chicha

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

/ˈt͡ʃiːt͡ʃə/

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


tremando

(music) Played in a trembling, wavering manner.


tremando

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


scherzino

en-noun

scherzino (plural scherzinos or scherzini)


scherzando

en-adv

scherzando (comparative more scherzando, superlative most scherzando)

more scherzando (comparative)
most scherzando (superlative)

(music) In a playful or sportive manner.


scherzando

en-noun

scherzando (plural scherzandos or scherzandi)

scherzandos (plural)
scherzandi (plural)

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


gusle

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

bor+

gȕsle//гу̏сле

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

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

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


decani

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

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

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

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

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


tune up

en-verb

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

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

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


toccata

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


fioriture

/fjɔːɹɪˈtʊəɹeɪ/

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

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


cambiata

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


quinticlave

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


rigadoon

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


nu metal

Sensational spelling of new + (heavy) metal

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

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

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

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

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


animato

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


animato

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


portamento

en-noun

portamento (plural portamentos or portamenti)

portamentos (plural)
portamenti (plural)

/pɔːtəˈmɛntəʊ/

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

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

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

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


collabo

Audio (US)

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


collabo

en-verb

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

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

Audio (US)

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

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

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


doom metal

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

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

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

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


black metal

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

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


limberjack

percussion instrument
percussion instrument

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


tremolando

en-noun

tremolando (plural tremolandos or tremolandi)

tremolandos (plural)
tremolandi (plural)

From Italian tremolando (past participle of tremolare).

bor

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

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

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

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

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

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


fondamento

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


peghead

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


coloration

en-noun

coloration (countable and uncountable, plural colorations)

From French coloration, from Latin colōrātiō.

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

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


gustoso

en-adv

gustoso (comparative more gustoso, superlative most gustoso)

more gustoso (comparative)
most gustoso (superlative)


ciphering

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


plainsong

en-noun

plainsong (countable and uncountable, plural plainsongs)

From plain + song, calque of Latin cantus planus.

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

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

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


rinforzando

(music) A style of playing with special emphasis.


overproduce

en-verb

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

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

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


tambour

en-noun

tambour (countable and uncountable, plural tambours)

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


scorrendo

(music) Gliding or passing smoothly between tones.


divisi

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


transpontine

Such transpontine spectacles are not usually seen in our local theatre.

Blood and thunder melodrama was once transpontine : it is now cispontine. It has crossed the Thames, and come over the bridges.

1882, The Theatre: A Monthly Review and Magazine, page 35

(theater, historical) Of or relating to the sensational melodramas presented on the south side of the Thames in the 19th century or earlier.


mordente

(music) An embellishment resembling a trill.


string instrument

string instrument (plural string instruments)

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


retrograde inversion

retrograde inversion (countable and uncountable, plural retrograde inversions)

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

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


woodwind instrument

woodwind instrument (plural woodwind instruments)

Coordinate term: brass instrument

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


basso continuo

basso continuo (usually uncountable, plural basso continuos)

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

bor

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


figured bass

en-noun

figured bass (countable and uncountable, plural figured basses)

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


bouffe

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

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


speedcore

(music) A very fast type of hardcore techno.


stringed instrument

stringed instrument (plural stringed instruments)

Coordinate term: wind instrument

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


off-book

(theater) Able to perform scripted material from memory, without need to refer to the text.


reentrant

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


duodene

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

(music) A schematic group of twelve notes.


mensurable

en-adj

mensurable (comparative more mensurable, superlative most mensurable)

more mensurable (comparative)
most mensurable (superlative)

/ˈmɛnt͡ʃəɹəbəl/

/ˈmɛnt͡ʃɹəbəl/

From Middle English mensurable, from Medieval Latin mensūrābilis.

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

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


mensuration

en-noun

mensuration (countable and uncountable, plural mensurations)

/ˌmɛnsjəˈɹeɪʃən/

[ˌmɛnʃəˈɹeɪʃn̩]

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

der

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

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

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


stride bass

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


cross-phrasing

en-noun

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

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


virtuosic

en-adj

virtuosic (comparative more virtuosic, superlative most virtuosic)

more virtuosic (comparative)
most virtuosic (superlative)

(music) requiring a high level of technical skill.


Phrygian cadence

en-noun

Phrygian cadence (plural Phrygian cadences)

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


Picardy third

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


submediant

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


supertonic

(music) The second note in a diatonic scale.


pavane

→ Welsh: pafán

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


stringendo

stringendo (plural stringendos or stringendi)

stringendos (plural)
stringendi (plural)

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


stringendo

(music) Played with gradually increasing tempo.


kanon

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

der

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


kanon

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


altissimo

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

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

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


opera buffa

From Italian opera buffa (“comic opera”).

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


part song

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


gnossienne

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


incipit

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

Borrowed from Latin incipit (“it begins”).

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


e-flat major

(music) Alternative spelling of E flat major


minor chord

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


raking

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


transposing

Trumpet is a transposing instrument while trombone is not.

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

transponerend

written in a different pitch to how it sounds


purfling

The purfling on this violin is exceptionally beautiful.

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


sortita

From Italian sortita. Doublet of sortie.

(music) A closing voluntary; a postlude.


signature tune

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


miscue

(theater) The act of missing one's cue or of responding to a cue intended for another actor.


miscue

en-verb

miscue (third-person singular simple present miscues, present participle miscuing or miscueing, simple past and past participle miscued)

miscues (present singular third-person)
miscuing (participle present)
miscueing (participle present)
miscued (participle past)
miscued (past)


pasillo

Borrowed from Spanish pasillo (literally “corridor”).

bor+

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


lamellophone

percussion idiophone
percussion idiophone

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


sanza

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

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

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


harmonizer

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


double reed

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

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

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


lagerphone

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

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

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

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

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


downbeat

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


spiccato

en-adj

spiccato (comparative more spiccato, superlative most spiccato)

more spiccato (comparative)
most spiccato (superlative)

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

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


spiccato

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

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

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


cithara

en-noun

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

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

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

doublet

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


string band

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


inharmonious

en-adj

inharmonious (comparative more inharmonious, superlative most inharmonious)

more inharmonious (comparative)
most inharmonious (superlative)


Gt

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


consonance

en-noun

consonance (countable and uncountable, plural consonances)

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

surf

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

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

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


dangdut

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

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


mensural

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


darbuka

/ˌdɑːˈbuːkə/

Borrowed from Arabic دَرْبُوكَة (darbūka).

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


torcher

/ˈtɔːt͡ʃə(ɹ)/

-ɔː(ɹ)tʃə(ɹ)

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

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


psychobilly

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


pubcaster

(informal, entertainment industry) A public broadcaster


samplist

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


sampladelic

en-adj

sampladelic (comparative more sampladelic, superlative most sampladelic)

more sampladelic (comparative)
most sampladelic (superlative)

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


punkabilly

en-noun

punkabilly (countable and uncountable, plural punkabillies)

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


anthemic

en-adj

anthemic (comparative more anthemic, superlative most anthemic)

more anthemic (comparative)
most anthemic (superlative)

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

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

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

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

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

(music) Suggestive of an anthem; rousing.


anthemic

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

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

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


turntablist

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


tracklisting

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


lo-fi

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

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

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


lo-fi

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

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


brass band

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


incidental music

The incidental music helped give the programme its evocative atmosphere.

