fagotto

en-noun

fagotto (plural fagottos or fagottoes or fagotti)

fagottos (plural)
fagottoes (plural)
fagotti (plural)

From Italian fagotto. So called from being divided into parts for ease of carrying, making it a sort of small bundle or fagot. Doublet of fagot and faggot.


tipping

tipping (countable and uncountable, plural tippings)

(music) A distinct articulation given in playing quick notes on the flute, by striking the tongue against the roof of the mouth; double-tonguing.


scooping

scooping (countable and uncountable, plural scoopings)

(music) A singing technique in which the singer begins by singing a note slightly below the desired pitch, and then slides up to it.


stop list

The history of the small organ is poorly documented; the earliest known stop list, written by the Lübeck organ builder Theodore Vogt, dates from about 1845.

1987, Kerala J. Snyder, Dieterich Buxtehude: Organist in Lübeck, page 81

(music) A list of the stops found on a particular organ.


country pop

(music) A subgenre of country music that combines it with elements of pop music, produced and marketed to reach a wide audience; or a specific genre of country pop, especially the Nashville sound.


Nashville sound

(music) A subgenre of country music that became popular in the 1950s and 1960s, containing elements of popular music and characterized by electronic string sections, background vocals, and orchestras.


fingering

fingering (countable and uncountable, plural fingerings)

She has a very good notion of fingering, though her taste is not equal to Anne's.

(music, uncountable) The act of using one's fingers in the playing of a musical instrument.

That chord has two fingerings.

(music, countable) A specific method of using the fingers to play an instrument.


Urban Cowboy

The term is borrowed from the title of a popular 1980 movie starring John Travolta and Debra Winger and featuring several country music performances.

(music, uncountable) Pop-styled country music which became popular during the early 1980s, following the release of the movie Urban Cowboy (1980).


rockabilly

rockabilly (countable and uncountable, plural rockabillies or rockabillys)

rockabillies (plural)
rockabillys (plural)

/ˈɹɒkəˌbɪli/

/ˈɹɑːkəˌbɪli/

(uncountable, music) A genre of music originating from the South (United States) and mixing elements of rock, blues, country, hillbilly boogie and bluegrass music.


box set

(theater) A set with a proscenium arch stage and three walls, creating the appearance of an enclosed room.


holding deal

(entertainment industry) An agreement made between a studio or network (or other similar entity) and a person, such as an actor, producer or writer, to hold the person to be exclusive to that entity for an agreed upon period of time, usually one year or "season", for an agreed-upon amount of money.


warhorse

a Wagner warhorse

I remember taking the old warhorse, “Una Voce Poco Fa,” from Il Barbiere (Rossini) to three of the greatest living singing masters in Italy.

1910, Millie Ryan, What Every Singer Should Know, Omaha, Nebr.: Franklin Publishing Co.

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo[…] presented a typical program of Russian warhorses of the 19th and early 20th centuries[…]

1997 August 6, Jennifer Dunning, “Horsing Around With Balletic Warhorses”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

A Mendelssohn Warhorse Gets the Perlman Treatment [title]

1995 August 5, Anthony Tommasini, “A Mendelssohn Warhorse Gets the Perlman Treatment”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

[…] the ROH mounts a new production of an Italian repertory warhorse that is fully on the level of the one it replaces […]

2006 June 11, Stephen Jay-Taylor, “Tosca dress”, in rec.music.opera (Usenet)

(theater, music) A regularly revived theatrical or musical work, as with Hamlet or a Beethoven symphony, or as excerpts thereto. May imply that the work in question has become hackneyed.


jobber

Most of the music circuses use jobbers in four to eight of the leading roles for each show. These jobbers are principal actors who are employed for one or two leading roles during the season. There is no difference between a star and a jobber, except that a jobber is not necessarily a "big-name" performer […]

1957, Lorna Marie Wildon, A survey of contemporary American musical arena theatres, and an analysis of problems of organization and production

Jobbers are used as needed.

1986, J. Allen, The 1986 Summer Theater Guide, page 83

(theater) An actor temporarily employed for a specific role, often in a touring company.


serial music

(music) Music, especially from the 20th century, in which the themes are based on a definite order of notes of an equal-tempered scale.


drum machine

/ˈdɹʌm məˌʃiːn/

(music) An electronic musical instrument that can be programmed to create percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns.


cold read

en-verb

cold read (third-person singular simple present cold reads, present participle cold reading, simple past and past participle cold read)

cold reads (present singular third-person)
cold reading (participle present)
cold read (participle past)
cold read (past)

At the audition you will be required to cold read a script.

(intransitive, transitive, acting, newsreading, education) To perform (a script) without preparation.


country and western

(music) A diverse field of American popular music that grew out of hillbilly music and features elements from rural peoples across the Southern and Western United States.


singing cowboy

en-noun

singing cowboy (countable and uncountable, plural singing cowboys)

(music) A subgenre of country music and western music honoring the cowboy life and the West.


guest star

The neutering extends to Believe’s guest stars, with warm-and-fuzzy verses from Ludacris (“I love everything about you / You’re imperfectly perfect”), Big Sean (“I don’t know if this makes sense, but you’re my hallelujah”), Nicki Minaj (who at least squeaks a “bitches” into her verse), and especially Drake, whose desire to hug and kiss the object of his affection on “Right Here” is reminiscent of The Red Hot Chili Peppers on Krusty’s Comeback Special.

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

(music) A guest on a music or other recording.


country music

A shortening of country and western. This version has been predominant since the 1950s.

He's a handsome country singer who plays the guitar with his beautiful girlfriend who plays the drums!

(music) A style of popular music that originated in the folk music of the rural population of the southern and western United States and characterized by string-band instruments and simple melodies.

old-time country

considered either coordinate or hyponymous


breakbeat

2001, CMJ New Music Monthlyhttps://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/CMJ/2001/CMJ%20New-Music-2001-05-06.pdf
A cornucopia of hyped-up breakbeats, keyboard squiggles, surf grooves, dancehall stylee, dumb loops and much atonal shouting along, Far In dares you not to smile.

