a musical composition for two performers

(music) A song composed for and/or performed by a duo.


adagio

/əˈdɑːd͡ʒiəʊ/

/əˈdæd͡ʒiəʊ/

(music) A tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played rather slowly, leisurely and gracefully.

慢板

tempo mark indicating that music is to be played slowly


adagio

/əˈdɑːd͡ʒiəʊ/

/əˈdæd͡ʒiəʊ/


adagio

/əˈdɑːd͡ʒiəʊ/

/əˈdæd͡ʒiəʊ/

(music) Describing a passage having this mark.


chant

From Middle English chaunten, from Old French chanter, from Latin cantāre (“sing”). Doublet of cant.

(music) A short and simple melody to which unmetrical psalms, etc., are sung or recited.

(music, Anglicanism) A harmonized melody used in Anglican chant, usually split into two two-bar phrases, to which the words of a psalm are sung by a choir; typically, each musical phrase corresponds to the text of half of a verse.


octet

An octet of waiters sang her "Happy Birthday".

(music) A group of eight musicians performing together.

oktet

(music) A composition for such a group of musicians.


ut

From Middle English ut (“first degree or note of Guido of Arezzo's hexachordal scales”), Italian ut in the solmization of Guido of Arezzo, from the opening word Latin ut (“how”) in the lyrics of the scale-ascending hymn Ut queant laxis by Paulus Deacon.

inh

(music, dated) Syllable (formerly) used in solfège to represent the first note of a major scale.


gong

(music) A percussion instrument consisting of a metal disk that emits a loud resonant sound when struck with a soft hammer.


off

(older Received Pronunciation, General American) -ɔːf

From Middle English of, from Old English of, af, æf (“from, off, away”), from Proto-West Germanic *ab, from Proto-Germanic *ab (“from”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epo (“from, off, back”). Doublet of of.
Cognates
Cognate with Scots of, af (“off, away”), West Frisian af, ôf (“off, away”), Dutch af (“off, from”), German Low German of (“off, from”), German ab (“off, from”), Danish af (“of, off”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish av (“of, off”), Icelandic af (“of, off”), Gothic 𐌰𐍆 (af, “of, from”); and with Latin ab (“of, from, by”), Ancient Greek ἀπό (apó, “from”), and others.

noises off


kit

en-noun

kit (countable and uncountable, plural kits)

From Middle English kyt, kytt, kytte, from Middle Dutch kitte (“a wooden vessel made of hooped staves”). Related to Dutch kit (“tankard”) (see below). The further etymology is unknown. Perhaps from Proto-Germanic *kitjō-, *kut-, which would be related to the root of Dutch kot (“ramshackle house”), itself of non-Indo-European origin.
The transfer of meaning to the contents of a soldier's knapsack dates to the late 18th century, extended use of any collection of necessaries used for travelling dates to the first half of the 19th century.
The further widening of the sense to a collection of parts sold for the buyer to assemble emerges in US English in the mid 20th century.


quartet

From French quartette, from Italian quartetto. Doublet of cuarteto and quartetto.

The string quartet played some chamber music.

A group of four people or things, particularly

(music) A group of four musicians who perform classical music together.

квартет

four musicians who perform a piece of music together

He composed a string quartet.

(music) A musical composition in four parts, each performed by a single voice or instrument.

The barbershop quartet performed the composition a cappella.

(music) A group of four singers, usually males, who sings together in four-part harmony.


offbeat

From off- + beat; not following the beat (e.g., of a drum that sounds out cadence).

The congregation clapped along on the offbeat.

(music) The beats not normally accented in a measure.


alto

Borrowed from Italian alto (“high”). Doublet of old.

SATB

Initialism of soprano, alto, tenor, bass.


emcee

Pronunciation spelling of MC (“master of ceremonies”).

pronunciation spelling of

[…] mutating into all-star line-ups of emcees spitting hot bars over familiar beats, then to a single crew spitting bars over familiar beats, then eventually to a single crew (or artist) spitting bars over unfamiliar beats.

2021, Jehnie I. Burns, Mixtape Nostalgia: Culture, Memory, and Representation (page 138)

Alternative form of MC in its senses as
(music) A rapper.

Alternative form of MC in its senses as
A rapper.


emcee

en-verb

emcee (third-person singular simple present emcees, present participle emceeing, simple past and past participle emceed)

emcees (present singular third-person)
emceeing (participle present)
emceed (participle past)
emceed (past)

(intransitive, music) To rap as part of a hip-hop performance.


reed

en-noun

reed (countable and uncountable, plural reeds)

From Middle English red, reed, from Old English hrēod, from Proto-West Germanic *hreud, of uncertain origin.
Akin to Saterland Frisian Rait (“reed”), West Frisian reid (“reed”), Dutch riet (“reed”), German Ried (“reed”). No cognates in North Germanic languages, but the existence of an otherwise unattested Gothic *𐌷𐍂𐌹𐌿𐌳 (*hriud) was supposed by the brothers Grimm. They also theorised that the word may have a relation to the retas mentioned in Noctes Atticae (Aulus Gellius). The measuring reed sense is the translation of Akkadian qanûm ("cane") used in the Bible and elsewhere.

(countable, music) Part of the mouthpiece of certain woodwind instruments, comprising a thin piece of wood or metal which shakes very quickly to produce sound when a musician blows over it.

(countable, music) A musical instrument such as the clarinet or oboe, which produces sound when a musician blows on the reed.


tenor

tenor (countable and uncountable, plural tenors)

From Middle English tenour, from Anglo-Norman tenour, from Old French tenor (“substance, contents, meaning, sense; tenor part in music”), from Latin tenor (“course, continuance; holder”), from teneō (“I hold”). In music, from the notion of the one who holds the melody, as opposed to the countertenor.

der

(music) A musical range or section higher than bass and lower than alto.

(archaic, music) A musical part or section that holds or performs the main melody, as opposed to the contratenor bassus and contratenor altus, who perform countermelodies.


retrograde

en-adj

retrograde (comparative more retrograde, superlative most retrograde)

more retrograde (comparative)
most retrograde (superlative)

The adjective is derived from Middle English retrograd, retrograde (“of a planet: appearing to move in a direction opposite to the order of the zodiac signs, retrograde; unfortunate”), from Middle French retrograde and Old French retrograde (“of a celestial object: appearing to move backwards; moving backwards; reverse; palindromic; opposed to change”) (modern French rétrograde), and from their etymon Latin retrōgradus (“of a celestial object: appearing to move backwards”) (compare Late Latin retrōgradus (“reverse; palindromic”)), from retrō (“back, backwards; behind; before, formerly”) + gradus (“pace, step”). Retrō is derived from re- (prefix meaning ‘back, backwards’) + *-trō (probably from intrō (“to enter, go into”)); gradus is ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰredʰ- (“to go; to walk”).
The adverb and noun are derived from the adjective.

der

/ˈɹɛtɹə(ʊ)ɡɹeɪd/

/ˈɹɛtɹəˌɡɹeɪd/

retrògrad

reverting to an inferior or less developed state — see also declining, regressing

Of the order of something: inverse, reverse.

(music) Having a passage of music played backwards.

retrògrad

having a passage of music played backwards


retrograde

/ˈɹɛtɹə(ʊ)ɡɹeɪd/

/ˈɹɛtɹəˌɡɹeɪd/

(music) The reversal of a melody so that what is played first in the original melody is played last, and what is played last in the original melody is played first.


sour

en-adj

sour (comparative sourer, superlative sourest)

sourer (comparative)
sourest (superlative)

From Middle English sour, from Old English sūr (“sour”), from Proto-West Germanic *sūr, from Proto-Germanic *sūraz (“sour”), from Proto-Indo-European *súHros (“sour”).
Cognate with West Frisian soer, Dutch zuur (“sour”), Low German suur, German sauer (“sour”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian sur, French sur (“sour”), Faroese súrur (“sour”), Icelandic súr (“sour, bitter”),
Polish ser (“cheese”),
Czech sýr (“cheese”),
Slovak syr (“cheese”),
Russian сырой (syroj, “raw”),
Ukrainian сири́й (syrýj, “raw”),
Old Church Slavonic сꙑръ (syrŭ, “moist, cheese”).

cog

Unlike what the name implies, there is nothing inherently wrong with a sour note: It is perfectly well-tuned note that would sound normal in another context (and which presumably would not sound sour to someone unfamiliar with tonal music).