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


clicko

clicko (comparative more clicko, superlative most clicko)

more clicko (comparative)
most clicko (superlative)

(dated, entertainment) Extremely good or successful.


clicko

(dated, entertainment) An extremely successful production; a hit.


whole note

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


upstaging

A situation where somebody or something is upstaged; thus:

(theater, also figurative) A stealing of the spotlight, as (or as if) one performer eclipses another in the audience's attention.


subtonic

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


viewing audience

en-noun

viewing audience (plural viewing audiences)

(media, entertainment) An audience that views an event or show through various forms of media (e.g. television, webcast, podcast), participating in an event without being physically present.


gigging

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


trad

I've been listening to trad jazz lately.

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

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


trad

trad (countable and uncountable, plural trads)

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

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


hypo-

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

etymon

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


figurate

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


ricercata

From Italian ricercata. Doublet of recherche.


furioso

Borrowed from Italian. Doublet of furious.


tanbur

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


sarangi

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

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

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


bansuri

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

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

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

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


septenary

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

der

(music) The seven notes of the diatonic scale.


norteño

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

Coordinate term: Tejano

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

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

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

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

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


perdendosi

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

1958, Edgar Mittelhölzer, The Old Blood, page 495

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

1959, University of California Publications in East Asiatic Philology

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

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


half step

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


whole step

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


bisbigliando

From Italian bisbigliando (“whispering”).

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


new wave

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

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

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


serenata

Borrowed from Italian serenata. Doublet of serenade.

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

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

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


nonmetrical

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


arp

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

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


compas

(music) A form of string music from Haiti


chocolo

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


merengue

en-noun

merengue (countable and uncountable, plural merengues)

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

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

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

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


plagal

en-adj

plagal (comparative more plagal, superlative most plagal)

more plagal (comparative)
most plagal (superlative)

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

der

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

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


dolcissimo

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


electronic rock

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


gruppetto

en-noun

gruppetto (plural gruppetti or gruppettos)


ghost train

(theater) An excursion done by many tourist railways around the world. Usually, a fictional story is created and performed with static displays or live actors on either side of a train. Actors and actresses play out a story on the long and narrow stage provided by the railcar aisles.


hammered dulcimer

hammered dulcimer (plural hammered dulcimers)

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


catch-breath

[…] it is possible to obtain the desired effect by allowing sections or individuals within a section to take an unobtrusive catch-breath at different times.

1940, Van Ambrose Christy, Glee Club and Chorus: A Handbook, page 55

(drama, singing) A pause to take a breath.


stabat mater

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

bor

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


partiture

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


tribute band

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


pedaling

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


open up

en-verb

open up (third-person singular simple present opens up, present participle opening up, simple past and past participle opened up)

opens up (present singular third-person)
opening up (participle present)
opened up (participle past)
opened up (past)

In stage acting, we are frequently asked to cheat out to the audience by opening up our body positions so that we are something halfway between facing them and our partner.

2015, Robert Barton, Acting: Onstage and Off, page 184

(theater) Synonym of cheat out (“to face or turn toward the audience more than would be natural”)


d.c. al coda

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


trem

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

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

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

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


tubular bells

en-noun

tubular bells pl (normally plural, singular tubular bell)

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

آلة إيقاعية

percussion instrument consisting of tuned metal tubes


queercore

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


valiha

(music) A form of bamboo zither from Madagascar


kaval

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

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

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


Chopsticks

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

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


EG

(music) Initialism of envelope generator.


bombardon

From French bombardon, from Italian bombardone.

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

(music) A bass instrument of the shawm family


OG

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


front man

Pete Doherty is the front man of the Libertines.

(music) The lead singer in a musical group.


glass harmonica

glass harmonica (plural glass harmonicas)

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


A minor

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

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

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


crossfader

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


f-hole

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


shoegazing

/ˈʃuːɡeɪzɪŋ/

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

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

2006, James Buckley, Celebrate Myself, page 12

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

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

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

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

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


arpeggiando

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


arpeggiando

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


bitonality

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


semicroma

semicroma (plural semicromas or semicrome)


bichord

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


bichord

(music, of a musical instrument) Having two strings


bitonal

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


semicrome

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


buccina

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

Coordinate term: buisine

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


Hammond organ

From the name of the inventor, Laurens Hammond.

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

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


chamber music

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


codetta

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


clavicembalo

clavicembalo (plural clavicembalos or clavicembali)

clavicembalos (plural)
clavicembali (plural)

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

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

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

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

(music, now chiefly historical) A harpsichord.


capotasto

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

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


bemol

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

der

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

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

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

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

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

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


muleta

Borrowed from Spanish muleta, diminutive of mula (“mule”).

Out in the center of the ring Romero profiled in front of the bull, drew the sword out from the folds of the muleta, rose on his toes, and sighted along the blade.

1926, Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, Folio Society, published 2008, page 248

(bullfighting) A red flag used by bullfighters.


clonewheel organ

en-noun

clonewheel organ (plural clonewheel organs)

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


electric piano

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


concertato

concertato (countable and uncountable, plural concertatos)

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

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

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


keyboard bass

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


digital piano

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


concertante

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

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


tritone

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

lbor

/ˈtɹaɪˌtəʊ̯n/

[ˈt̠ɹ̠̊˔ʷaɪˌtʰoʊ̯n]

[ˈt̠͡ʃɹ̠̊˔ʷäɪˌtʰoʊ̯n]

Near-synonyms: augmented fourth, diminished fifth

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

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

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

(music) An interval of three whole tones.


countersubject

(music) The secondary melody in contrapuntal music


diastematic

en-adj

diastematic (comparative more diastematic, superlative most diastematic)

more diastematic (comparative)
most diastematic (superlative)

(music) Describing a musical notation in which the pitch of a note is represented by its vertical position on the page.


diatonism

(music) The characteristic of being diatonic


overblow

en-verb

overblow (third-person singular simple present overblows, present participle overblowing, simple past overblew, past participle overblown)

overblows (present singular third-person)
overblowing (participle present)
overblew (past)
overblown (participle past)

From Middle English overblowen, equivalent to over- + blow.

The upper octaves of the flute's compass are produced by overblowing.

1909, Leander Jan Bekker, Stokes' Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians

(transitive, music) To blow a wind instrument (typically a whistle, recorder or flute) hard to produce a higher pitch than usual.

The oboe overblows at the octave; the clarinet at the twelfth.

(intransitive, music) Of a wind instrument, to move from its lower to its higher register.


diesis

From Ancient Greek δίεσις (díesis, “sending through, the smallest interval in the scale”).

uder

(music) Any of several intervals, smaller than a tone, in ancient Greek music.


backpacker

Blacks and Latinos were more likely to be gangsta rappers than backpackers.

2014, Geoff Harkness, Chicago Hustle and Flow: Gangs, Gangsta Rap, and Social Class

To him the white backpackers are abject, 'safari wiggers' who threaten to undo all his careful work at 'passing' in this culture. With their earnestness and clumsy naiveté they betray the scandalous truth of his posturing.

2017, Patrick Turner, Hip Hop Versus Rap: The Politics of Droppin' Knowledge, page 129

(music, slang) A fan or performer of backpack rap.


ditone

(obsolete, music) An interval of two tones


crab canon

From the mistaken medieval notion that crabs move backwards.

(music) A contrapuntal composition in which one melody is superimposed on the same melody in reverse


decuplet

From decuple (“multiply by ten”) + -et (“forming diminutives”).

af

(music) A group of ten notes played in place of four or eight.


hexatonic

(music) Describing a mode or scale that has six pitches in an octave.


heptatonic

(music) Describing a mode or scale that has seven pitches in an octave


enharmonic

From Latin enharmonicus, from Late Latin enarmonius, from Ancient Greek ἐναρμόνιος (enarmónios), from ἐν (en)+ἁρμονία (harmonía).