(music, countable) A form of syncopated rhythm prominent in much African music.

electronic dance music
electronic dance music

(music, uncountable) A genre of electronic dance music based on such syncopated rhythms.


big beat

(music) A form of pop music having distorted breakbeats at a moderate tempo.


da capo al fine

From Italian da capo al fine (literally “from the beginning to the end”).

bor

(music) Repeat from the beginning up to the word fine ("end").


overstage

(theater, of lighting, machinery etc) Above the stage.


center stage

(acting) The area in the center of the stage, especially one towards the front.


rock band

(music) A group of musicians who play rock music.


understage

When deep pits, required in the understage for the machinery and traps, cannot be drained on account of insufficient depth of the street sewer

1900, William Paul Gerhard, Theatres: Their Safety from Fire and Panic, Their Comfort and Healthfulness, page 97

The understage being only 9 feet (5 braccia) high, the mountain had to rise in telescoping stages

1996, James M. Saslow, The Medici wedding of 1589: Florentine festival as Theatrum Mundi, page 86

dozens of strapping stage-hands in the understage manipulating warships, cannons dispatching balls of fire, blue smoke.

2001, Augusto Boal with Adrian Jackson and Candida Blaker, Hamlet and the baker's son: my life in theatre and politics


stage left

(acting) The area to the left of the stage when looking towards the audience.

näyttämövasen

area to the left (facing audience) of the stage


stage left

en-adv

stage left (comparative more stage left, superlative most stage left)

more stage left (comparative)
most stage left (superlative)


stage right

He enters stage right.

(acting) The area to the right of the stage when looking towards the audience.

näyttämöoikea

area to the right (facing audience) of the stage


stage right

stage right (comparative more stage right, superlative most stage right)

more stage right (comparative)
most stage right (superlative)


tercio

(bullfighting) Any of the three stages of a bullfight: the vara, the banderilla and finally the death.


rock music

Shortening of rock and roll music, in use since circa 1966 to refer to genres of popular music which had grown sufficiently distinct from 1950s rock and roll.

(music) A broad genre of popular music, including especially those styles ultimately derived from rock and roll, employing electrical amplification, heavy use of guitars, 4/4 time with strong percussive rhythm on beats two and four (backbeat), and usually themes of bold wildness, rebellion, and sexuality.


grimy

en-adj

grimy (comparative grimier, superlative grimiest)

grimier (comparative)
grimiest (superlative)

Riffs from older songs seem to be more popular, as only two from the past decade made it into the top 20. They were Muse's Plug In Baby, at 11, and The White Stripes' grimy Seven Nation Army at 15.

2009 November 27, “Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child has 'best guitar riff'”, in BBC

(music) From the urban musical genre called grime.


hyperrealism

en-noun

hyperrealism (countable and uncountable, plural hyperrealisms)

(music) A compositional style defined by Noah Creshevsky as "an electroacoustic musical language constructed from sounds that are found in our shared environment (realism), handled in ways that are somehow exaggerated or excessive (hyper)."


clarino

From Italian clarino (“straight trumpet”).


tre corde

Borrowed from Italian tre corde (“three strings”).

bor+

(music) Musical notation indicating that the player release the soft pedal of the piano. In many pianos, this results in the hammer striking three string rather than one as in una corda.


una corda

(music) In piano music, the notation indicating that the player depresses the soft pedal, altering, and reducing the volume of the sound. In many pianos, this results in the hammer striking two strings rather than three as in tre corde. Originally, it would have struck one string, but modern pianos have their strings too close together to achieve a true una corda - the movement of the hammers would result in also hitting the first string of the next note.


microtone

(music) Any interval smaller than a semitone


microtonal

en-adj

microtonal (comparative more microtonal, superlative most microtonal)

more microtonal (comparative)
most microtonal (superlative)

(music) Of, relating to, or written using microtones.


acid jazz

Humorously coined by DJ Gilles Peterson after blending jazz records with acid house in 1988.

(music, jazz) A genre of popular music combining jazz with elements of soul music, funk and disco.


comodo

Borrowed from Italian comodo. Doublet of commode.

(music) Comfortable, that is, at moderate speed.


capriccioso

From Italian capriccioso. Cognate with capricious.


sforzando

en-noun

sforzando (plural sforzandos or sforzandi)

(music) A mark that indicates that a note is to be played with a strong initial attack.


sforzando

en-adv

sforzando (comparative more sforzando, superlative most sforzando)

more sforzando (comparative)
most sforzando (superlative)


sforzando

(music) Describing a passage having this mark.


sackbut

From French sacqueboute, from Middle French sacquer (“to push”) + bouter (“to pull”).

(music) A brass instrument from the Renaissance and Baroque Eras, and an ancestor of the modern trombone. It was derived from the medieval slide trumpet.

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


sostenuto

(music) played in a sustained manner beyond the note's normal value


piffero

(music) A particular organ stop of 2' or 4' pitch imitative of the transverse flute.


duduk

A recent borrowing, from Armenian դուդուկ (duduk), itself from Ottoman Turkish دودوك (düdük).

(music) An Armenian woodwind instrument.


mug up

en-verb

mug up (third-person singular simple present mugs up, present participle mugging up, simple past and past participle mugged up)

mugs up (present singular third-person)
mugging up (participle present)
mugged up (participle past)
mugged up (past)

(intransitive, slang, theater, obsolete) To paint one's face or put on a costume for the purpose of impersonation.


gliss

gliss (third-person singular simple present glisses, present participle glissing, simple past and past participle glissed)

glisses (present singular third-person)
glissing (participle present)
glissed (participle past)
glissed (past)

Then he played the opening notes of “On Green Dolphin Street,” glissed down from B flat to sixth-position F, secured the slide lock, and set the trombone on its stand.