2010, Aniruddh D. Patel, Music, Language, and the Brain, page 201


niente

(music) totally silent, as a musical direction (abbreviated to n. or ∅ in sheet music)


motion

en-noun

motion (countable and uncountable, plural motions)

Inherited from Middle English mocioun, mocion, from Anglo-Norman motion, Middle French motion, and their etymon Latin mōtiō (“movement, motion”), related to movēre, from Proto-Indo-European *m(y)ewh₁- (“to move”).

der

perpetual motion machine of the first kind

perpetual motion machine of the second kind

The independent motions of different parts sounding together constitute counterpoint.

1878, George Grove, A Dictionary of Music and Musicians

(music) Change of pitch in successive sounds, whether in the same part or in groups of parts. (Conjunct motion is that by single degrees of the scale. Contrary motion is when parts move in opposite directions. Disjunct motion is motion by skips. Oblique motion is when one part is stationary while another moves. Similar or direct motion is when parts move in the same direction.)


bowl

Bislama: bol

→ Esperanto: bovlo

desctree

→ French: bol
→ Catalan: bol
→ Greek: μπολ (bol)

→ German: Bowle, → Bowl

→ Hungarian: bólé

→ Ido: bolo

→ Irish: bolla

→ Japanese: ボール (bōru)

→ Latvian: bole (probably via German)

→ Korean: 볼 (bol)

→ Scottish Gaelic: bòl

→ Swedish: bål

From Middle English bolle, from Old English bolla, bolle (“bowl, cup, pot, beaker, measure”), from Proto-West Germanic *bollā, from Proto-Germanic *bullǭ (“ball, round vessel, bowl”).
Cognate with North Frisian bol (“bun, bread roll”), Middle Low German bolle, bole (“round object”), Dutch bol (“ball, sphere, scoop, dot”), German Bolle (“bulb”), Danish bolle (“bowl, bread roll”), Icelandic bolli (“cup”). Doublet of boule and pulla.

inh

(sports, theater) An elliptical-shaped stadium or amphitheater resembling a bowl.


longa

longæ (plural)
longe (plural)
longas (plural)

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


breve

From Middle English breve, variant of bref, from Old French brieve, breve (feminine form of brief, bref), from Latin brevis (“short”).

(music) A double whole note; a note twice as long as a semibreve.


relative

[ˈɹɛl.ə.ɾɪv]

From Middle French relatif, from Late Latin relātīvus, from Latin relātus, perfect passive participle of referō (“to carry back, to ascribe”), from re- (“again”) + ferō (“to bear or carry”).

(music) Having the same key but differing in being major or minor.


cult

From French culte, from Latin cultus (“care, adoration; cult”), from colō (“cultivate; protect”).

(neologism, music) Alternative form of kvlt.


breakdown

en-noun

breakdown (countable and uncountable, plural breakdowns)

تَوَزُّع

listing or categorization in great detail

And now it's time for a breakdown!

1992, En Vogue, My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It) (song)

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

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

(music) A musical technique by which the music is stripped down, becoming simpler, varying in heaviness depending on the genre.

The percussion break of songs chosen by a DJ for use in hip-hop music.

Foggy Mountain Breakdown

Towards nine the three miners said that as they had brought their instruments they might as well tune up, for the boys and girls would soon be arriving now, and hungry for a good old fashioned breakdown. A fiddle, a banjo, and a clarinet - these were the instruments.

1893, Mark Twain, “The Californian's Tale”, in The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories, published 1906

Without a change of countenance, as if he were deaf to her entreaties and threats, he tuned up the banjo, and played a breakdown.

1898, Charles Garvice, Nell, of Shorne Mills, page 4

she soon took up with a traveling shoe salesman who played the banjo, wandered away with him and his shoes, probably to the sound of a banjo breakdown

2005, Joe R. Lansdale, Sunset and Sawdust, page 65

Izzy lays down some big chords while Slash plays the song's banjo breakdown of a theme.

2008, Stephen Davis, Watch You Bleed: The Saga of Guns N' Roses, page 102

The grown-ups were lolling around on the porch and in the yard, finger snapping and foot tapping while Samuel played “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” on his fivestring banjo

2011, Jenny Wingfield, The Homecoming of Samuel Lake, page 98

The banjo built up to breakdown speed and then took a sidestep into another register, an oddly complex net of notes which stretched out for a time and finally stopped on a full rest.

2011, Madison Smartt Bell, Soldier's Joy

(US, music) Any rapid bluegrass dance tune, especially featuring a five-string banjo.


pick

From Middle English piken, picken, pikken, from Old English *piccian, *pīcian (attested in pīcung (“a pricking”)), and pīcan, pȳcan (“to pick, prick, pluck”), both from Proto-West Germanic *pikkōn, from Proto-Germanic *pikkōną (“to pick, peck, prick, knock”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew-, *bu- (“to make a dull, hollow sound”). Doublet of pitch and peck.
Cognate with Dutch pikken (“to pick”), German picken (“to pick, peck”), Old Norse pikka, pjakka (whence Icelandic pikka (“to pick, prick”), Swedish picka (“to pick, peck”)).

inh

(music) A tool used for strumming the strings of a guitar; a plectrum.


pick

en-verb

pick (third-person singular simple present picks, present participle picking, simple past and past participle picked)

picks (present singular third-person)
picking (participle present)
picked (participle past)
picked (past)

dərmək

to remove a fruit or plant for consumption

whakatete

to pick a fight or argument with someone

He picked a tune on his banjo.

(music) To pluck the individual strings of a musical instrument or to play such an instrument.

zupfen

music: to pluck the individual strings of a musical instrument


hardcore

en-adj

hardcore (comparative more hardcore, superlative most hardcore)

more hardcore (comparative)
most hardcore (superlative)

From hard + core: hard to the core; 1936 (n.); 1951 (adj.)

(music) Faster or more intense than the regular style.

duro

faster or more intense than the regular style


furniture

en-noun

furniture (usually uncountable, plural furnitures)

From Middle French fourniture (“a supply, or the act of furnishing”), from fournir (“to furnish”).


axeman

Ex-Aerosmith axeman Joe Perry has finished recording his first solo effort, "I've Got the Rock 'n' Rolls Again."

1981 June 18, Kurt Loder, “Rolling Stone”, in Anchorage Daily News / King Features Syndicate, page G6

(informal, music) A musician who plays a guitar or saxophone.


rote

From Middle English rote, from Old French rote, probably of German origin; compare Middle High German rotte, and English crowd (“a kind of violin”).

(music) A kind of guitar, the notes of which were produced by a small wheel or wheel-like arrangement; an instrument similar to the hurdy-gurdy.


agitato

(music) A tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played in a restless agitated style.


agitato

(music) Played in a restless agitated style.


agitato

(music) Describing a passage having this mark.


dolce

From Italian dolce. Doublet of douce, doux, and dulce.


gamut

1520s, original sense “lowest note of musical scale”, from Medieval Latin gamma ut, from gamma (“Greek letter, corresponding to the musical note G”) + ut (“first solfège syllable, now replaced by do”). In modern terms, “G do” – the first note of the G scale. Meaning later extended to mean all the notes of a scale, and then more generally any complete range.

(music) All the notes in a musical scale.


phase

From New Latin phasis, from Ancient Greek φάσις (phásis, “an appearance”), from φάω (pháō, “to shine”); compare phantasm and see face.

der

(music) A distortion caused by a difference in the speed of propagation for different frequencies


avail

en-noun

avail (countable and uncountable, plural avails)

From Middle English availen (“to be of use”), from Old French a (“to”) + vail from valoir (“to be worth”), from Latin valere (“to be worthy, strong”).

(British, acting) Non-binding notice of availability for work.


patch

From Middle English patche, of uncertain origin. Perhaps an alteration of earlier Middle English placche (“patch, spot, piece of cloth”), from Old English *plæċċ, *pleċċ (“a spot, mark, patch”), from Proto-West Germanic *plakkju, from Proto-Germanic *plakjō (“spot, stain”). For the loss of l compare pat from Middle English platten. Germanic cognates would then include Middle English plecke, dialectal English pleck (“plot of ground, patch”), West Frisian plak (“place, spot”), Low German Plakk, Plakke (“spot, piece, patch”), Dutch plek (“spot, place, stain, patch”), Dutch plak (“piece, slab”), Swedish plagg (“garment”), Faroese plagg (“cloth, rag”).
Or, possibly a variant of Old French pieche, dialectal variant of piece (“piece”). Compare also Old Occitan petaç (“patch”).

tilkku

small piece of material used to clean a gun barrel

flejtuch

piece of greased cloth used to fit a rifle ball to the bore

A synthesizer comes with controls to store patches and edit them. Some high-end synthesizers even have floppy disks for additional patch storage.