C sharp is enharmonic to D flat in twelve-tone equal temperament, but in most other tuning systems they are distinct pitches.

(music) Describing two or more identical or almost identical notes that are written differently when in different keys. (Whether they are identical and what the exact equivalences are depends on the tuning used.)

enharmoninen

Describing two or more identical notes that are written differently when in different key

εναρμονικός m, εναρμονική f, εναρμονικό n, ενάρμονος m or f, ενάρμονη f, ενάρμονο n)

(music) Of or pertaining to a tetrachord.


hemiola

Ultimately from Ancient Greek ἡμιόλιος (hēmiólios), "containing one and a half; half as much again; in the ratio of 3:2".

(music) The articulation of two bars in triple time as if they were three bars in duple time.


callboy

→ Cebuano: callboy

(theater) A boy or man who summons actors when their presence is required for a performance.


baglamas

From Greek μπαγλαμάς (baglamás), from Turkish bağlama.

This was the time when the younger cousin of the bouzouki, the baglamas, came into its own – the more easily to be concealed beneath clothing or in a specially designed pocket sewn into an overcoat.

2019, Roderick Beaton, Greece: Biography of a Modern Nation, Penguin, published 2020, page 262

(music) A plucked stringed instrument, a long-necked bowl lute, played in Greek music and often made of improvised materials; it is a high-pitched and small bouzouki with one string in an octave pair on the lower D and unison pairs on the four highest strings.


split single

(music) A single featuring songs by more than one artist.


zongora

(music) A guitar-like musical instrument of Romania, having originally two strings and now four or five.


igil

(music) A string instrument with a teardrop-shaped body and two strings, played with a bow, originating in Tuvan folk music.


sonata form

(music) A form of classical music consisting of a single movement divided into three main sections, the exposition, development and recapitulation, sometimes followed by a coda.


MMA

MIDI Manufacturers Association
w:MIDI Manufacturers Association

(music) Initialism of MIDI Manufacturers Association.


fingerpicking

en-noun

fingerpicking (usually uncountable, plural fingerpickings)

Her largely unadorned sound hinges on scratchy, intimate fingerpickings and her warm Northern Ireland accent — and is a worthy, pensive addition to record shelves already lined with Sharon Van Etten and Damien Rice.

2015 July 9, “Pop & Rock Listings for July 10-16”, in New York Times

(music) The plucking of the individual strings of a stringed instrument with the fingers


fingerpick

en-verb

fingerpick (third-person singular simple present fingerpicks, present participle fingerpicking, simple past and past participle fingerpicked)

fingerpicks (present singular third-person)
fingerpicking (participle present)
fingerpicked (participle past)
fingerpicked (past)

/ˈfɪŋ.ɡə(ɹ)ˌpɪk/

(music) To play a stringed instrument by plucking individual strings with the fingers.


mensuralism

(music) European system(s) of musical notation, in use in different forms from c.1260 to c.1600, in which each note was given an exact time value


membranophone

(music) Any musical instrument that produces sound via the vibration of a stretched membrane.


mensuralist

en-adj

mensuralist (comparative more mensuralist, superlative most mensuralist)

more mensuralist (comparative)
most mensuralist (superlative)

(music) Of or pertaining to mensuralism.


homorhythmic

homorhythmic (comparative more homorhythmic, superlative most homorhythmic)

more homorhythmic (comparative)
most homorhythmic (superlative)

(music) Having the same rhythm throughout


homorhythm

(music) A style of music that has the same rhythm throughout.


kitchen-sinky

kitchen-sinky (comparative more kitchen-sinky, superlative most kitchen-sinky)

more kitchen-sinky (comparative)
most kitchen-sinky (superlative)

From kitchen sink + -y. Sense 1 alludes to the phrase everything but the kitchen sink, sense 2 to the phrase kitchen sink realism.

Not that Warner's is merely a domesticated version of Euripides. It stars, after all, that least kitchen-sinky of actors.

2001 February 4, Susannah Clapp, “Mother knows best”, in The Guardian

"Here was a kid who was imagining things and inventing things and none of this was odd to her, mum and dad being junkies. I didn't want to comment; I just present the story. And I didn't want to be too kitchen-sinky, because it's a heightened reality."

2007 April 29, Stephanie Bunbury, “Tide and emotions”, in The Age

"He takes this seedy little story of seedy little people in seedy little rooms, and he makes it big and operatic and grandiose. I love that. It could have all been documentary-like or a bit kitchen sinky, and all rough and tough. […]

2011 February 7, Gina Picallo, “Helen Mirren interview”, in The Telegraph

(drama) Of or pertaining to the kitchen sink drama; depicting social realities in an unstylized and direct manner.


manele

Borrowed from Romanian manele, plural of manea, of Turkish origin.

(music) A genre of folk music from the Balkans


neume

From 15th c. Middle English newme, nevme, neme; from Middle French neume, in turn from Medieval Latin neuma or pneuma, either from Ancient Greek πνεῦμα (pneûma, “breath”) or νεῦμα (neûma, “sign”), or else a corruption of πνεῦμα (pneûma, “breath”). Doublet of pneuma.

(music) Any of a set of signs used in early musical notation.

(music) A sequence of notes to be sung to one syllable.


descarga

Jimmy Bosch is a trombonist who savors the Latin jazz tradition of the descarga, a jam session everyone can dance to.

2007 January 12, “Rock/Pop Listings”, in New York Times

(music) A jam session in the tradition of Cuban music


saxhorn

(music) Any of a group of similar brass instruments, resembling a bugle in shape, but with valves


ponticello

From Italian ponticello (literally “little bridge”).


recitativo

en-noun

recitativo (plural recitativos or recitativoes)

recitativos (plural)
recitativoes (plural)


rebec

From Middle French rebec, alteration of rubebe (see English ribibe), from Arabic رَبَاب (rabāb).

The villages also must have their visitors to enquire what lectures the bagpipe and the rebbeck reads ev'n to the ballatry, and the gammuth of every municipal fidler, for these are the Countrymans Arcadia's and his Monte Mayors.

(music) An early three-stringed instrument, somewhat like a simple violin only pear shaped, played with a bow and used in Medieval and the early Renaissance eras.


psalmody

psalmody (countable and uncountable, plural psalmodies)

Borrowed from Latin psalmōdia, from Koine Greek ψαλμῳδίᾱ (psalmōidíā), from Ancient Greek ψαλμός (psalmós, “psalm”) + ᾠδή (ōidḗ, “song”).

(music, uncountable) The singing or the writing of psalms.

(music, countable) A collection of psalms.


synth rock

(music) Any of several genres of rock music featuring electronic synthesizers


timbric

en-adj

timbric (comparative more timbric, superlative most timbric)

more timbric (comparative)
most timbric (superlative)


vielle

From Old French viele, vielle. Doublet of viola.

(music) A medieval stringed instrument similar to a violin.


chantant

chantant (comparative more chantant, superlative most chantant)

more chantant (comparative)
most chantant (superlative)

(music) Played in a melodious and singsong style.


ternary form

(music) A style of composition in which one contrasting section of music is written between two similar outer sections.


noodler

(music, sometimes derogatory) One who improvises.


hamfat

(US slang, acting) A low-grade actor; a ham or hamfatter.


hoquet

en-noun

hoquet (countable and uncountable, plural hoquets)


dayereh

From Persian دایره (dâyere), from Arabic دَائِرَة (dāʔira). Doublet of daerah.

(music) A large Central Asian frame drum with jingles attached, a type of tambourine.


pardessus

(music) A pardessus de viole; a bowed stringed instrument with a fretted neck and five or six strings, the highest pitched member of the viol family.