2013, J. F. Freedman, Key Witness, Open Road Media


batterie

Borrowed from French batterie, from battre (“to hit”). Doublet of battery.

(music) The percussion section of an orchestra or band, the battery; marching instruments in a drumline, as opposed to the pit.


claves

en-noun

claves pl (normally plural, singular clave)

Borrowed from Latin American Spanish claves (plural), from Latin clāvis (“a key; a lever, bar”).

(music) A percussion instrument, consisting of two sticks or blocks, in which one is struck against the other in order to produce a sound.


clickable

c. 1943 (entertainment), c. 1965 (manufacturing), c. 1985 (computing) click + -able

(entertainment) That establishes rapport with an audience.


saltando

Mark the following excerpt to be played saltando.

1968, Richard D. Worthing, The Development and Preliminary Evaluation of a Programmed Course of Instruction in Orchestration for the Stringed Instruments, page 111

(music) Played with a rapid, bouncing stroke of the bow on a stringed instrument.


recibiendo

(bullfighting) A matador's technique of standing still so that the charging bull runs onto the sword.


VG

(numismatics, bookselling, music, slang) Initialism of very good (condition).


drum and bass

Coordinate term: jungle

(music) A style of electronic dance music focusing heavily on loud bass and fast-tempo drumbeats.


maxima

From Latin maxima (“greatest”). Doublet of maxim.

(music) A music note equal to two (or sometimes three) longæ; in modern notation, this is typically equivalent to eight semibreves.


mashup

From mash (“to convert into a mash; to mix thoroughly”) + up.

(informal) Something consisting of two or more elements combined together.

(music, slang) A remix created by combining two or more songs from different artists into one piece of music.


qawwali

qawwali (countable and uncountable, plural qawwalis)

From Urdu قوالی (qawwālī), from Classical Persian قوالی (qawwālī).

Jameela Siddiqi listens to qawwali and talks to its performers […].

1994, Simon Broughton, World Music: The Rough Guide

(music, uncountable) A style of Muslim devotional music, especially among the South Asian Sufis, accompanied by drums and harmonium.

They are singing not a religious qawwali but its secular and lay cousin.

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 223

Every Thursday, in the dargah's enclosure, musicians in shimmering turquoise kurtas, their fingers bejewelled with bling, perform qawwalis attributed to Khusrau […].

2016, Sunil Khilnani, Incarnations, Penguin, published 2017, page 86

(music, countable) A song in this style.


corrida

[…]El Juli, a young and already much-admired torero, takes risk after risk until he is gored, drops to the sand and is helped up by Enrique Ponce Martinez - Spain 's leading matador and his partner for the afternoon's corrida.

2009 January 31, AL Kennedy, “Deaths in the afternoon”, in The Guardian


pathopoeia

From Ancient Greek παθοποιία (pathopoiía); πάθος (páthos, “passion”) + ποιέω (poiéō, “make”).

(music) The arousing of emotion in someone who hears music; a passage designed to arouse emotions.


tempo mark

(music) A mark placed on the score by the composer describing at what speed the passage should be played.


accompagnato

Borrowed from Italian accompagnato, past participle of accompagnare (“to accompany”).

(music) A tempo mark directing that a recitative is to be accompanied by the orchestra.


accompagnato

(music) Describing a passage having this mark.


vocalization

vocalization (countable and uncountable, plural vocalizations)

vowelization

supplying vowels/diacritics to Arabic and Hebrew words/texts

(music) The production of musical sounds using the voice, especially as an exercise


alphorn

From Alemannic German Alphorn, German Alphorn.

(music) A long, curved, wooden horn used by mountain-dwelling herders in the Alps, originally to call cattle but now only as musical instrument in classical and folk tunes.


baila

(music) A genre of music from Sri Lanka and India, mainly using European instruments and rhythms.


ear candy

Mumba's music is ear candy: it crunches, it bubbles, it melts in the mouth.

2000 November 27, Christopher John Farley, “Irish Spring”, in Time, →ISSN

I wanted it to just be something fun to listen to, like ear candy. I think that's what we got.

2013, Mathew Klickstein, quoting Rachel Sweet, Slimed!, Penguin, page 129

(US, colloquial, music) Light popular music that has an instant appeal but no lasting impact or significance.

korvakarkki

light popular music that has an instant appeal but no lasting impact or significance


capea

(bullfighting) An event in which small bulls or heifers are released into the arena and members of the audience can interact with them.


corrido

The Mexican corrido remains essentially true to these Iberian roots in regard to its poetic form and its handling of narrative subjects. It is probable that the term corrido is a shortening of the term romance corrido, meaning a through-sung ballad, as attested in Spanish usage during the sixteenth century (Simmons 1963).

2015, John Holmes McDowell, ¡Corrido!: The Living Ballad of Mexico's Western Coast, UNM Press, page 2

(music) A Mexican or Mexican-American ballad or folk song.


HM

When girls appropriate a male-dominated form like HM, can they discard its sexist content without replacing it with something else?

1982 April 24, “Women of Iron”, in Gay Community News, page 10


quint

A musical or piquet term, or a quintuplet

From Middle French quint, from Latin quīntus.


violins

The violins played most strenuously, but no one attended to them.

(music) the violin section of an orchestra


cha-cha

From Cuban/Latin American Spanish cha-cha, imitative of the music.

onomatopoeic

imitative


visualizer

Fittingly, “Mood Swings” ft. Lil Tijay has found a viral star to anchor its music video in actress, model, and former Kylie Jenner bff Jordyn Woods. In the visualizer, Jordyn Woods is the central baddie with a fatty, posing in pools and in sports cars with other baddies Dylan and Dakota Gonzalez.