1988 November 28, “MIDI: Computers and Music”, in U-M Computing News, volume 3, number 21, The University of Michigan Computing Center, page 11

(music) A sound setting for a musical synthesizer (originally selected by means of a patch cable).


quite

(bullfighting) A series of passes made with the cape to distract the bull.


blue note

(idiomatic, music) The flatted 5th scale degree in the blues scale, also known as the flat five.

(idiomatic, music) Any of the notes that produce the characteristic clashes with the underlying harmony associated with blues music. The flatted third, flatted fifth and flatted seventh can all be considered blue notes when played over major or dominant chord progressions, while only the flatted fifth will clash with minor chord progressions.


fade

From Middle English fade, vad, vade (“faded, pale, withered, weak”), from Middle Dutch vade (“weak, faint, limp”), from Old French fade (“weak, witless”), of obscure origin. Probably from Vulgar Latin *fatidus, from Latin fatuus (“insipid”).

(music, cinematography) A gradual decrease in the brightness of a shot or the volume of sound or music (as a means of cutting to a new scene or starting a new song).


maestro

Borrowed from Italian maestro, from Latin magister (“master”). Doublet of magister, master, and meister.

doublet

You've never been on a ride like this before; with a producer who can rap and control the maestro.

1992, “Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang”, in Andre R. Young, Tracy Curry, Calvin Broadus, Leon Haywood (lyrics), Andre R. Young (music), The Chronic, performed by Dr. Dre (featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg), Death Row Records

(chiefly music) A master in some art, especially a composer or conductor.


ET

en-noun

ET (countable and uncountable, plural ETs)

(music, countable) Initialism of escape tone.


block

en-verb

block (third-person singular simple present blocks, present participle blocking, simple past and past participle blocked)

blocks (present singular third-person)
blocking (participle present)
blocked (participle past)
blocked (past)

From Middle English blok (“log, stump, solid piece”), from Old French bloc (“log, block”), from Middle Dutch blok (“treetrunk”), from Old Dutch *blok (“log”), from Proto-West Germanic *blokk, from Proto-Germanic *blukką (“beam, log”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- (“thick plank, beam, pile, prop”). Cognate with Old Frisian blok, Old Saxon blok, Old High German bloh, bloc (“block”), Old English bolca (“gangway of a ship, plank”), Old Norse bǫlkr (“divider, partition”). More at balk. See also bloc, bulk.

cog

It was very difficult to block this scene convincingly.

(transitive, theater) To specify the positions and movements of the actors for (a section of a play or film).

asemoida

to specify positions and movements of actors


pad

1554, "bundle of straw to lie on", probably from Low German or West Flemish pad (“sole of the foot”), perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pent- (“to pass”), which would make it related to both path and find.

unk

probably

(music) A synthesizer instrument sound used for sustained background sounds.


baggy

en-adj

baggy (comparative baggier, superlative baggiest)

baggier (comparative)
baggiest (superlative)

→ French: baggy

Pop historian Jon Savage listens to the best of the Stone Roses and their contemporaries – from Baby Ford to the Sabres of Paradise – and creates the perfect set of baggy playlists

2011 October 18, Jon Savage, “Stone Roses reunion: three baggy playlists”, in The Guardian

The Birmingham band – now a five-piece after multi-instrumentalist James Balmont joined them – have ditched the loose and baggy guitar pop of 2013’s Where the Heaven Are We? in favour of psych-pop that contorts itself into pulsing Balearic acid house and motorik rhythms.

2015 October 1, Tshepo Mokoena, “Swim Deep: Mothers review – baggy indie kids embrace psych-pop”, in The Guardian

(music) Of or relating to a British music genre of the 1980s and 1990s, influenced by Madchester and psychedelia and associated with baggy clothing.


aside

From Middle English aside, asyde, a-side, oside, from Middle English on side, from Old English on sīdan (literally “on (the) side (of)”), equivalent to a- + side. Compare beside.

der

An incidental remark to a person next to one made discreetly but not in private, audible only to that person.
 (theater) A brief comment by a character addressing the audience, unheard by other characters.

旁白

(theatre) a brief comment by a character addressing the audience, unheard by other characters


corno

From Italian corno, from Latin cornu (“horn”). Doublet of corn and cornu.


jazz

en-noun

jazz (usually uncountable, plural jazzes)

→ Japanese: ジャズ (jazu)

Unknown. First attested around 1912 in a discussion of baseball; attested in reference to music around 1915. Numerous references suggest that the term may be connected to jasm and jism.

You dare to bring your jazz songs into my house!

1927, Samson Raphaelson, Alfred A. Cohn, The Jazz Singer, spoken by Jakie Rabinowitz (Al Jolson)

You see, the kids, they listen to the rap music which gives them the brain damage. With their hippin', and the hoppin', and the bippin', and the boppin', so they don't know what the jazz…is all about! You see, jazz is like the Jello Pudding Pop—no, actually, it's more like Kodak film—no, actually, jazz is like the New Coke: it'll be around forever, heh heh.

1995, Mike Reiss, Al Jean, “'Round Springfield”, in The Simpsons, season 6, episode 22, spoken by Bill Cosby

(music) A musical art form rooted in West African cultural and musical expression and in the African American blues tradition, with diverse influences over time, commonly characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms and improvisation.


kitchen

→ Bole: kicin

→ Hausa: kicin

→ Hindi: किचन (kican)

→ Fiji Hindi: kichin

desc

→ Japanese: キッチン (kitchin), キチン (kichin)

→ Saanich: kəčən

→ Sotho: kitjhine

→ Urdu: کچن (kicin)

→ Xhosa: ikhitshi

→ Zulu: ikhishi

From Middle English kychyn, kytchen, kichene, küchen, from Old English cyċen, cyċene, from Proto-West Germanic *kukinā, a borrowing from Late Latin cocīna, from earlier coquīna (“kitchen; cuisine”), from coquō (“to cook”), from Proto-Indo-European *pekʷ- (“to cook, become ripe”).
In other languages, the cognate term often refers both to the room and the type of cooking. In English, the distinction is generally made via the etymological twins kitchen (“room”) (Latin via Germanic) and cuisine (“type of cooking”) (Latin via French).

der

if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen

For obvious reasons the percussion is normally arranged along the back of the platform, whether centrally or to one side, and sometimes also in two tiers, the heavy, noisier instruments behind, and the pitched, agile instruments such as vibraphone, marimba, etc. in front. An outstanding exception, however, exists in Roberto Gerhard's Epithalamion where the composer expressly desired that the all-important kitchen department be spread out in front of the strings and hence nearest the audience.

1981, Norman Del Mar, Anatomy of the Orchestra

(music) The percussion section of an orchestra.


grace note

/ˈɡɹeɪs nəʊt/

From grace (“elegant movement; poise or balance; charming, pleasing qualities”) + note.

There is a manner of gracing the notes or accents in reading, as in singing, but which is always at pleasure. This grace note in music is called appoggiatura, that is, supporter, insinuator. As the quantities of these little notes in music are always taken out of the next note that follows, so it is in speech. Instead of a plain acute accent, thus /, we may use, which corresponds exactly with the small musical grace note, a little circumflex grave-accute, thus ⎝; or acute-grave, thus ⎞; [...]

1821, James Chapman, chapter II, in The Original Rhythmical Grammar of the English Language: Or, The Art of Reading and Speaking, on the Principles of the Music of Speech, Edinburgh: Printed for James Robertson, […], →OCLC, page 30

Grace notes, as their name shows, though not absolutely essential to melody, are employed as embellishments, and also prevent too great uniformity. There are several kinds; the small note, or Appoggiatura, the Trill, and the Turn. An Appoggiatura is a grace note placed above or below a principal note, and is generally half the value of that note; there are instances, however, when its value is greater. [...] A Turn is composed of three grace notes placed before or after a principal note.

1851, [Friedrich] Schneider, “The Elements of Music”, in Schneider’s Practical Organ School, Containing All Necessary Instructions in Fingering, Management of Stops, Pedals, etc., […], Boston, Mass.: Published by Oliver Ditson & Company, […], →OCLC, page 21, column 1

Most of these embellishments are played very quickly, in order that the note, before which they are placed, and to which they are added as grace notes, may lose but little of its value. It is often difficult to guess from which note (whether the preceding or succeeding) the time requisite for the execution of the grace note is to be taken.

1852, Louis Spohr, “On Graces, Ornaments, or Embellishments”, in U[reli] C[orelli] Hill, editor, Spohr’s Grand Violin School: Newly Revised, from the Latest German and English Editions, Boston, Mass.: Published by Oliver Ditson, […]; C. C. Clapp & Co., […]; New York, N.Y.: J. E. Gould & Co., →OCLC, page 136

There are an infinite number of fingering combinations that can be used to play grace notes, and they are all dependent on both the hand position you are playing in and the combination of notes preceding the grace note(s).