(music) A 440 Hertz musical pitch, which serves as the tuning standard for the note A above middle C in concert pitch.


Neginoth

Borrowed from Biblical Hebrew נְגִינוֹת (nəḡīnōṯ), plural of נְגִינָה (nəḡīnā, “playing of music on a stringed instrument”).

To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm of David. Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer. (Psalms 4:1, WBS)

To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm or Song. God be merciful to us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us. Selah (Psalms 67:1, WBS)

More Psalms with Neginoth: 6, 54, 55, 61, 76.

(Jewish music) A direction for the musical accompaniment of a psalm that has been interpreted as "stringed instruments".


CW

CW (countable and uncountable, plural CWs)

country and western
country and western#English

(music) Initialism of country and western.


alap

The alaap is the part of our classical music that I like best. It is an inward voyage, an odyssey into the unknown.

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 176

(music) The opening, improvised section of a Classical raga performance, before the formal recitation.


supe

John Wilkes would go south to Richmond, to join Ford's stock company at the old Marshall Theatre for the 1858–59 season. More work as a supe awaited “J. B. Wilkes,” but his wages this time would be better than in Philadelphia: $440 for the season, the same as his older brother earned in a week.

2010, Nora Titone, My Thoughts Be Bloody

(dated, slang, theater) Clipping of supernumerary.: An extra or walk-on.


khene

There are processions led by dancers with castanets and accompanied by musicians playing the Kène.

1951, Norman Lewis, A Dragon Apparent, Eland, published 2003, page 296

The khene was once used to call warriors to fight. Now it is used for ceremonies.

1997, Dolly Brittan, The Hmong, Rosen Publishing, published 1997, page 32

The Lao khaen, however, is the most sophisticated of all the bamboo mouth organs – it takes great skill to play it properly.

2000, Simon Broughton et al., The Rough Guide to World Music, Rough Guides, page 171

I then suggested that he should play a tune on the khène while I improvised an accompaniment on the ukelele.

2001, Mervyn Brown, War in Shangri-La, Radcliffe, published 2001, page 155

(music) A traditional musical instrument of Laos, being a type of bamboo mouth organ.


taan

Her voice was steady as a surgeon's hand. When it zigzagged, it was because she wanted to take a taan that slithered like a snake as it flashed past, progressing sideways across the sand.

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 147

(music) A rapid melodic vocal technique in raga singing.


come in

en-verb

come in (third-person singular simple present comes in, present participle coming in, simple past came in, past participle come in)

comes in (present singular third-person)
coming in (participle present)
came in (past)
come in (participle past)

From Middle English com in, imperative form of Middle English incomen (“to come in; enter”), from Old English incuman (“to come in; enter”), from Proto-Germanic *inkwemaną (“to come in; enter”), equivalent to come + in. Compare Dutch kom in (“come in”), singular imperative form of inkomen (“to come in; enter”), German einkommen (“to come in; enter”). See also income, incoming.

inh

They started together, but the drummer came in late.

(music) To join or enter; to begin playing with a group.


languente

en-adv

languente (comparative more languente, superlative most languente)

more languente (comparative)
most languente (superlative)

Italian, present participle of languire. See languish.

(music) In a languishing manner; pathetically.


copedant

Pedal steel player Tom Bradshaw coined the term in the 1970s, as an abbreviation for chord-pedal arrangement.

(music, rare) The setup of a pedal steel guitar: the tuning plus pedal and knee lever pitch changes.


Liebestod

From German Liebestod, from Liebe (“love”) + Tod (“death”).

She saw how his jaw began to slaver and the room was full of the clamour of the forest's Liebestod but the wise child never flinched […]

1979, Angela Carter, “The Company of Wolves”, in The Bloody Chamber, Vintage, published 2006, page 138

(music, literature) An aria or duet performed in opera marking the suicide of lovers; a suicide.


pipework

en-noun

pipework (usually uncountable, plural pipeworks)

(music) The pipes and stops of an organ.


crotale

In contrast to the cymbals of beaten metal, the British Museum collection includes several pairs of cast crotales. Strictly speaking, crotales are metal castanets, resembling cymbals. A pair of bronze crotales (from Thebes c. 200 BC) with large central boss and upturned rim, measure 2⁷/₁₆ inches in diameter, a thickness of approximately ¹/₈ inch, and a weight of 1³/₄ ozs.

1970, James Blades, Percussion Instruments and Their History, published 1992, page 167

Orchestrally, however, crotales and antique cymbals are virtually synonymous, the only difference being that strictly speaking crotales are thicker and less finely wrought and unlike antique cymbals are not held freely in the hands.

1983, Norman Del Mar, Anatomy of the Orchestra, page 420

Tension gradually mounts through the instrumental section as the dynamics build to a climactic point at bar 69 (5.12): the first occasion on which we hear the double-bass player strike the crotale - tuned, of course, to g³, the note identified by Harvey as the ‘death note’.

2009, Michael Downes, Jonathan Harvey: Song Offerings and White As Jasmine, page 69

(music, usually in the plural) A percussion instrument of archaic origin, resembling a metal castanet or cymbal.


Lydian

(music) Designating a mode of ancient Greek music, reputed to be light and effeminate.


duranguense

From Spanish el pasito duranguense, from Durango, a state in northwestern Mexico.

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

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

(music) A genre of Mexican music related to banda and norteño, emerged in the 2000s.


Blockflöte

(music) Alternative form of block flute.


semiclassical

en-adj

semiclassical (comparative more semiclassical, superlative most semiclassical)

more semiclassical (comparative)
most semiclassical (superlative)

(music) Describing classical music of broad, popular appeal


fat

fat (comparative fatter, superlative fattest)

fatter (comparative)
fattest (superlative)

Of sense: lean

carrying a larger than normal amount of fat; antonym(s) of

Sranan Tongo: fatu

From Middle English fat, from Old English fǣtt (“fatted, fat”), from Proto-West Germanic *faitid (“fatted”), originally the past participle of the verb *faitijan (“to make fat”), from *fait (“fat”).

He is what the theatre calls a “fat” role — a man suddenly confronted by a terrible duty. He is called upon to revenge the murder of his father and to right a wrong against the state.

1965, Edmund Fuller, A Pageant of the Theatre, page 131

He seeks a fat role in a hit show, lest he diminish his market value.

1997, Harold Clurman, On Directing, page 12

Joe Hirakawa, formerly of the Seattle Civic Repertory Theatre, was a waterfront peddler in “Madame Butterfly” and had a fat role in “Beauty Parlor,” an indie.

2012, Greg Robinson, Larry S. Tajiri, Pacific Citizens, page 9

(theater) Of a role: significant; major; meaty.


mean

table From Middle English meene, borrowed from Old French meien (French moyen), Late Latin mediānus (“that is in the middle, middle”), from Latin medius (“middle”). Cognate with mid. For the musical sense, compare the cognate Italian mezzano. Doublet of median and mizzen.

cog

Of these [rattles] they have Base, Tenor, Countertenor, Meane, and Treble.

1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, Kupperman, published 1988, page 147

(music, now historical) The middle part of three-part polyphonic music; now specifically, the alto part in polyphonic music; an alto instrument.


instrumentals

(music) The backing track of a song. The audio of a song without the vocal track.


emotronic

Blend of emo + electronic, referring to electronic music.

(music) A genre of music that fuses emo and electronic music, typically combining emotional lyrics with instruments such as synthesizers, bass guitars, and sequencer.


duplet

(music) A tuplet of two notes played in the time of three.


broken consort

(music) an instrumental ensemble that developed in Europe during the Renaissance.


sintir

Playing the sintir (a long-necked, resonant lute), Mr. Hakmoun leads spellbinding trance ceremonies, and with castanets around his ankles, performs acrobatic dances.