2020 August 20, Chris Murphy, “Lil’ Baddie Jordyn Woods Stars in Pop Smoke’s Posthumous Video for ‘Mood Swings’”, in Vulture

(music) A video accompanying a song, usually simpler than a typical music video, intended to be a visual representation of the song.


con moto

(music) A tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played "with motion"


con moto

(music) describing a passage having this mark


atonality

en-noun

atonality (countable and uncountable, plural atonalities)

(uncountable, music) A style of music that is written without a key.

(countable, music) A passage written without a key.


walk-up

Deverbal from walk up; (northern flicker): imitative of the bird's call.

(music, especially bass) A harmonic line that raises in pitch stepwise, typically connecting two or more chords.


metronome

/ˈmɛtɹəˌnəʊm/

Coined in English from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure”) + νόμος (nómos, “regulation, law”).

der

(music) A device, containing an inverted pendulum, used to mark time by means of regular ticks at adjustable intervals; an electronic equivalent that emits flashes.


spear carrier

[A]ctors would get annual raises through 2008, when even the lowliest spear carrier will make more than $1,500 a week for being on Broadway.

2004 July 15, Jesse McKinley, “Close Call On Broadway Had Its Roots On the Road”, in New York Times, retrieved 2014-03-19

(acting) A person in a play or movie with a minimal part; an extra.


staging

en-noun

staging (countable and uncountable, plural stagings)

The 1984 premiere production (and, judging from a few reviews, the subsequent stagings) was much more solemn.

1988 April 15, S.L. Wisenberg, “On Stage: cartoon characters in a drama of death”, in Chicago Reader


intermezzo

intermezzo (plural intermezzos or intermezzi)

intermezzos (plural)
intermezzi (plural)

She had ample time, too, to change for the next scene, which started with a longish intermezzo staged by a ballet company whose services Scotty had engaged [...].

1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin, published 2011, page 8

(music, art) A short piece of music or act in the interval of the main spectacle; a theatrical interlude.


washtub bass

(music) A stringed instrument (chordophone), used in American folk music, that uses a metal washtub as resonator.


percussion instrument

percussion instrument (plural percussion instruments)

(music) An instrument in which the sound is produced by striking, scraping or shaking an object.


washboard

percussion instrument
percussion instrument

(music) Such a board used as a simple percussion instrument.


motivo

Borrowed from Italian motivo. Doublet of motif and motive.

By the repetition, transposition, inversion, and combination of different motivos, the extended series of sounds is formed[…]

1853, Adolf Bernhard Marx, The universal school of music, translated by A. H. Wehrhan, page 165


rasgueado

rasgueado (countable and uncountable, plural rasgueados)

For quotations using this term, see Citations:rasgueo.

(music) A rhythmical strumming technique commonly associated with flamenco guitar music.


rasgueo

rasgueo (countable and uncountable, plural rasgueos)

From Andalusian Spanish rasgueo, regional form of rasgueado, from the verb rasguear (“strum”). Attested in English from the 20th century (see quotations below).

The prominent rhythm is ♩♫♩, with the first note receiving stress through an agogic or dynamic accent, by being arpeggiated rapidly, or with an upward movement of the rasgueo.

1981, Robert Edwin Fogal, Traditional Music and the Middle Class: A Case Study of Mercedes, Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dissertation, Indiana University, page 189

There’s no denying that flamenco guitar with its machine-gun speed picking riffs and dizzying helicopter-like ‘rasgueo’ hand strums is physically punishing.

2011 March 14, Ciaran Giles, “Spaniards eat up Cdn guitarist; Flamenco guitar traditionally an area dominated by men”, in Trail Times, Trail, British Columbia, page 8

His technique on the instrument mainly consists of medium-tempo strums and is somewhat rudimentary—compared to the virtuosic rasgueos of Los Sumac Huaynas’ Chocni López (briefly discussed in Chapter 3)

2020, Fernando Rios, Panpipes and Ponchos : Musical Folklorization and the Rise of the Andean Conjunto Tradition in la Paz, Bolivia, page 157

There are several factors that contribute to the variety of options open to the guitar player when dealing with rasgueo. If a chord is held down by the left hand, the attack will sound differently depending on whether the fingers on the right hand thrust down, aided by gravity and the extension of the fingers, or are drawn up across the strings in a gripping action.

2021, Robin Foggo, “Flamenco: Musical Structure and the Practice of Improvisation”, in Musicologist, volume 5, →DOI, page 54

(music, uncountable) A strumming technique associated with flamenco guitar playing; rasgueado.

On a larger structural level, there are semi-independent musical units or blocks, which, when placed within a compás and assembled, create a piece. These components include rasgueos (here I refer to the structural unit, which is comprised of the technique mentioned above), falsetas, llamadas (Eng. call), cierres and remates.

2021, Robin Foggo, “Flamenco: Musical Structure and the Practice of Improvisation”, in Musicologist, volume 5, →DOI, page 57

(music) A passage within a song featuring guitar played with the technique.


Guffmanesque

en-adj

Guffmanesque (comparative more Guffmanesque, superlative most Guffmanesque)

more Guffmanesque (comparative)
most Guffmanesque (superlative)

From the name of the producer in the 1995 mockumentary Waiting for Guffman, + -esque.

(theater, of a production, mildly derogatory) amateurish or mawkish, but believed worthy of critical praise by its participants


diddle

en-noun

diddle (countable and uncountable, plural diddles)

From dialectal duddle (“to trick”) (16th century), and diddle, duddle (“to totter”) (17th century), perhaps dissimilated from dialectal didder, dither (“to shake, tremble”), from Middle English dideren (“to shake, quiver, tremble”) and Middle English bididren (“to seduce, deceive”), from Old English bedidrian, bedyderian (“to trick, deceive”). Compare also Saterland Frisian diedelje (“to play or sing without a melody”), Dutch bedodden, bedotten (“to trick, fool, diddle”), German Low German Diedeldentjes (“pranks, pranking”). Possibly influenced or reinforced by the name (which itself was probably chosen as an allusion to duddle) of the swindling character Jeremy Diddler in Kenney's Raising the Wind (1803).
Meaning "to have sex with" is from the 19th century; "to masturbate" is from the 1950s. Compare dildo.

cog

(music, countable) In percussion, two consecutive notes played by the same hand (either RR or LL), similar to the drag, except that by convention diddles are played the same speed as the context in which they are placed.


trillo

en-noun

trillo (plural trillos or trilloes or trilli)

trillos (plural)
trilloes (plural)
trilli (plural)


naker

From Old French nacaire, nacre (cognate with Italian nacchera, mediaeval Latin nacara), from Arabic نَقَّارَة (naqqāra, “drum”).

the Norman trumpets from the battlements […], mingled with the deep and hollow clang of the nakers, (a species of kettle-drum,) retorted in notes of defiance the challenge of the enemy.