2011, Michel Merhej Baklouk, with Nicole LeCorgne, “Unit 1 – Basic Technique Building”, in Classical Riqq Technique, Pacific, Mo.: Bill’s Music Shelf; republished [U.S.A.]: Mel Bay Publications, 2018, part II (Lessons), page 54

(music) A musical note, indicated on a score in smaller type with or without a slash through it, played to ornament the melody rather than as part of it. Its note value does not count as part of the total time value of the measure it appears in.

forşlaq

musical note played to ornament the melody


pastoral

/ˌpæsˈtɔːɹəl/

From Middle French, Old French pastoral, from Latin pāstōrālis, from pāstor (“shepherd”), + adjective suffix -ālis.

(music) A cantata relating to rural life; a composition for instruments characterized by simplicity and sweetness; a lyrical composition the subject of which is taken from rural life.


septet

The Lindsey Septet performs at Carnegie Hall this evening.

A group of seven, particularly
(music) A group of seven musicians.

A group of seven, particularly
A group of seven musicians.

(music) A composition for a group of seven musicians.

szeptett

musical composition for seven instruments or seven voices


oblique

en-adj

oblique (comparative obliquer, superlative obliquest)

obliquer (comparative)
obliquest (superlative)

From Middle French oblique, from Latin oblīquus (also spelled oblīcus) (“slanting, sideways, indirect, envious”).

uder

In passing from the minor third to unison, the motion ought to be oblique, but from the major third to unison the motion ought to be similar

1837, Allan Cunningham, “Music”, in The Popular Encyclopedia, page 109

(music) Employing oblique motion, motion or progression in which one part (voice) stays on the same note while another ascends or descends.


pes

From Latin pēs (“foot”). Doublet of foot, pie (“Spanish unit of length”), and pous.

doublet

(music) a neume representing two notes ascending


mute

From Middle English muet, from Anglo-Norman muet, moet, Middle French muet, from mu (“dumb, mute”) + -et, remodelled after Latin mūtus.

As for the poor honest Maid, whom all the Story is built upon, and who ought to be one of the principal Actors in the Play, she is commonly a Mute in it:

1668 OF Dramatick Poesie, AN ESSAY. By JOHN DRYDEN Esq; (John Dryden)

(obsolete, theater) An actor who does not speak; a mime performer.

(music) An object for dulling the sound of an instrument, especially a brass instrument, or damper for pianoforte; a sordine.


ingenue

Borrowed from French ingénue, the feminine form of ingénu (“guileless”), originally from the Latin ingenuus (“ingenuous”).

The intelligent and talented blonde who was fluent in English, French and Spanish was interested in art and joined a local theater group to work on set designs but wound up on stage playing an ingenue in Liliom and was spotted by director Vincente Minnelli.

2012, Thomas Lisanti, Hollywood Surf and Beach Movies: The First Wave, 1959-1969, McFarland, page 396

(theater, film) A dramatic role of such a woman; an actress playing such a role.

naiva

a dramatic role of such a woman; an actress playing such a role


fine

From Italian fine (“end”). French fin. Doublet of fin and finis.

(music) The end of a musical composition.

(music) The location in a musical score that indicates the end of the piece, particularly when the piece ends somewhere in the middle of the score due to a section of the music being repeated.


range

Japanese: レンジ (renji)

Korean: 레인지 (reinji)

From Middle English rengen, from Old French rengier (“to range, to rank, to order,”), from the noun renc, reng, ranc, rang (“a rank, row”), from Frankish *hring, from Proto-Germanic *hringaz (“ring, circle, curve”).

der

(music) The scale of all the tones a voice or an instrument can produce.


Dr

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


dock

From early modern English "area of mud in which a ship can rest at low tide, dock", borrowed from Dutch dok (“dock”) or Middle Low German docke (“dock, ship's dock”), both from Middle Dutch docke (“port, harbour, roadstead”), of uncertain origin. The original sense may have been "the furrow a grounded vessel makes in a mud bank". Compare modern Dutch dok, modern German Low German Dock, West Frisian dok, German Dock, Danish dok, Swedish docka.
Some sources link this word to an unattested Middle Dutch *docke (“watercourse, trench, canal”), which is a ghost word, only being inferred from Mediaeval Latin documents in the form of ducta, doctus, doccia (“conduit, canal”). However, if this theory is correct, then it would relate the word to Italian doccia (“drainpipe”), making dock a doublet of douche and duct.
An alternative theory ties Middle Dutch docke to a North Germanic/Scandinavian source, notably Old Norse dǫkk (“depression in the landscape, pit, pool, trench”), related to Norwegian dokk (“hollow, low ground”), Old Icelandic dökk, dökð (“pit, pool”), Swedish dank (“marshy ground”). If so, this would make dock a doublet of dank.


chase

en-noun

chase (countable and uncountable, plural chases)

From Middle English chacen, from Anglo-Norman chacer, Old French chacier, from Late Latin captiāre, from Latin captāre, frequentative of capere. Compare French chasser (“to hunt”, “to chase”), Spanish cazar (“to hunt”), Portuguese caçar (“to hunt”)
, see Norwegian skysse (“to hunt”).
Doublet of catch and related to capture.
Displaced native Old English ōht, ēhtnes, and wāþ. Broadly overtook Old English huntaþ.

(music) A series of brief improvised jazz solos by a number of musicians taking turns.


section

From Middle English seccioun, from Old French section, from Latin sectiō (“cutting, cutting off, excision, amputation of diseased parts of the body, etc.”), from sectus, past participle of secāre (“to cut”). More at saw.

разрэ́з

surgery: incision or the act of making an incision

The horn section is the group of symphonic musicians who play the French horn.

(music) A group of instruments in an orchestra.

A part, piece, subdivision of anything.
A group of instruments in an orchestra.


chorus

en-noun

chorus (plural choruses or (dated) chorusses or (rare) chori)

choruses (plural)
chorusses (dated plural)
chori (plural rare)

The noun is borrowed from Medieval Latin chorus (“church choir”), Latin chorus (“group of dancers and singers; dance”), from Ancient Greek χορός (khorós, “group of dancers and singers, choir, chorus; dance accompanied by song; round dance”); further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- (“to encircle, enclose”) or *ǵʰoros. Doublet of choir and hora.
The plural form chori is from Latin chorī, from Ancient Greek χοροί (khoroí).
The verb is derived from the noun.

der

(by extension, chiefly British, theater, historical) An actor who reads the prologue and epilogue of a play, and sometimes also acts as a commentator or narrator; also, a portion of a play read by this actor.

A piece of music, especially one in a larger work such as an opera, written to be sung by a choir in parts (for example, by sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses).

The catchiest part of most songs is the chorus.

See the flowing bowl before us, / Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la! / Strike the harp and join the chorus. / Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!

1862, T[homas] Oliphant, John Thomas, arranger, “No. 15. Nos Galan. New Year’s Eve. [Deck the Halls]”, in Welsh Melodies: With Welsh and English Poetry, London: Addison, Hollier & Lucas, →OCLC, stanza 2, page 140

A part of a song which is repeated between verses to emphasize the song's content; a refrain.

refren

part of a song repeated between verses — see also refrain

The main part of a pop song played after the introduction.

A group of organ pipes or organ stops intended to be played simultaneously; a compound stop; also, the sound made by such pipes or stops.

(often attributively) A feature or setting in electronic music that makes one instrument sound like many.

refrein

(Christianity) A simple, often repetitive, song intended to be sung in a group during informal worship.

Of additional interest is the riff in the second chorus, which was later copied by Joe Garland and recorded by the Glenn Miller Orchestra as "In the Mood," becoming the biggest hit of the Swing Era.

2002, Thomas E. Larson, History and Tradition of Jazz, Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing

Jazz solos in the 1920s are much more about variety and discontinuity than unity and coherence. The explosive introduction, the instrutable and tender scat-clarinet dialogue, the spritely piano chorus, and the majestic trumpet chorus—contrast is far more important than unity.

2014, Thomas Brothers, “‘Some Kind of a God’”, in Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism, New York, N.Y., London: W[illiam] W[arder] Norton & Company, page 299

(jazz) The improvised solo section in a small group performance.


recapitulation

en-noun

recapitulation (countable and uncountable, plural recapitulations)

re·kə·pĭ·chə·lāʹshən

From Anglo-Norman recapitulaciun et al., Middle French recapitulacion et al., or their source, from Late Latin recapitulatio (“summing up, summary”), from the participle stem of recapitulare (“recapitulate”), from re- + capitulum (“chapter, section”), diminutive of caput (“head”).

der

(music) The third major section of a musical movement written in sonata form, representing thematic material that originally appeared in the exposition section.