2007 January 12, The New York Times, “Rock/Pop Listings”, in New York Times

(music) A three-stringed, skin-covered bass plucked lute used by the Gnawa people of Morocco.


tonguing

(music) A technique used with wind instruments to enunciate different notes using the tongue on the reed or mouthpiece.


Stradivarius

en-noun

Stradivarius (plural Stradivariuses or Stradivarii)

Stradivariuses (plural)
Stradivarii (plural)

/ˌstɹadɪˈvɛəɹɪ.əs/

Named after the Stradivari family (Latin Stradivarius), an Italian surname either from the plural of Lombard stradivare (“toll-man”), or from strada averta (“open road”) in the Cremonese dialect.

(music) A stringed instrument built by members of the Stradivari family, particularly Antonio Stradivari.

斯特拉迪瓦里琴

(music) A violin made by another manufacturer, named to capitalise on the fame of the instruments made by Antonio Stradivari.


ribattuta

ribattuta (plural ribattutas or ribattute)

(music) A musical ornament consisting of a trill on a long-short dotted rhythm accelerating to end on either a tremolo or a regular trill.


bimeter

A sophisticated variant of the bimeter in Figure 7 occurs when the values in the right-hand part are not even, but nevertheless establish a feeling of meter opposed to that in the bass (Figure 8).

1973, Roland Nadeau, “The Grace and Beauty of Classic Rags: Structural Elements in a Distinct Musical Genre”, in Music Educators Journal, volume 59, number 8

(music) The setting of one meter against another.


prog

prog (countable and uncountable, plural progs)

He listens to a lot of prog.

Progressive rock
progressive rock#English

(uncountable, informal, music) Progressive rock.


romanesca

The ninth piece in the manuscript is a romanesca, untransposed.

1985, John Caldwell, English Keyboard Music Before the Nineteenth Century, page 97


polyrhythmic

en-adj

polyrhythmic (comparative more polyrhythmic, superlative most polyrhythmic)

more polyrhythmic (comparative)
most polyrhythmic (superlative)

(music) Having multiple, simultaneous rhythms.


polymodality

(music) The use of multiple modes in a piece if music


Hanswurst

Hanswurst, on the other hand, gained a specific profile in the early eighteenth century. As he is largely known today, in his brightly colored peasant clothing consisting of the trademark baggy yellow trousers, red suspenders, red jacket, […]

2015, Dorothy Chansky, Ann Folino White, editors, Food and Theatre on the World Stage, Routledge, page 87

(theater) A clownlike character popular in German and Austrian plays during the 18th century.


supergroup

In 1974, David Geffen, Asylum's main man, applied his negotiating abilities to creating a country-rock supergroup along the lines of Crosby, Stills & Nash.

1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, page 365

A supergroup is a rock and pop music term for a group whose members are already successful and well known, either as solo performers or part of other groups. It was first applied in 1968, to Cream, whose three members had already achieved prominence, […]]

[2017, Norman Abjorensen, Historical Dictionary of Popular Music, Rowman & Littlefield, page 487

(music) A group of musicians, each a star of another band (especially in rock music).

supergroep

group of star musicians, from other bands


remastering

(music) The production of a new version of a recording by remixing the original master recordings.


remaster

en-verb

remaster (third-person singular simple present remasters, present participle remastering, simple past and past participle remastered)

remasters (present singular third-person)
remastering (participle present)
remastered (participle past)
remastered (past)

(music) To produce a new version of a recording by remixing the original master recordings.


timbales

(music) A pair of tunable single-headed, metal-shelled cylindrical drums, used in Latin American music


multiphonics

(music) The sounding of two or more pitches simultaneously, either with the voice, or on an instrument that normally sounds only single notes.


Minimoog

(music) An early monophonic analog synthesizer.


metalcore

(music) A subgenre of rock music which fuses extreme metal and hardcore punk.


chiptune

From chip + tune, referring to a computer's sound chip; see chip (“electronic circuit”). Initially in the meaning of modules, as an antonym to 'real' chip music, then generalized/recontextualized.

Composers of chiptune and demoscene music practice the art of game music in vitro, with no particular commercial endeavor.

2007, Mark J. P. Wolf, The Video Game Explosion

[…] it has been so popular with chiptune musicians […]

(music) A piece of computer music in which the sounds are generated and mixed in realtime, common before the advent of mass storage for prerecorded sound.

(music) A style of music that samples or emulates the audio capabilities of older sound chips, but ignores certain hardware or software limitations inherent to them.

(music, demoscene) Tracker modules simulating the sound of early 8-bit computers, like Commodore 64, usually small in size and often used in cracktros.


caxixi

Borrowed from Portuguese caxixi, which is probably borrowed from an African language.

(music) A small, indirectly struck idiophone filled with seeds, commonly used in Brazil.


berimbau

/ˌbɛɹɪmˈbaʊ/

Borrowed from Portuguese berimbau, ultimately from an African language.

(music) A percussion instrument, consisting of a gourd (as resonator) and a single wire stretched along a pole, used in Brazil, has a pivotal role in capoeira ensembles.


sit in

sit in (third-person singular simple present sits in, present participle sitting in, simple past and past participle sat in)

sits in (present singular third-person)
sitting in (participle present)
sat in (participle past)
sat in (past)

(music) To take part in a group musical performance, especially a jazz session, as a temporary guest.


unlistenable

en-adj

unlistenable (comparative more unlistenable, superlative most unlistenable)

more unlistenable (comparative)
most unlistenable (superlative)

Many older adults find rap music unlistenable.

'[…] you'd prefer some Stravinsky or Stockhausen. Something unlistenable.'

1997, Keith Topping, Martin Day, chapter 6, in The Devil Goblins from Neptune, page 69

(music, acoustics) Of a sound quality or characteristic that a person cannot long listen to.


four-four time

(music) A meter or rhythm with four beats to a measure and four beats to a whole note. Specifically simple quadruple time or common time.


chroma

en-noun

chroma (countable and uncountable, plural chromas)

From Ancient Greek χρῶμα (khrôma, “color”).


scenester

One of those nights was recorded and, with production by local scenester Chris D., is now seeing the light of day.

1986 January 5, Cary Darling, “Australian Rock: Boiling from Down Under”, in Los Angeles Times, archived from the original on 2009-04-18

Their job is to deny entry to those who don't belong, the wannabe scenester as opposed to the real scenester.

2014, Dirk Wittenborn, Jazz Johnson, The Social Climber's Bible

Some scenesters told me of their manic daily life, made of entire days and nights spent without any sleep or food, focusing on the music until exhaustion.

2019, Stefano Barone, Metal, Rap, and Electro in Post-Revolutionary Tunisia: A Fragile Underground

(music) A non-musician who is active in a particular musical scene, especially one whose involvement carries social status.


arioso

(music) A musical style, in opera and oratorio, that is more melodic than recitative, but less so than aria


ariose

en-adj

ariose (comparative more ariose, superlative most ariose)

more ariose (comparative)
most ariose (superlative)

From Italian arioso (“airy, breezy”) (from aria (“air; aria, song”) (from Ancient Greek ᾱ̓ήρ (āḗr, “air; wind”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ews- (“dawn; east”)) + -oso) + -ose.

der

Much easy-listening music is light and ariose.

AR′IŌSE, a. [From arioso.] Characterized by melody, as distinguished from harmony; as, the ariose beauty of Handel.]