(music) A small drum, of Arabic origin, and the forebear of the European kettledrum.


curtal

From older French courtault (modern French courtaud), from court (“short”) + -ault (pejorative suffix).


monophonic

Coordinate term: polyphonic

Near-synonym: monodic

(music) Having a single melodic line and no harmony.

yksiääninen

having a single melodic line and no harmony


off-key

en-adj

off-key (comparative more off-key, superlative most off-key)

more off-key (comparative)
most off-key (superlative)

(music) Pitched inaccurately either above or below the correct note.


double A-side

(music) A record, released as a single, with an album track on each side, rather than having a B-side.


polytonality

en-noun

polytonality (countable and uncountable, plural polytonalities)

(music) The use of multiple keys in the same composition, especially by multiple instruments at the same time

polyvalence

use of more than one harmonic function in one key


sul ponticello

(music, chiefly violin) Bowed near the bridge for the duration of a passage


senza sordino

(music) Without the mute. Specifically for the piano: with the sustain pedal.


poco a poco

Crescendo poco a poco – gradually getting louder.


hornpipe

From Middle English hornpipe, hornpype, hornepipe, equivalent to horn + pipe; so called because the bell at the open end was sometimes made of horn.

(music) A musical instrument consisting of a wooden pipe, with holes at intervals.


one-shot

Loops automatically conform to a project's tempo; one-shots ignore the tempo and maintain a fixed duration. One-shots are files, such as a percussion hit or a sound effect, that are not intended to be looped.

2010, Mary Plummer, Apple Training Series: GarageBand 09

Loops contain rhythmic patterns that sound designers can extend to fill any amount of time, while one-shots contain sound effects and other non-repeating sounds.

2016, Dave Collins, The Act of Musical Composition: Studies in the Creative Process

(music) A music sample that is played without immediate repetition.


postindustrial

en-adj

postindustrial (comparative more postindustrial, superlative most postindustrial)

more postindustrial (comparative)
most postindustrial (superlative)

(music) Of or relating to a genre of music derived from industrial music but with electronic and rock influences.


postlude

From post- + Latin lūdus (“play”) (modelled on prelude).

(music) The final part of a piece; especially music played (normally on the organ) at the end of a church service.


arrhythmic

arrhythmic (comparative more arrhythmic, superlative most arrhythmic)

more arrhythmic (comparative)
most arrhythmic (superlative)

Could there have been a more fatuous and arrhythmic and unmemorable conclusion to what had been, after all, my analysis, my only analysis?

1998 August 17, Adam Gopnik, “Man Goes To See a Doctor”, in The New Yorker


clavier

Borrowed from French clavier (“keyboard”), from Latin clavis (“key”).

[…]play certain of the stops in octaves to each other, while merely touching single notes on the clavier

1870, A Description of the Grand Organ in the Town Hall, Leeds

(music) The keyboard of an organ, pianoforte, or harmonium.


broken chord

(music) A chord whose notes are played in sequential descending or ascending order


RAC

rock against communism
rock against communism#English

(music) Initialism of rock against communism, a subgenre of hardcore punk associated with neo-nazism.


woodwinds

(music) The woodwind instruments of an orchestra collectively


woodblock

(music) A percussion instrument consisting of a hollow block of wood struck with a drumstick.


woodshed

en-verb

woodshed (third-person singular simple present woodsheds, present participle woodshedding, simple past and past participle woodshedded)

woodsheds (present singular third-person)
woodshedding (participle present)
woodshedded (participle past)
woodshedded (past)

His latest novel sheds light on an émigré writer’s woodshedding period.

2007 July 23, “A Free Life”, in Publishers Weekly

(slang, music) To practice or rehearse using a musical instrument.


two-step

(music) A piece of music for this dance.


bouzouki

From Greek μπουζούκι (bouzoúki, “bouzouki”), from Turkish bozuk (“out of order, rotten”). Doublet of buzuq.

The bouzouki itself, identified by this time almost equally with a ‘Turkish’ past and with the criminality of the underworld that cultivated it, became a symbol of subversion in the eyes of the authorities.

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

(music) A Greek long-necked plucked fretted lute with a sharp, metallic sound.


barcarole

/ˈbɑːkəɹəʊl/

/ˌbɑːkəˈɹəʊl/

/ˈbɑɹkəˌɹoʊl/

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

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

der

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


alla marcia

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


alla marcia

(music) describing a passage having this mark


deckhand

Sometimes actors set props on the spikes, or sometimes a deckhand will do it, depending on the action of the play.

2020, John Ramsey Holloway, Zachary Stribling, Illustrated Theatre Production Guide, page 15


romancer

Barbara Cartland scratched out this trusty 19th-century romancer concerning the scrumptious Serena Staverly (Diana Rigg), who has the dreadful misfortune to be lost in a game of cards to the flint-hearted Lord Justin.

1989 March 6, The Sydney Morning Herald, page 8S, column 1

(entertainment industry) A romantic film or television show.


antiphonal

The antiphonal hymn was sung regularly at church.