再現部

music: third major part of a movement in sonata form


verse

en-noun

verse (countable and uncountable, plural verses)

From Middle English vers, from a mixture of Old English fers and Old French vers; both from Latin versus (“a line in writing, and in poetry a verse; (originally) row, furrow”), from vertō (“to turn around”).

uder

(music) A portion of an anthem to be performed by a single voice to each part.


doughnut

→ Afrikaans: donut, doughnut

→ Albanian: donut

→ Arabic: دُونَات (dūnāt)

Hijazi Arabic: دونت (dōnat)

→ Bengali: ডোনাট (ḍōnaṭ)

→ Bulgarian: донът (donǎt)

→ Burmese: ဒိုးနပ် (dui:nap)

→ Catalan: dònut

→ Cebuano: donut

→ Chinese:

desc

Cantonese: 多甩 (do¹ lat¹), 冬甩 (dung¹ lat¹)

Mandarin: 多拿滋 (duōnázī)

→ Danish: donut

→ Dutch: donut

→ French: donut

→ German: Donut, Doughnut

→ Hindi: डोनट (ḍonaṭ)

→ Indonesian: donat

→ Irish: taoschnó (calque)

→ Japanese: ドーナツ (dōnatsu), ドーナッツ (dōnattsu)

→ Korean: 도넛 (doneot), (nonstandard spellings) 도나스 (donaseu), 도너스 (doneoseu), 도너츠 (doneocheu), 도우넛 (douneot)

→ Malay: donat

→ Maori: tōnati

→ Marshallese: tonaaj (via plural); to̧nōt

→ Persian: دونات (donât)

→ Portuguese: dónute, dônute (Brazil), donut (unadapted spelling)

→ Spanish: dona; dónat, dónut, donut

→ Swedish: donut

→ Tagalog: donat

→ Tausug: dunat

→ Thai: โดนัต (doo-nát), โดนัท (doo-nát) — popular spelling

→ Turkish: donut

→ Urdu: ڈونٹ (ḍonaṭ)

→ Yiddish: דאָנאַט (donat)

From dough + nut, 1809 because originally small, nut-sized balls of fried dough, or, more likely, from nut in the earlier sense of "small rounded cake or cookie", with the toroidal shape becoming common in the twentieth century. First attested in Knickerbocker’s History of New York, by Washington Irving, 1809.

take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut


ow

Now don't you wait or hesitate / Let's move before they raise the parking rate, ow!

1970, Free (lyrics and music), “All Right Now”

Then you ran into the bedroom / You were struck down / It was your doom, Annie / Ow!

1987, Michael Jackson (lyrics and music), “Smooth Criminal”


disco

en-noun

disco (countable and uncountable, plural discos)

→ Cebuano: disko

→ Esperanto: diskoo

→ Dutch: disco

→ Polish: disco

→ Romanian: disco

→ Swahili: disko

→ Tagalog: disko

→ Turkish: disko

From a shortening of discotheque, from French discothèque.

And black music became a hot commodity in the form of disco, its lyrics and rhythm laced with a palpable (even ethnic) amiguity, helping people dance and escape their concerns. Even the cry of “burn, baby, burn”, a popular chant during many a 1960s urban rebellion, was co-opted by the times, becoming the chorus for the 1977 dance hit “Disco Inferno.”

2009, Marcus Reeves, Somebody Scream!, Farrar, Straus and Giroux

(uncountable, music) A genre of dance music that was popular in the 1970s, characterized by elements of soul music with a strong Latin-American beat and often accompanied by pulsating lights.


resolve

en-verb

resolve (third-person singular simple present resolves, present participle resolving, simple past and past participle resolved)

resolves (present singular third-person)
resolving (participle present)
resolved (participle past)
resolved (past)

From Middle English resolven, from Old French resolver, a learned borrowing of Latin resolvō (“loosen, thaw, melt, resolve”), equivalent to re- + solve. Piecewise doublet of re-solve.

sulattaa

to melt; to dissolve; to liquefy or soften

(music) To cause a chord to go from dissonance to consonance.

purkaa

to cause a chord to go from dissonance to consonance


tierce

From Old French tierce, from Latin tertia.

(music) The third tone of the scale. See mediant.


gypsy

See Gypsy. The generic usage that refers to any itinerant person.
Compare bohemian, from Bohemia.

(theater) A member of a Broadway musical chorus line.


col legno

Borrowed from Italian col legno (literally “with the wood”).

bor

Webern took particular care with the col legno passages. In the quiet ostinatos of the first and third pieces (which can be seen as parallel in many ways), he added weich gezogen (gently drawn) to the col legno indications.

1996, Kathryn Bailey, editor, Webern Studies, Cambridge University Press, page 156

(music) A musical notation indicating that the strings of an instrument are to be struck with the wooden part of the bow.

per ligno

the strings must be struck with the wood of the bow


martellato

/ˌmɑː(ɹ)təˈlɑːtəʊ/

Borrowed from Italian martellato (“hammered”), from martellare (“to hammer, throb”), from martello (“hammer”), related to Latin martulus, marculus (“small hammer”), diminutive of marcus (“hammer”).

(music) Strongly accented, or hammered out; used of notes played on bowed string instruments, handbells, or the piano.


martellato

/ˌmɑː(ɹ)təˈlɑːtəʊ/

(music) A passage played with a strong accent, or hammered out.


delay

en-noun

delay (countable and uncountable, plural delays)

→ Portuguese: delay

From Middle English delaien, borrowed from Anglo-Norman delaier, Old French deslaier, from des- + Old French laier (“to leave”), a conflation of Old Frankish *lattjan ("to delay, hinder"; from Proto-Germanic *latjaną (“to delay, hinder, stall”), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁d- (“to leave, leave behind”)), and Old Frankish *laibijan ("to leave"; from Proto-Germanic *laibijaną (“to leave, cause to stay”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to remain, continue”)). Doublet of dally.
Akin to Old English latian (“to delay, hesitate”), Old English latu (“a delay, a hindrance”), Old English lǣfan (“to leave”). More at let (to hinder), late, leave.

cog

The 8-bit sound quality of many early delays did indeed leave a lot to be desired (compare this to the 16-bit digital technology of CDs)

2014, Dave Hunter, Guitar Amps and Effects For Dummies, page 259

(music) An audio effects unit that introduces a controlled delay.


adagietto

/əˌdæ(d)ʒiːˈɛtəʊ/

/əˌdɑː(d)ʒiːˈɛtəʊ/

Borrowed from Italian adagietto, a diminutive of adagio.

(music) A tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played slightly faster than adagio.


adagietto

/əˌdæ(d)ʒiːˈɛtəʊ/

/əˌdɑː(d)ʒiːˈɛtəʊ/


adagietto

/əˌdæ(d)ʒiːˈɛtəʊ/

/əˌdɑː(d)ʒiːˈɛtəʊ/

(music) Describing a passage having this mark.


precipitato

Borrowed from Italian precipitato, masculine past participle of precipitare (“to precipitate”). Doublet of precipitate.


Schubertiade

(music) A social gathering whose primary purpose is the performance of the music of Schubert and where the music of no other composer is played.


handbag

en-noun

handbag (countable and uncountable, plural handbags)

From hand + bag. The music genre is named from women dancing around a pile of their handbags in nightclubs. The verb is a reference to Margaret Thatcher's handbag.

(uncountable, music) Ellipsis of handbag house.


cleaver

From Middle English clevere, equivalent to cleave + -er.

(music, Bahamas) A type of clave, or rhythm stick, a concussive musical instrument used in traditional Bahamian music.


matra

Borrowed from Sanskrit मात्रा (mātrā, “measure, small quantity”).

bor

(music) In Indian music, the smallest rhythmic unit of a tala.


intrata

She likes the intrata from Bach's fifth 'cello suite.

(music) A piece of music which serves as an introduction.


intrada

We listened to Telemann's intrada for two flutes.