[1863, John Ogilvie, “ARIOSE”, in The Imperial Dictionary, English, Technological, and Scientific, on the Basis of Webster’s English Dictionary, […], volume I, London, Glasgow, Edinburgh: Blackie and Son, […], →OCLC, page 29

In the promise of Jesus, "Upon this rock will I build my church," the recitative is succeeded by ariose, and then by the triumphant base aria of Peter, the dramatic being reached in the C major chorus, "The Church is built." […] In the opening passages [of the second scene] of mingled recitative and ariose Peter is forewarned that he shall deny his master, and his half-indignant remonstrance is seconded by the voices of the other disciples.

1873 May 17, “Mr. Paine’s Oratorio. (From the New York World, March 31.) ST. PETER; An Oratorio. The Words Selected from the Bible, and the Music Composed by John Knowles Paine. Boston: Oliver Ditson & Co. 1873.”, in [John Sullivan Dwight], editor, Dwight’s Journal of Music, volume XXXIII, number 3 (number 837 overall), Boston, Mass.: Oliver Ditson & Co., →OCLC, page 21, column 1

He tried to speak in an ariose, teasing manner, not wanting to offend his charge.

2016, Bill Broun, Night of the Animals: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Ecco Press

The question becomes why certain settings in music, and a certain playing of simple against more complex lyrics, can remake debased language and restore the innocence of emotional expression. (Opera singers know this, in the ariose transformations of "Un bel dì" [One fine day] or "O mio babbino caro" [Oh my dear papa]. But then opera criticism, too, has a long-standing problem with lyrics.)

2016, Mark Greif, “Radiohead, or the Philosophy of Pop”, in Against Everything: Essays, New York, N.Y.: Pantheon Books, section III, page 112


figural

en-adj

figural (comparative more figural, superlative most figural)

more figural (comparative)
most figural (superlative)

From Old French figural, from late Latin figūrālis, from figūra (“figure”).


-ola

From Latin -ola, -ula, feminine form of -ulus, -lus (diminutive suffix).

(entertainment industry) Used to form pejorative terms associated with commercial bribery.


canzona

Mr. Milnes had a turn in the spotlight with a canzona for solo organ by Johann Caspar Kerll.

2007 January 15, Steve Smith, “Classic Viennese Music, the Prequel”, in New York Times

(music) A type of instrumental composition based on multipart vocal settings of canzoni, produced chiefly in the 16th and 17th centuries


Dvořák

/dɪˈvɔːʒɑːk/

(music) Antonín Leopold Dvořák, Czech composer


accentus

Coordinate term: concentus

(music) A style of church music that emphasizes spoken word.


benna

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


risoluto

(music) (To be played) boldly, resolutely


kalimba

(music) A type of thumb piano, similar to the mbira.


mbira

(music) A thumb piano, a musical instrument having a small sound box fitted with a row of tuned tabs that are plucked with the thumbs, originating among the Shona of southern Africa; any type of plucked lamellophone of the same type as the Shona instrument.


pedal steel guitar

en-noun

pedal steel guitar (plural pedal steel guitars)

(music) The elements of an electric steel guitar, mounted horizontally on a stand and played by a standing musician, using a combination of a steel bar and foot pedals to vary the pitch of the instrument.


detune

en-verb

detune (third-person singular simple present detunes, present participle detuning, simple past and past participle detuned)

detunes (present singular third-person)
detuning (participle present)
detuned (participle past)
detuned (past)

Some avant-garde composers request that performers detune their instruments before playing.

(music) To intentionally lower or raise the pitch produced by a musical instrument. Often done to produce sounds not normally possible, or in the case of stringed instruments to reduce tension for the purposes of shipping or maintenance.


uptempo

en-adj

uptempo (comparative more uptempo, superlative most uptempo)

more uptempo (comparative)
most uptempo (superlative)


boppy

boppy (comparative boppier, superlative boppiest)

boppier (comparative)
boppiest (superlative)

Panic excursions to tribal Jazz wombs and transfusions
Heroin nights of birth/ and soaring/ over boppy new ground.

1965, Bob Kaufman, Walking Parker Home (poem)


terzetto

From Italian terzetto, diminutive of Italian terzo (“the third”), from Latin tertius. See tierce.

(music) A composition in three voice parts.

(music) A vocal (or, rarely, instrumental) trio.


kontra

(music) A large instrument, similar to a viola but with three strings and a flat bridge, originating in the traditional music of Transylvania.

(music) The harmonic and rhythmic part of certain Hungarian folk music, as opposed to the melodic part.


blues-rock

(music) A musical genre combining elements of blues and rock and roll


soft rock

CSN&Y didn't shy away from politics, but many artists who followed in their footsteps used the new soft rock synthesis to warble inoffensive pop to a nation tired of controversy. […] Subsequently, many artists rode the soft rock formula all the way to the bank—or at least their labels did.

2010, Christopher Knowles, The Secret History of Rock 'n' Roll, Simon and Schuster

(music) A comparatively unaggressive, melodic rock music genre in which the arrangement and lyrics are emphasized more than the beat; a reaction against hard rock.


ariette

From French ariette, from Italian arietta.


five-finger exercise

en-noun

five-finger exercise (plural five-finger exercises)

It was the singular room which Carlyle had constructed in the hopes that he could shut out all the noises of the universe, the crowing of cocks, and the jingling of a young lady's five-finger exercise in particular.

1899, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 20, in A Duet

(music) A musical composition for the piano, designed to require the use of all the fingers of the hand for the purpose of skill development.


acid rock

(music) A rock music genre originating from the late 1960s, heavily inspired by drug-induced experiences.


birl

(music, bagpipes) A type of grace note movement that quickly switches between low-A and low-G several times, producing a low rippling sound.


staple character

staple character (plural staple characters)

The mad scientist was a staple character in many horror films.

(writing, theater, film) A stock character, especially one that is overused.


ride cymbal

(music) A type of cymbal, the function of which is to maintain a steady rhythmic pattern.


IDM

IDM (countable and uncountable, plural IDMs)

intelligent dance music
intelligent dance music#English

(music) Initialism of intelligent dance music.


junkanoo

junkanoo (countable and uncountable, plural junkanoos)

From John Canoe, the older name of the festival, perhaps named after folk hero John Canoe.

Rafael sang from his stuffings, the beat swirled, the brass blasted, and in a three-month period, America bought a bargeful of the Munings' "junkanoo" sound.

1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, page 274

Junkanoo also became established among expatriate Bahamian communities, notably in Miami and Toronto, where Junkanoo bands were to be seen at the Orange Bowl and Caribana parades respectively.

2000, Michael Craton, Gail Saunders, A History of the Bahamian People, University of Georgia Press, page 490

(music) A style of goombay traditionally played on goatskin drums and cowbells during the parade.


tendido

(bullfighting) A seating area in a bull ring.


flanging

flanging (countable and uncountable, plural flangings)

(music) A time-based audio effect produced when two identical signals are mixed together, but with one signal time-delayed by a small and gradually changing amount, usually smaller than 20 milliseconds.


choro

choro (usually uncountable, plural choros)

Borrowed from Portuguese choro (“lament”).

(music) A genre of Brazilian popular music


dulciana

(music) An organ stop with a sweet tone.


bassetto

(music) A tenor viol or small bass viol.


crumhorn

(music) Any of several related simple woodwind instruments having a bent horn


sarrusophone

/səˈɹuːsəˌfəʊn/

From Pierre-Auguste Sarrus, French bandmaster.

(music) Any of a family of wind instruments intended to replace the oboe and bassoon in bands.


dulcian

From German Dulzian, or a variant of dulciana.