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

ainteafanúil

characterized by antiphones or antiphony


arpeggiate

en-verb

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

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

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

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

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

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


halftone

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


cantus

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


minor third

Coordinate term: major third

Alternative form: (abbreviation) m3

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


major third

Alternative form: (abbreviation) M3

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


diatonic scale

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


barbershop

en-noun

barbershop (countable and uncountable, plural barbershops)

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


billing

billing (countable and uncountable, plural billings)

Actors that may have higher status in the industry won't always get top billing: if they only played a bitpart then it would go to the person whose character was the main focus of the movie.

When Corbyn finally gave a speech – in a stunning piece of billing that could only happen at Glastonbury, he appeared between hip-hop duo Run the Jewels and Southampton’s foremost R&B loverman Craig David – the crowd brought the entire area around the Pyramid stage to a standstill

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

(chiefly film, theater) The act or situation of including someone or something among those that make up a complete list.


foliated

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


trip hop

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

blend

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

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

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


Fab Four

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

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


Benedictus

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

bor

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


segno

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

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


viola da gamba

en-noun

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

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

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


sotto voce

/ˌsɒtəʊ ˈvəʊtʃeɪ/

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


sotto voce

/ˌsɒtəʊ ˈvəʊtʃeɪ/

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


sotto voce

/ˌsɒtəʊ ˈvəʊtʃeɪ/

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


presa

From Italian presa (“capture, seizure”).

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


symphony orchestra

en-noun

symphony orchestra (plural symphony orchestras)

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


custos

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


parlando

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


passaggio

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


countermelody

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


rubato

rubato (countable and uncountable, plural rubatos or rubati)

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

bor+

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

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

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


lead vocals

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


backup vocals

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

(music) The people who sing these vocals


lead vocalist

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


backup vocalist

en-noun

backup vocalist (plural backup vocalists)

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


vocals

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


four-on-the-floor

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


extemporise

en-verb

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

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

(transitive, music) To compose extemporaneously or improvise.


bagatelle

en-noun

bagatelle (countable and uncountable, plural bagatelles)

Borrowed from French bagatelle, from Italian bagattella.

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

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

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


harmonics

(physics, music) The science of musical sounds


triplex

triplex (countable and uncountable, plural triplexes)

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


spinto

From Italian spinto (literally “pushed”).

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


concert bass drum

concert bass drum (plural concert bass drums)

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


shouter

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

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

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

(music) A song performed in this manner.


lime

lime (countable and uncountable, plural limes)

From Middle English lyme, lym, lime, from Old English līm, from Proto-West Germanic *līm, from Proto-Germanic *līmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂leyH- (“to smear”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Liem (“glue”), Dutch lijm, German Leim (“glue”), Danish lim (from Old Norse lím), Latin limus (“mud”).

der

Sellers moved on until he was actually trusted to operate the limes, the spotlights that can make or destroy an artist's act.

1980, Peter Evans, Peter Sellers: The Mask Behind the Mask, page 30

Then out of the blue, a spotlight much like the “limes” in a theatre, lit up what seemed like a Punch and Judy tent […] He struggled even more, when from out of the shadows and into the bright light of the limes, stepped Uncle Jolly.

2018, Robert Charles Hines, Twists and Turns: 13 Tales of the Uneasy, page 121


DI

en-noun

DI (countable and uncountable, plural DIs)

DI unit

recorded with a DI


fingerboard

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


rocksteady

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


rock steady

(music) Alternative spelling of rocksteady


roadhouse

/ˈɹəʊdˌhaʊs/


filmi

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


roundelay

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

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

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

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

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

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


bandmaster

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


humbucker

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

affix

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


crotalo

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


Flying V

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


Stratocaster

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

(music) A popular electric guitar manufactured by Fender.


treble C

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


treble staff

en-noun

treble staff (plural treble staffs or treble staves)

treble staffs (plural)
treble staves (plural)

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


high C

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


bass staff

bass staff (plural bass staffs or bass staves)

bass staffs (plural)
bass staves (plural)

(music) a staff which starts with a bass clef


grand staff

grand staff (plural grand staffs or grand staves)

grand staffs (plural)
grand staves (plural)

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


low C

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


bass C

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


reed stop

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


middle C

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

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

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


diviso

Borrowed from Italian diviso (literally “divided”).

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


sectional

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

parcial

(music) rehearsal of part of an orchestra or band


F clef

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

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


bass clef

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


hautboy

desctree

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

From Middle French hautbois. Doublet of oboe and hautbois.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


foot-tapping

en-adj

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

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

(music) Having an insistent rhythm; catchy


hunting horn

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


tertian

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

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


crotalum

/ˈkɹəʊtələm/

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

uder

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

crótalo

a kind of clapper or castanet used in Ancient Greece


castanet

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

der

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


concinnity

en-noun

concinnity (countable and uncountable, plural concinnities)

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

uder

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

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

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


chalumeau

en-noun

chalumeau (plural chalumeaus or chalumeaux)

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

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

chalumeau

woodwind instrument preceding the clarinet


death metal

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


sextuple

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


jam session

→ Portuguese: jam session

→ Spanish: jam session

→ Polish: jam session

Coordinate term: (folk music) hootenanny

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

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

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


schisma

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

der

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


screamo

Audio (US)

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

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

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


schismatic

[ʃɪzˈmæɾ.ɪk]

[ʃɪzˈmæɾ.ɪk]

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


unplugged

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


electro

en-noun

electro (countable and uncountable, plural electros)

/ɪˈlɛk.tɹəʊ/

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


Motown

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

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

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


title track

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

nimiraita

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


prolation

prolation (countable and uncountable, plural prolations)

/pɹəʊˈleɪʃən/

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

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


alternative rock

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

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

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


reload

en-verb

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


veloce

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


cadenced

en-adj

cadenced (comparative more cadenced, superlative most cadenced)

more cadenced (comparative)
most cadenced (superlative)

(music) Having a regular, rhythmic cadence.


flageolet

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

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


callback

(theater) A follow-up audition in casting.