(music) A piece of music that serves as an introduction.


rank

en-noun

rank (countable and uncountable, plural ranks)

From Middle English rank (“line, row”), from Old French ranc, rang, reng (“line, row, rank”) (Modern French rang), from Frankish *hring (“ring”), from Proto-Germanic *hringaz (“something bent or curved”).
Akin to Old High German (h)ring, Old Frisian hring, Old English hring, hrincg (“ring”), Old Norse hringr (“ring, circle, queue, sword; ship”). Doublet of ring and rink.

cog

(music) In a pipe organ, a set of pipes of a certain quality for which each pipe corresponds to one key or pedal.


rest

en-noun

rest (countable and uncountable, plural rests)

From Middle English rest, reste, from Old English ræst, from Proto-West Germanic *rastu, from Proto-Germanic *rastō, from Proto-Indo-European *ros-, *res-, *erH- (“rest”). Cognate with West Frisian rêst (“rest”), Dutch rust (“rest”), German Rast (“rest”), Swedish rast (“rest”), Norwegian rest (“rest”), Icelandic röst (“rest”), Old Irish árus (“dwelling”), German Ruhe (“calm”), Albanian resht (“to stop, pause”), Welsh araf (“quiet, calm, gentle”), Lithuanian rovà (“calm”), Ancient Greek ἐρωή (erōḗ, “rest, respite”), Avestan 𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬨𐬈 (aⁱrime, “calm, peaceful”), Sanskrit रमते (rámate, “he stays still, calms down”), Gothic 𐍂𐌹𐌼𐌹𐍃 (rimis, “tranquility”). Related to roo.

rest

stick used to support the cue in snooker

Remember there's a rest at the end of the fourth bar.

(music, countable) A pause of a specified length in a piece of music.

rusteken

(music, countable) A written symbol indicating such a pause in a musical score such as in sheet music.


roundel

From Middle English roundel, rundel, rondel, from Old French rondel (“something round and flat”), a diminutive of rond (“round”). More at round.


part

desc

→ Cantonese: part (paat¹), parts (paat¹ si²) (from the plural noun form)

→ Japanese: パート (pāto), パーツ (pātsu) (from the plural noun form)

The noun is from Middle English part, from Old English part (“part”) and Old French part (“part”); both from Latin partem, accusative of pars (“piece, portion, share, side, party, faction, role, character, lot, fate, task, lesson, part, member”), from Proto-Indo-European *par-, *per- (“to sell, exchange”). The verb is from Middle English parten, from Old French partir. Akin to portio (“a portion, part”), parare (“to make ready, prepare”). Displaced Middle English del, dele (“part”) (from Old English dǣl (“part, distribution”) > Modern English deal (“portion; amount”)), Middle English dale, dole (“part, portion”) (from Old English dāl (“portion”) > Modern English dole), Middle English sliver (“part, portion”) (from Middle English sliven (“to cut, cleave”), from Old English (tō)slīfan (“to split”)).

cog

The first violin part in this concerto is very challenging.

(music) The melody played or sung by a particular instrument, voice, or group of instruments or voices, within a polyphonic piece.

партия

music: melody played or sung by a particular instrument, voice, or group of instruments or voices


tag

From Middle English tagge (“small piece hanging from a garment”), probably of North Germanic origin. Compare Norwegian tagg (“point; prong; barb; tag”), Swedish tagg (“thorn; prickle; tine”), Icelandic tág (“a willow-twig”). Compare also tack.

cog

(music) The last line (or last two lines) of a song's chorus that is repeated to indicate the end of the song.

припев

music: last line or lines of a song's chorus that is repeated


barrel

From Middle English barel, from Anglo-Norman baril, Old French baril, bareil (“barrel”), of uncertain origin. An attempt to link baril to Old French barre (“bar, bolt”) (compare Medieval Latin barra (“bar, rod”)) via assumed Vulgar Latin *barrīculum meets the phonological requirement, but fails to connect the word semantically. The alternate connection to Frankish *baril, *beril or Gothic 𐌱𐌴𐍂𐌹𐌻𐍃 (bērils, “container for transport”), from Proto-Germanic *barilaz, *bērilaz (“barrel, jug, container”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to carry, transport”), is more plausible as it connects not only the form of the word but also the sense; equivalent to bear + -le. Compare also Old High German biril (“jug, large pot”), Luxembourgish Bärel, Bierel (“jug, pot”), Old Norse berill (“barrel for liquids”), Old English byrla (“barrel of a horse, trunk, body”). More at bear.

vat

round vessel made from staves bound with a hoop

(music) The part of a clarinet which connects the mouthpiece and upper joint, and looks rather like a barrel (1).


mallet

From Middle English malet, maylet, from Old French mallet, maillet (“a wooden hammer, mallet”), diminutive of mal, mail (“a hammer”), from Latin malleus (“a hammer, mall, mallet”).

der

(music) A small hammer-like tool used for playing certain musical instruments.


wrap

en-noun

wrap (countable and uncountable, plural wraps)

From Middle English wrappe, from the verb (see above).

But she could knock off right after the wrap, have dinner, and take a later flight.

1994, Olivia Goldsmith, Fashionably Late

The first time I met him is when we went to the – after the wrap party, we went to a little sound room – or a little screening room and watched the preview

2003 January 12, “Encore Presentation: Interview With the Bee Gees”, in CNN_KingWknd

And that's a wrap on "News Watch." For Judy, Jim, Cal and Kirsten, I'm Jon Scott. We'll see you again next week.'

(entertainment) The completion of all or a major part of a performance.

Drehschluss

the completion of all or a major part of a performance


A-sharp

The counterpoint began on a low A-sharp.

(music) A tone one semitone higher than A, denoted A♯.

Here the passage modulates into A-sharp and becomes very difficult to read.


E flat major

(music) Alternative spelling of E-flat major


A-flat

The bassoon came in on a low A-flat.

(music) A tone one semitone below A, between G and A, denoted A♭.

I had to take it to the shop because the A-flat was stuck.

(music) A key or other mechanism for producing an A-flat.

We will now hear the third sonata, in A-flat.


B-flat major

{\key bes \major bes c'd'es'f'g'a'bes'2}

(music) The major key with B-flat as its tonic, with the notes B♭, C, D, E♭, F, G, and A, the key signature of which has two flats.

(music) The major chord with a root of B-flat.


A-sharp major

{\key ais\major ais'bis'cisisdiseisfisisgisisais}

(music) the theoretical major key with A-sharp as its tonic and the notes A#, B#, C𝄪, D#, E#, F𝄪, G𝄪.

(music) the major chord with a root of A-sharp


A-minor

(music) the minor key with A as its tonic

(music) the minor chord with a root of A


invention

invention (countable and uncountable, plural inventions)

From Middle English invencion, invencioun, from Latin inventiō either directly or via Middle French invencion, from Latin invenīre (“to discover, find, invent”), from in- (“in-: in, into”) + venīre (“to come”). Doublet of inventio. Equivalent to invent + -ion.
Displaced native Old English orþanc.

der

I particularly like the inventions in C-minor.

INVENTION. A term used by J. S. Bach, and probably by him only, for small pianoforte pieces — 15 in 2 parts and 15 in 3 parts — each developing a single idea, and in some measure answering to the Impromptu of a later day.

1880, George Grove (editor and entry author), A Dictionary of Music and Musicians II, London: Macmillan & Co., page 15, Invention

(music) A small, self-contained composition, particularly those in J.S. Bach’s Two- and Three-part Inventions.

invenció

small self-contained musical composition


A-flat major

{\key aes\major aes'bes'cdesesfgaes2}

(music) The major key with A-flat as its tonic, with the notes A♭, B♭, C, D♭, E♭, F, and G, the key signature of which has four flats.

(music) The major chord with a root of A-flat.


second fiddle

The second fiddle on that tune is almost as hard as the first fiddle.

(music) A fiddle part in harmony to the first fiddle.

toinen viulu

music: fiddle part in harmony to the first fiddle

I've been second fiddle in that orchestra for ten years now.

(music) The person playing second fiddle.


glockenspiel

/ˈɡlɔk.ŋ̩ˌʃpiːl/

From German Glockenspiel (literally “bells-set”).

bor

(music) A musical instrument of the percussion idiophone family of instruments; like the xylophone, it has tuned bars arranged like the keys on a piano, and is also smaller in size and higher in pitch.


B major

{\key b\major b cis'dis'e'fis'gis'ais'b'2}

(music) The major key with B as its tonic, with the notes B, C♯, D♯, E, F♯, G♯, and A♯, the key signature of which has five sharps:

(music) The major chord with a root of B.


A major

{\key a \major a'b'cisdefisgisa2}

(music) The major key with A as its tonic, with the notes A, B, C♯, D, E, F♯, and G♯, the key signature of which has three sharps.