(music) A Renaissance bass woodwind instrument, with a double reed and a folded conical bore


tragic hero

(drama) A hero who suffers from a tragic flaw that eventually causes his downfall.


upright piano

(music) A piano whose strings are vertical.


ska punk

ska punk (countable and uncountable, plural ska punks)

Thus, ska punk managed to revitalize punk through the popularization of a more unusual genre.

2019, Kevin L. Ferguson, Pop Goes the Decade: The Nineties, ABC-CLIO, page 126

(uncountable, music) A style of music combining ska and punk rock popular in the 1990s.


musical box

Beneath the clothes [of the poupard] a squeaker would be concealed, and more elaborate ones would have a musical-box, the music being played by twirling the doll around.

1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 38

(music) Any of various devices that play tunes by means of pins, on a rotating disk or revolving drum, that strike or pluck metal teeth; a music box.


Typically far more complex than the songs of the 8-bit games, songs in Amiga games had a highly varied structure, but usually followed the same basic principles seen in the 8-bit games (shorter loops with fewer distinct sections for battle music, and longer loops with more distinct sections for in-game music).

2008 January 1, Karen Collins, Game Sound: An Introduction to the History, Theory, and Practice of Video Game Music and Sound Design, MIT Press

Much of La-Mulanas 8-bit' aesthetic is tied to its self-imposed graphical limitations. To start, the native resolution of 256 × 192 pixels is (as we would expect) much less than that of contemporary standards[…]

2008 November 12, Brett Camper, “Retro Reflexivity: La-Mulana”, in Bernard Perron, Mark J.P. Wolf, editors, The Video Game Theory Reader 2, Routledge

(computer graphics, music) Originating from or resembling the art or music of the 8-bit computer era.


perfect fifth

The perfect fifth has a pitch ratio close to 3:2.

(music) An interval equal to that of between the second and third harmonics of the harmonic series. In twelve-tone equal temperament, it spans seven semitones or five degrees of the diatonic scale.

čistá kvinta

interval between the first and second overtones or of seven semitones


BGM

BGM (countable and uncountable, plural BGMs)

From Japanese BGM (BGM), an initialism of English background music.

background music
background music#English

(music) Initialism of background music, occasionally used with reference to Japanese media (video games, television, etc.).


futurepop

Modern industrial music subgenres and fusion-genres include EBM, futurepop, power-noise, aggrotech (terror-EBM), coldwave, elektro, dark-electro, and industrial-metal. Yes, it can be quite confusing.

2007, Raven Digitalis, Goth Craft: The Magickal Side of Dark Culture, page 37

Despite—or more likely, because of—futurepop's sudden and visible popularity within the global industrial scene, it was subject to harsh criticism in the early and mid-2000s.

2013, S. Alexander Reed, Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music, page 296

Music festivals that feature futurepop bands include Infest, Wave Gotik Treffen and M'era Luna.

[…] a substantial offering of futurepop (e.g., Covenant, Wolfsheim, VNV Nation, Apoptygma Bezerk), a smattering of aggrotech (e.g. Suicide Commando, Combichrist), and a number of other subgenres.

2015, Isabella van Elferen, Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, Goth Music: From Sound to Subculture

(music) A genre of electronic dance music with influences from synthpop, trance, and EBM.


tucket

From tuck (“a blow, a drum beat”), from Old French touchet (“stroke, blow”). Compare toccata. Compare also Middle French toquer from Old French *toquer (“to strike”).

[T]hen let the Trumpets ſound / The Tucket Sonuance, and the Note to mount: / For our approach ſhall ſo much dare the field, / That England ſhall couch downe in feare, and yeeld.

c. 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, act IV, scene ii, page 86

(music) A fanfare played on one or more trumpets, bugles or similar.


instrumentalize

en-verb

instrumentalize (third-person singular simple present instrumentalizes, present participle instrumentalizing, simple past and past participle instrumentalized)

instrumentalizes (present singular third-person)
instrumentalizing (participle present)
instrumentalized (participle past)
instrumentalized (past)

(music, transitive) To transcribe for instrumental execution a piece of music written for the human voice


clacker

(music) A percussion instrument that makes a clacking noise.


timoroso

(music) (To be played) in a timid, hesitant manner.


largando

(music) (To be played) gradually slower and broader.


xylorimba

(music) A pitched percussion instrument corresponding to a xylophone with an extended range.


pitch pipe

(music) A device much like a harmonica, used to supply a sought pitch.


lick

From Middle English likken, from Old English liccian, from Proto-West Germanic *likkōn, from Proto-Germanic *likkōną, from Proto-Indo-European *leyǵʰ- (“to lick”).
See also Saterland Frisian likje, Dutch likken, German lecken; also Old Irish ligid, Latin lingō (“lick”), ligguriō (“to lap, lick up”), Lithuanian laižyti, Old Church Slavonic лизати (lizati), Ancient Greek λείχω (leíkhō), Old Armenian լիզեմ (lizem), Persian لیسیدن (lisidan), Sanskrit लेढि (léḍhi), रेढि (réḍhi).

There are some really good blues licks in this solo.


encierro

/ˌɛnsɪˈɛəɹəʊ/

/ˌɛnsiˈɛɹoʊ/

Borrowed from Spanish encierro (literally “enclosure”), from encerrar (“to lock up”).

bor

(bullfighting) A bull run, usually one held in Spain.


aleatoric

en-adj

aleatoric (comparative more aleatoric, superlative most aleatoric)

more aleatoric (comparative)
most aleatoric (superlative)

/eɪliːəˈtɔəɹɪk/

From Latin āleātōrius (see aleatory) + -ic.

aleatoric music

Some artists, like John Cage, have adopted aleatoric methods of composition in order to remove any trace of authorial expression from their work.

2005, Noël Carroll, “Formalism”, in The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics, eds. Berys Gaut and Dominic McIver Lopes (Master e-book IBSN 0203991923), page 89

(art, music, not comparable) Of or pertaining to works that have been produced with an element of chance (aleatoricism).


surla

A variant of Turkish zurna (“woodwind instrument”), from Classical Persian سرنا (surnā); see there for more. Cognate with English horn, Latin cornu (“horn”).


rasgado

en-noun

rasgado (countable and uncountable, plural rasgados)


tight five

(comedy) A five-minute set of jokes performed by a stand-up comedian, usually made up of only their best material.


supermajor

(music) An interval larger in size than a major interval but smaller than the next largest minor interval.


barology

/bəɹˈɒlədʒi/

The barology is realised through the subtle agogic placement of beats and bars relative to each other in the hierarchy of the pypermeter; in other words, some beats sound late and some early; and some bars sound early and some late.

2022, Graham J. McPhail, Knowledge and Music Education

(music) A method of analyzing music according to hypermeter, deriving a structure of strong and weak bars and then phrases.


dissonate

en-verb

dissonate (third-person singular simple present dissonates, present participle dissonating, simple past and past participle dissonated)

dissonates (present singular third-person)
dissonating (participle present)
dissonated (participle past)
dissonated (past)


fughetta

(music) A short, condensed version of a fugue.


no wave

A punning rejection of the more commercial new wave movement.

To dream that tall, mean, vegan Jeff, in turtlenecks and chinos like Sterling Morrison, was the only one I talked to at all the no wave shows I went to alone.

2020, “Jinx”, in Timmy's Unbuttoned Gen X Meditations, performed by Good Fuck

(music) A broad musical and artistic movement originating in the mid-1970s in New York City, typified by experimentation and performance art.


tsimbl

From Yiddish צימבל (tsimbl). Doublet of cymbal.