When the album succeeds, such as on the swaggering, Queen-esque “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us,” it does so on The Darkness’ own terms—that is, as a random ’80s-cliché generator. But with so many tired, lazy callbacks to its own threadbare catalog (including “Love Is Not The Answer,” a watery echo of the epic “I Believe In A Thing Called Love” from 2003’s Permission To Land), Hot Cakes marks the point where The Darkness has stopped cannibalizing the golden age of stadium rock and simply started cannibalizing itself. And, despite Hawkins’ inveterate crotch-grabbing, there was never that much meat there to begin with.

2012 August 21, Jason Heller, “The Darkness: Hot Cakes (Music Review)”, in The Onion AV Club

(comedy) A joke which references an earlier joke in the same routine.


c-note

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

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


neo soul

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

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

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


synthpop

Coordinate term: electropop

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

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

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

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

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


overtone

From over- + tone, calque of German Oberton.

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


infinito

Borrowed from Italian. Doublet of infinite.

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


minimalism

en-noun

minimalism (countable and uncountable, plural minimalisms)

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


semplice

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


ensalada

Borrowed from Spanish ensalada. Doublet of salad.

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


industrialist

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

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

(music) One who performs or enjoys industrial music.


soliloquize

en-verb

soliloquize (third-person singular simple present soliloquizes, present participle soliloquizing, simple past and past participle soliloquized)

soliloquizes (present singular third-person)
soliloquizing (participle present)
soliloquized (participle past)
soliloquized (past)

(intransitive, drama) Of a character: to perform a soliloquy, to talk to oneself.


Shepard scale

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


Shepard tone

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


handbell

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

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

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

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


megamix

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

mégamix

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


ossia

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


remix

→ French: remix

→ Japanese: リミックス (rimikkusu)

→ Portuguese: remix

→ Spanish: remix

→ Turkish: remiks, remix

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

ريمكس

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


remix

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

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

(music, intransitive) To create a remix.

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


ottavino

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


pan

→? Irish: panna

→ Japanese: パン

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

pan

flat vessel used for cooking — see also frying pan

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

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


shout-out

en-noun

shout-out (plural shouts-out or shout-outs)

(entertainment) An unscripted mention of the name of a viewer or audience member when on stage, television, etc.


chordal

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

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

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

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


affettuoso

en-adv

affettuoso (comparative more affettuoso, superlative most affettuoso)

more affettuoso (comparative)
most affettuoso (superlative)

Borrowed from Italian affettuoso. Doublet of affectuous.

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


plagal cadence

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

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

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


overactor

/ˌoʊvɚˈæktɚ/

/ˌəʊvəɹˈæktə/


overact

en-verb

overact (third-person singular simple present overacts, present participle overacting, simple past and past participle overacted)

overacts (present singular third-person)
overacting (participle present)
overacted (participle past)
overacted (past)

/ˌəʊvəɹˈækt/

He overacted his part.

(acting) To act in an exaggerated manner.


beatdown

en-noun

beatdown (countable and uncountable, plural beatdowns)

Deverbal from beat down; influenced by earlier throwdown.

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


in time

behind time

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

late

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


attacco

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


final curtain

(theater) The last time the curtain is lowered, after a performance and any curtain calls.

esiripun laskeminen

(theatre) the last time the curtain is lowered


pitchy

en-adj

pitchy (comparative pitchier, superlative pitchiest)

pitchier (comparative)
pitchiest (superlative)

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

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


snoot

From Scots snoot, snout (“snout”), from Middle English snowte, from Middle Dutch snute; ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *snūt, from Proto-Germanic *snūtaz. Doublet of snout.

Snoots have traditionally been round in shape when attached to studio strobes, but with flash photography, they have taken on a more rectangular shape because the flash heads are rectangular.

2014 December 26, Alyn Stafford, Flash Techniques for Location Portraiture: Single and Multiple-Flash Lighting Techniques, Amherst Media, page 36

(theater, photography) A cylindrical or conical attachment used on a spotlight to restrict spill light.

veitsi

theater: cylindrical or conical attachment on a spotlight


snoot

en-verb

snoot (third-person singular simple present snoots, present participle snooting, simple past and past participle snooted)

snoots (present singular third-person)
snooting (participle present)
snooted (participle past)
snooted (past)

Which might mean shaping it, gelling it, snooting it, barn dooring it, and putting it on a stand or a clamp. Maybe taking the dome diffuser off. Perhaps zooming it. Oh my. And you thought you were just taking a picture.

(transitive, theater, photography) To apply a snoot attachment to (a light).


pop rock

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

poproko

genre combining pop music and rock music


anticipation

en-noun

anticipation (countable and uncountable, plural anticipations)

From Middle English anticipacioun, from Latin anticipātiō, anticipātiōnem.

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


hard rock

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


OP

OP (countable and uncountable, plural OPs)

(theater) Initialism of opposite prompt; stage right.


OP

(Internet, music) Initialism of overplayed.


quodlibet

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

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


boogaloo

boogaloo (countable and uncountable, plural boogaloos)

/ˈbuːɡəˌluː/

/ˌbuːɡəˈluː/

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

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

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

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

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

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


sestina

From Italian sestina. Doublet of sextain.

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


belting

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

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

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

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

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

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


eighth note

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


quads

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


solfeggio

solfeggio (countable and uncountable, plural solfeggios or solfeggi)

Borrowed from Italian solfeggio. Doublet of solfège.


concertmaster

head

concertmaster (plural concertmasters, feminine concertmistress)

concertmasters (plural)
concertmistress (feminine)

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

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

канцэртма́йстар

the first violin in a symphony orchestra


solfège

en-noun

solfège (usually uncountable, plural solfèges)

Borrowed from French solfège. Doublet of solfeggio.

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

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

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


headshell

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


punker

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

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

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

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

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

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


flattop

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

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


guiro

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

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

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

刮瓜

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

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


traverso

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

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

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

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


rhythm stick

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

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


puntilla

puntilla (countable and uncountable, plural puntillas)

Borrowed from Spanish puntilla. Doublet of pointelle.