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


pocket

From Middle English pocket (“bag, sack”), from Anglo-Norman poket, Old Northern French poquet, poquete, diminutive of poque, poke (“bag, sack”) (compare modern Norman pouquette and modern French pochette from Old French pochete, from puche), from Frankish *pokā (“pouch”), from Proto-Germanic *pukkô, *pukô (“bag; pouch”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew- (“to blow, swell”). Doublet of pochette. Cognate with Middle Dutch poke, Alemannic German Pfoch (“purse, bag”), Old English pocca, pohha (“poke, pouch, pocket, bag”), Old Norse poki (“bag, pocket”). Compare the related poke (“sack or bag”). See also Modern French pochette and Latin bucca.

der

is that a gun in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me

in the pocket

(music) A state achieved with steady, enjoyable drumming.


espada

That first day taught me I could be an espada. The only doubt in my mind was in regard to the nature of the bulls.

1891, The Living Age, volume 190, page 653


stereo

en-noun

stereo (countable and uncountable, plural stereos)

Shortened form of stereotype, stereoscope or stereophonic, all originally derived from Ancient Greek στερεός (stereós, “solid”).

der

(Myanmar, music) genre of Western-style pop and rock music


lock in

en-verb

lock in (third-person singular simple present locks in, present participle locking in, simple past and past participle locked in)

locks in (present singular third-person)
locking in (participle present)
locked in (participle past)
locked in (past)

(transitive, music) To synchronize (especially a rhythm section) into a groove.


divide

divide (third-person singular simple present divides, present participle dividing, simple past and past participle divided)

divides (present singular third-person)
dividing (participle present)
divided (participle past)
divided (past)

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
From Middle English dividen, from Latin dīvidere (“to divide”). Displaced native Old English tōdǣlan.

dividend

the sum being divided, the upper term in a fraction

divisor

the number of parts in a division, the lower term in a fraction

(music) To play or sing in a florid style, or with variations.


kettle

→ Brunei Malay: kitil

→ Bengali: কেটলি (keṭli)

→ Hindi: केतली (ketlī)

→ Gujarati: કીટલી (kīṭlī)

→ Irish: citeal

→ Maltese: kitla

→ Zulu: igedlela

From Middle English ketel, also chetel, from Old English ċietel (“kettle, cauldron”) and in Middle English possibly influenced by Old Norse ketill and both from Proto-Germanic *katilaz (“kettle, bucket, vessel”), of uncertain origin and formation. Usually regarded as a borrowing of Late Latin catīllus (“small bowl”), diminutive of Latin catinus (“deep bowl, vessel for cooking up or serving food”), however, the word may be Germanic confused with the Latin: compare Old English cete (“cooking pot”), Old High German chezzi (“a kettle, dish, bowl”), Icelandic kati, ketla (“a small boat”). Cognate with West Frisian tsjettel (“kettle”), Dutch ketel (“kettle”), German Kessel (“kettle”), Swedish kittel (“cauldron”), Swedish kittel (“kettle”), Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐍄𐌹𐌻𐍃 (katils, “kettle”), Finnish kattila, Polish kocioł (“cauldron”), Czech kotel (“boiler”), Russian котёл (kotjól, “boiler, cauldron”).


adagissimo

Borrowed from Italian adagissimo, superlative of adagio.


guy

en-verb

guy (third-person singular simple present guys, present participle guying, simple past and past participle guyed)

guys (present singular third-person)
guying (participle present)
guyed (participle past)
guyed (past)

PIE word
 *h₁weydʰh₁-
Coined by semantic widening from the name of Guy Fawkes (1570–1606), an English Catholic executed for his role in the Gunpowder Plot, from Old French Gui, a form of Proto-Germanic *Wido, a short form of names beginning with the element witu "wood" from Proto-Germanic *widuz, such as Witold and Widukind. Cognate with Italian Guido.

To guy the speech in the manner of an old-fashioned 'ham' for cheap laughs....

2000, John Southworth, Shakespeare the Player

(theater, transitive) To play in a comedic manner.


lamentoso

en-adv

lamentoso (comparative more lamentoso, superlative most lamentoso)

more lamentoso (comparative)
most lamentoso (superlative)


affrettando

(music) In a rushing or hurrying manner; as if pressing onwards.


measure

→ Japanese: メジャー (mejā)

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

From Middle English mesure, from Old French mesure, from Latin mēnsūra (“a measure”), from mēnsus, past participle of mētīrī (“to measure”). Displaced native Old English metan (“to measure”) and ġemet (“a measure”).

lainsäädäntötoimenpide

piece of legislation as course of action

(music) A musical designation consisting of all notes and or rests delineated by two vertical bars; an equal and regular division of the whole of a composition; a bar.


octave

From Latin octavus (“eighth”). Doublet of octavo, ochava, and oitava.

Octave in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

The melody jumps up an octave at the beginning, then later drops back down an octave.

The singer was known for astounding clarity over her entire five-octave range.

The octave has a pitch ratio of 2:1.

(music) An interval of twelve semitones spanning eight degrees of the diatonic scale, representing a doubling or halving in pitch frequency.

The bass starts on a low E, and the tenor comes in on the octave.

(music) The pitch an octave higher than a given pitch.

(music) A coupler on an organ which allows the organist to sound the note an octave above the note of the key pressed (cf sub-octave)


mix

en-verb

mix (third-person singular simple present mixes, present participle mixing, simple past and past participle mixed)

mixes (present singular third-person)
mixing (participle present)
mixed (participle past)
mixed (past)
mix (infinitive)

From Middle English mixen (attested in past tense as mixed, myxyd), from Old English *mixian, miscian, from Proto-West Germanic *miskijan, from Proto-Germanic *miskijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *miḱ-sḱé-ti, from *meyǵ-, *meyḱ- (“to mix”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian miskje (“to mix, blend”), Middle Dutch mischen (“to mix”), Low German misken, mischen (“to mix”), Old High German miskian, miskēn (“to mix”) (German mischen), Welsh mysgu (“to mix”), Latin misceō (“mix”), Ancient Greek μίγνυμι (mígnumi, “to mix”), Old Church Slavonic мѣсити (měsiti, “to mix”), Lithuanian mišti and maišyti (“to mix”), Sanskrit मिश्र (miśra, “mixed”), Persian آمیختن (âmixtan, “to mix”), Old English māsc (“mixture, mash”). More at mash.

cog

I'll mix the rhythm tracks down to a single track.

(transitive, music) To combine (several tracks).

I'm almost done mixing this song.

(transitive, music) To produce a finished version of (a recording).

mikse

music: produce a finished version of a recording


mix

→ Polish: miks

→ Turkish: miks, mix

A merger of a nominal use of the verb and a borrowing from Anglo-Norman mixte, from Latin mixtus, past participle of misceō (“mix”). Nowadays regarded automatically as the nominal form of the verb.

The rhythm mix sounds muddy.

(music) The result of mixing several tracks.

I've almost finished the mix for this song.

(music) The finished version of a recording.


rap

en-noun

rap (countable and uncountable, plural raps)

→ Dutch: raps

⇒ Dutch: rapsen

→ Finnish: rap

→ German: Rap

→ Macedonian: рап (rap)

From Middle English rap, rappe, of North Germanic origin, related to Norwegian rapp (“a blow, strike, lash”), Swedish rapp (“a blow, lash, crack”), Danish rap (“a tap, smart, blow”). Compare Old English hreppan (“to touch, treat”). More at rape.

They like listening to rap.


funk

funk (countable and uncountable, plural funks)

1620, from French dialectal (Norman) funquer, funquier (“to smoke, reek”), from Old Northern French fungier (“to smoke”), from Vulgar Latin fūmicāre, alteration of Latin fūmigāre (“to smoke, fumigate”). Related to French dialect funkière (“smoke”). More at fumigate.

(uncountable, music) A style of music derived from 1960s soul music, with elements of rock and other styles, characterized by a prominent bass guitar, dance-friendly sound, a strong emphasis on the downbeat, and much syncopation.


giusto

/ˈd͡ʒuːstəʊ/

Borrowed from Italian giusto (“right, just”). Doublet of just.


giusto

/ˈd͡ʒuːstəʊ/

(music) Following a tempo marking strictly or exactly.


tala

(music) A rhythmic pattern in Indian music.


subsidiary

From Middle French subsidiaire, from Latin subsidiarius (“belonging to a reserve”).


cipher

14th century. From Middle English cifre, from Old French cyfre, cyffre (French chiffre), ultimately from Arabic صِفْر (ṣifr, “zero, empty”), from صَفَرَ (ṣafara, “to be empty”). Doublet of zero. Sense 8 (a fault in an organ valve) may be a different word.