(music) A cymbalom, or hammered dulcimer, used in klezmer music.


darkwave

From dark + -wave, meaning the “dark” counterpart of new wave.

As well as mainstream pop you'll find dance, funk and all kinds of club music, world music and even very select genres such as darkwave medieval, darkwave gothic to darkwave neofolk.

2002, Jules Brown, Dinah Gardner, Hong Kong and Macau, page 315

Since the 1980s, several goth substyles have mixed the Batcave heritage with other musical genres into new goth substyles. New wave was gothed into darkwave, classic rock into gothic rock, and metal into gothic metal. […] The term darkwave originated in the 1980s as an indicator of the “dark” counterpart of new wave.

2015, Isabella van Elferen, Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, Goth Music: From Sound to Subculture, Routledge, page 25

(music) A musical movement that originated in the late 1970s, combining elements of new wave and gothic rock with dark, thoughtful lyrics and an undertone of sorrow.

dark wave

musical movement combining elements of new wave and gothic rock


chaconne

From French chaconne, from Spanish chacona, likely from Basque chucun (“pretty”).

(music) The music for such a dance, often containing variations on a theme.


flamenco guitar

en-noun

flamenco guitar (plural flamenco guitars)

(music) A type of acoustic guitar with reduced internal bracing and thinner tops. It is used mainly in the performance of toques, the guitar part of flamenco music.


kamancheh

(music) A long-necked stringed instrument (a spike fiddle) with a bowl-shaped body, traditionally featuring three silk strings but now more often four metal ones, played with a bow, common among the peoples of the Caucasus, Anatolia and the Near East.


junglist

(music) A dedicated listener to jungle or drum and bass music.


jazzman

→ French: jazzman

→ Spanish: jazzman


ledger line

(music) A musical notation to inscribe notes outside the lines and spaces of the regular musical staves; a line slightly longer than the note is drawn parallel to the staff, above or below, spaced at the same distances as the notes within the staff.

apuviiva

notation to inscribe notes outside the musical staffs


stage screw

(theater) A forged, or sometimes cast low thread count cut thread screw with a handle (sometimes made up of three holes) used to hold scenery in place in theaters (mostly prior to the 1990s).


technopop

(music) An early synthpop genre with a cold, robotic sound.


(music) A meter of three quarter notes per measure.


(music) A meter of two quarter notes per measure.


(music) A meter of six eighth notes per measure, usually with secondary stress on the fourth eighth note.


(music) A meter of two half notes per measure.


(music) A meter of four quarter notes per measure.


gabba

gabba (countable and uncountable, plural gabbas)


reed instrument

reed instrument (plural reed instruments)

(music) Any musical wind instrument played by blowing air through a reed, such as the oboe or the clarinet.


promenader

(chiefly UK, music) An attender at, or devotee of, promenade concerts.


duettino

From Italian, diminutive from duetto (“a duet”).


braindance

From brain + dance, from its relatively complex (i.e. intellectual) structure and use of elements of dance music. Coined by the label Rephlex Records.

For the devoted, this is a rare chance to devour an hour of box-fresh blockbuster braindance that might somehow bring them closer to their master.

2014, Piers Martin, “Aphex Twin: ‘His music is a perfect mix of mystery and adrenaline’”, in The Guardian

(music) Synonym of intelligent dance music


intelligent dance music

It was a record that helped to launch the careers of Autechre, Aphex Twin and Richie Hawtin, birthed the genre that would later become known as intelligent dance music (or IDM), and changed the idea of electronic music as merely a tool for dancing.

2017 July 3, Ben Cardew, “Machines of loving grace: how Artificial Intelligence helped techno grow up”, in The Guardian

(music) A genre of experimental electronic music that combines elements of techno and dance music with complex rhythmic structures and atypical melodic patterns.


half note

(Canada, US, music) A musical note that is two beats long, which is half the length of a semibreve and equal in length to two crotchets; a minim.


cry the blues

en-verb

cry the blues (third-person singular simple present cries the blues, present participle crying the blues, simple past and past participle cried the blues)

cries the blues (present singular third-person)
crying the blues (participle present)
cried the blues (participle past)
cried the blues (past)

"Young people have forgotten how to cry the blues," said Big Bill Broonzy as he lay dying in a dark room above the littered streets of Chicago's Negro South Side.

1958 September 1, “Best of the Blues”, in Time

(music) To sing in the style of blues music.


concertmistress

head

concertmistress (plural concertmistresses, masculine concertmaster)

concertmistresses (plural)
concertmaster (masculine)

Possibly a calque of German Konzertmeisterin, corresponding to concert + mistress.


sharping

(music) The raising of the pitch of a note by half a step.


sharped

(music) Raised in pitch by half a note. Made into a sharp note.


wah-wah

onom

Imitative

(music) Modifying the resonance of musical notes to produce the effect of a human voice.

wah-wah

modifying the resonance of musical notes to produce the effect of a human voice


wah-wah

Imitative

(music) A wavering sound produced by means of a movable mute or by electronic means


wah-wah

en-verb

wah-wah (third-person singular simple present wah-wahs, present participle wah-wahing, simple past and past participle wah-wahed)

wah-wahs (present singular third-person)
wah-wahing (participle present)
wah-wahed (participle past)
wah-wahed (past)

onom

Imitative


klang

(music) Any periodic sound, especially one composed of a fundamental and harmonics, as opposed to simple periodic sounds (sine tones).


variety show

(radio, television, theater) A type of entertainment featuring a succession of short, unrelated performances by various artistes such as (depending on the medium) acrobats, comedians, dancers, magicians, singers, etc.


wah-wah pedal

Go on Ted, go on, beat those drum! / Get in there! / Ah shit, let's give Cordell some, on that wah-wah pedal now!

1974, Betty Davis (lyrics and music), “Git In There”, in They Say I'm Different, performed by Betty Davis

(music) A pedal for an electric guitar that mimics the sound of the human voice.


B-bender

(music) A guitar accessory that enables a player to mechanically bend the B-string up a full tone to C-sharp.


chorded

Afterwards, I would play jazz tunes in a chorded-melody style; the first time through one of us would play the melody and the other the chords, and then we'd switch.

2009, Ed Petkus, Someone Out There Is Listening, page 240

This chording technique works well for learning any tune, but this is the only tune of the set that I will write out completely as a chorded version for you.

2011, Dan Levenson, Clawhammer Banjo from Scratch, page 42

(music) Composed of or containing chords.


talking drum

Two men, bowed over, were beating a tune on hourglass-shaped talking drums.

2015, Chigozie Obioma, The Fishermen, ONE, page 209

(music) Any of several drums whose pitch can be regulated by squeezing the sides.


coldwave

From cold + wave, perhaps influenced by earlier genres such as new wave and darkwave. In France the post-punk genre was called la vague froide.

Band member Azzedine Amrani reflects: “[…] Then, The Cure came to our ears; therefore we started to turn into coldwave music with brand new instruments [such as keyboards and drum machines].”

2014, Andi Harriman, Marloes Bontje, Some Wear Leather, Some Wear Lace: A Worldwide Compendium of Postpunk and Goth in the 1980s, Intellect Books, page 24

(music) A European style of post-punk music in the 1980s.

Modern industrial music subgenres and fusion-genres include EBM, futurepop, power-noise, aggrotech (terror-EBM), coldwave, elektro, dark-electro, and industrial-metal. Yes, it can be quite confusing.

2007, Raven Digitalis, Goth Craft: The Magickal Side of Dark Culture, page 37

(music, US) The industrial metal music genre in the 1990s.