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

They say no girls in the cipher, so I rock solo

2011, “The World Is Listening”, in The Journey Aflame, performed by Akua Naru


cipher

en-verb

cipher (third-person singular simple present ciphers, present participle ciphering, simple past and past participle ciphered)

ciphers (present singular third-person)
ciphering (participle present)
ciphered (participle past)
ciphered (past)

(intransitive, music) Of an organ pipe: to sound independent of the organ.


nasal

en-adj

nasal (comparative more nasal, superlative most nasal)

more nasal (comparative)
most nasal (superlative)

From Middle English, from Medieval Latin nāsālis, from nāsus (“the nose”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix). Doublet of nasalis.


property

en-noun

property (countable and uncountable, plural properties)

From Middle English propertee, properte, propirte, proprete, borrowed from Anglo-Norman and Old French propreté, proprieté (“propriety, fitness, property”), from Latin proprietās (“a peculiarity, one's peculiar nature or quality, right or fact of possession, property”), from proprius (“special, particular, one's own”). Equivalent to proper + -ty. Doublet of propriety.

خَاصَّة

attribute or abstract quality associated with an object, individual or concept

characteristic

attribute or abstract quality of an object

Costumes and scenery are distinguished from property properly speaking.

(usually in the plural, theater) A prop, an object used in a dramatic production.


arrange

en-verb

arrange (third-person singular simple present arranges, present participle arranging, simple past and past participle arranged)

arranges (present singular third-person)
arranging (participle present)
arranged (participle past)
arranged (past)

Inherited from Middle English arengen, arrangen (“to draw up a battle line”), borrowed from Old French arengier, arrangier (“to put in a line, put in a row”), derived from reng, rang, ranc (“line, row, rank”), from Frankish *hring (“ring”), from Proto-Germanic *hringaz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)krengʰ-, a form of Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”).

der

(music, transitive, intransitive) To prepare and adapt an already-written composition for presentation in other than its original form.

arrenjar

music: to adapt an existing composition for presentation


arrange

(music, Japan) rearranged rendition of a song; arrangement


repeat

From Middle English repeten, from Old French repeter, from Latin repetō, repetere, from the prefix re- (“again”) + peto (“attack, beseech”).

ҡабатлау

rerun of a television broadcast — see also rerun

(music) A mark in music notation directing a part to be repeated.

herhalingsteken

music mark directing a section be repeated


topic

From Latin topica, from Ancient Greek τοπικός (topikós, “pertaining to a place, local, pertaining to a common place, or topic, topical”), from τόπος (tópos, “a place”), of Pre-Greek origin.

In Peircean terms, topics are interpretants: signifieds that become new signifiers in the endless semiotic chain of interpretations.

2012, Esti Sheinberg, Music Semiotics, page 9

(music) A musical sign intended to suggest a particular style or genre.


principal

en-noun

principal (countable and uncountable, plural principals)

From Middle English principal, from Old French principal, from Latin prīncipālis.

Principal (education)
Principal value
principal

(music) A diapason, a type of organ stop on a pipe organ.


concord

concord (countable and uncountable, plural concords)

From French concorde, Latin concordia, from concors (“of the same mind, agreeing”); con- + cor, cordis (“heart”). See heart, and compare accord.

(probably influenced by chord, music) An agreeable combination of tones simultaneously heard; a consonant chord; a consonance; a harmony.


prime

composite

prime element of a mathematical structure

Borrowed from French prime, from Latin primus (“first”), from earlier prīsmos < *prīsemos < Proto-Italic *priisemos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“beyond, before”). Doublet of primo.
The noun sense "apostrophe-like symbol" originates from the fact that the symbol ′ was originally a superscript Roman numeral one.

der

(music) The first note or tone of a musical scale.

тоника

music: first note or tone of a musical scale


cutaway

fraklip

the interruption of a continuously filmed action by inserting a view of something else

(music) An indentation in the upper bout of a guitar's body adjacent to the neck, allowing easier access to the upper frets.

échancrure

indentation in a guitar's body, adjacent to the neck


dramaturge

* Definition 1: Borrowed from French dramaturge.
* Definition 2: Borrowed from German Dramaturg.

(rare, theater) Someone who writes or adapts theater plays, a playwright, dramatist, especially one connected with a specific theater or company.

(rare, theater) A literary adviser or editor in a theater, opera, or film company that researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and printed programs (or helps others with these tasks), consults with authors, and does public relations work.


dramaturge

en-verb

dramaturge (third-person singular simple present dramaturges, present participle dramaturging, simple past and past participle dramaturged)

dramaturges (present singular third-person)
dramaturging (participle present)
dramaturged (participle past)
dramaturged (past)

It expresses concerns about programming (“We have watched you program play after play, written, directed, cast, choreographed, designed, acted, dramaturged and produced by your rosters of white theatermakers for white audiences”); […]

2020 June 9, Michael Paulson, “Theater Artists Decry Racism in Their Industry”, in The New York Times

(transitive, intransitive, rare, theater) To act as a dramaturge.


atonal

en-adj

atonal (comparative more atonal, superlative most atonal)

more atonal (comparative)
most atonal (superlative)


assai

(music) A tempo direction equivalent to "very".


invert

en-verb

invert (third-person singular simple present inverts, present participle inverting, simple past and past participle inverted)

inverts (present singular third-person)
inverting (participle present)
inverted (participle past)
inverted (past)

(transitive, music) To move (the root note of a chord) up or down an octave, resulting in a change in pitch.


curl

From metathesis of Middle English crulle (“curled, curly”), from Middle Dutch crul, crulle (“curl”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kruzlǭ (“bent or crooked object, curl”), of unknown origin; possibly from Pre-Germanic *grus-, contracted from Proto-Indo-European *gurus- (“twist, curl”), same source as Persian گرس (gors, “braid of hair”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Krulle (“curl, lock”), West Frisian krul (“curl”), Dutch krul (“curl”), German Low German Krull (“curl”), dialectal German Krolle (“curl”), Danish krølle (“curl”), Norwegian krull (“curl”). Related also to Saterland Frisian Kruus (“curl”), German kraus (“frizzy, crumpled, curly”), Danish krus (“curl”), Swedish krusa (“to crimp, curl”). Compare also Gothic 𐌺𐍂𐌹𐌿𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽 (kriustan, “to grind, crush, gnash”).

unk

unknown

cog

The one-piece back is of a medium curl.

(music, chiefly lutherie) The contrasting light and dark figure seen in wood used for stringed instrument making; the flame.

loimukuvio

music: light and dark figure seen in wood


bebop

Alteration of earlier rebop, nonsense syllables used in scat singing in the 1940s. Compare doo be doo be doo, doo-wop, etc.

(music) An early form of modern jazz played by small groups and featuring driving rhythms and complex, often dissonant harmonies.


fill

en-noun

fill (countable and uncountable, plural fills)

table
From Middle English fille, vülle, fülle, from Old English fyllu, from Proto-West Germanic *fullī, from Proto-Germanic *fullį̄ (“fullness”). Cognate with German Fülle.

The second part of recomposed Embroidering Golden Banner achieves the brightness and cheerfulness of music, and presents a cheerful passion through sanda playing methods such as left-hind octave fills, right-hand echo decoration, and encircled decoration.

2015, Dawei Zheng, Control, Mechatronics and Automation Technology

bass fill

(music) A short passage, riff, or rhythmic sound that helps to keep the listener's attention during a break between the phrases of a melody.


barre

Borrowed from French barre. Doublet of bar.


barre

en-verb

barre (third-person singular simple present barres, present participle barring, simple past and past participle barred)

barres (present singular third-person)
barring (participle present)
barred (participle past)
barred (past)

(music) To form a barre chord on an instrument.


triple

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Middle English triple (also þripell), from Latin triplus. Doublet of treble.

(music) Of time, three times as fast as very fast.


emo

en-noun

emo (countable and uncountable, plural emos)

(uncountable, music) A particular style of hardcore punk rock

(uncountable, music) Any form of guitar-driven alternative rock that is particularly or notably emotional


elegy

From Middle French elegie, from Latin elegīa, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ἐλεγείᾱ (elegeíā), ellipsis of ἐλεγείᾱ ᾠδή (elegeíā ōidḗ, “an elegiac song”).

requiem

a piece of music played at a mass for the dead

(music) A composition of mournful character.


lowboy

Possibly from low + French bois (“wood”).

(music) A precursor to the hi-hat drum, with a pair of cymbals low to the ground that are struck with a foot pedal.


idyll

From Latin īdyllium, from Ancient Greek εἰδύλλιον (eidúllion), from diminutive of εἶδος (eîdos, “form, shape”).

(music) A composition, usually instrumental, of a pastoral or sentimental character, e.g. Siegfried Idyll by Richard Wagner.