(countable, bullfighting) The small dagger for administering the coup de grâce to the bull.


polyvalence

polyvalence (countable and uncountable, plural polyvalences)

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


zhu

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

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


forestage

en-verb

forestage (third-person singular simple present forestages, present participle forestaging, simple past and past participle forestaged)

forestages (present singular third-person)
forestaging (participle present)
forestaged (participle past)
forestaged (past)

From Middle English forstage, equivalent to fore- + stage.

There is subtle thought, even profound thought, not so much in the working out of the plots as in the selection and forestaging of such humorous situations as make the plots work themselves out.

1925, O. Henry, Works - Volume 13, page xxiii

Yet, despite the invocation of cultural practices in images, the facade setting preventing the spectators' attention from wandering to an outside environment, prevented spectators from seeing the action as a natural aspect of a total environment by forestaging the action as a construct in response to particular situations.

1991, Susan Lisbeth Chast, Ellen Stewart and La Mama: A Study of Theatrical Spaces

(theater) To block so that someone or something appears in the forestage.


bis key

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


Floydian

en-adj

Floydian (comparative more Floydian, superlative most Floydian)

more Floydian (comparative)
most Floydian (superlative)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


capriccio

en-noun

capriccio (plural capriccios or capricci)

/kəˈpɹiːt͡ʃoʊ/

Borrowed from Italian capriccio. Doublet of caprice.

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


HIP

historically informed performance
w:historically informed performance

(music) Acronym of historically informed performance.


andantino

en-adv

andantino (comparative more andantino, superlative most andantino)

more andantino (comparative)
most andantino (superlative)

From Italian andantino, the diminutive of andante.

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


ruan

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

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


blinder

When the 'blinders' are switched off, and the audience's eyes given time to re-adjust, the new scene is in place […]

(theater) A bright light used to blind the audience temporarily during a scene change.


contra-octave

(music) The octave directly below the great octave.


great octave

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


xun

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

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


courante

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

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


qin

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

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

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

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

2006, Dana Standridge, Lessons in Essence: A Novel

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

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

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


LH

en-noun

LH (countable and uncountable, plural LHs)

(music, knitting) Initialism of left hand.


vigoroso

Borrowed from Italian vigoroso. Doublet of vigorous.

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


vigoroso

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


yue

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

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


bird's-eye

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

(music, colloquial) A fermata (notation).


gusli

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


nai

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


kantele

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

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

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

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


cold wave

cold wave (countable and uncountable, plural cold waves)

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

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

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


tin whistle

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


Cantopop

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

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

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


ney

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

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


grandioso

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

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


grandioso

en-adv

grandioso (comparative more grandioso, superlative most grandioso)

more grandioso (comparative)
most grandioso (superlative)


grandioso

(music) describing a passage having this mark


homophony

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


ophicleide

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

affix

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


pyknon

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

der

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


octobass

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


bluesy

en-adj

bluesy (comparative bluesier, superlative bluesiest)

bluesier (comparative)
bluesiest (superlative)

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

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

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


page-turner

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

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

tourneur de pages

person who turns another musician's pages


aeolian harp

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

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

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


bandoneon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


sound box

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

резонатор

resonant chamber of a stringed musical instrument


mandola

From Italian mandola. Doublet of pandura.

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


rebab

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

A last cricket scratched mournfully at its rebab.

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

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


strophic

strophic (comparative more strophic, superlative most strophic)

more strophic (comparative)
most strophic (superlative)

through-composed

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

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


galliard

en-noun

galliard (countable and uncountable, plural galliards)

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


sing along

en-verb

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

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

If you know the song, sing along with me!

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


tasto

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


fallboard

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


grupetto

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


drawbar

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


sideman

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


falloff

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

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

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


one-percenter

one + percent + -er. After Thomas Edison: "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." The motorcycling sense comes from a supposed 1948 statement by the American Motorcycle Association that 99% of motorcyclists are good people enjoying a clean sport, and it is only 1% who are antisocial.

(comedy) An esoteric joke which is unlikely to be appreciated by a general audience.


fill-in

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

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

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

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

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


grand piano

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


top 40

en-noun

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

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

Coordinate term: CHR

I was listening to a top 40 radio station.

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

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

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


stage whisper

'[…]When the division was announced, he chuckled exceedingly, and in a stage whisper exclaimed, "Grey is check-mated !" '

1869, “Lives of Lord Lyndhurst and Lord Brougham”, in The Edinburgh Review, volume CXXIX, pages 568–569

Near to the audience the stage whisper was not much louder, although more distinct, than an ordinary whisper in private life.

1887, Sir Frederick Pollock, Personal Remembrances of Sir Frederick Pollock, page 248

Perhaps because of this, the convention of the 'stage whisper' came into being. All that distinguishes it from the true whisper is that a very little amount of voice in introduced and so what you end up with is extremely breathy voice production[…]

1998, Michael McCallion, The Voice Book, page 189

"Pretty legs," said Rebo in a stage whisper as Peter slowed down.

2001, Shelley Freydont, High Seas Murder, page 326

(theater) A line that is performed on stage as if it were whispered, but is spoken loud enough that the audience can hear.


stage whisper

en-verb

stage whisper (third-person singular simple present stage whispers, present participle stage whispering, simple past and past participle stage whispered)

stage whispers (present singular third-person)
stage whispering (participle present)
stage whispered (participle past)
stage whispered (past)

The duet was embellished with stage-whispered solos [...]

1878, Things in General, volume 2, p. 132

“The captain's voice, by G–!” said the stage-whispering ruffian, and both robbers fled by the way of the back door, shutting off their bull's-eye as they ran.

1883, Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, chapter 31 "A Thumb-print and What Came of It"

Into this melodrama stepped the American defence secretary, Leon Panetta. He stopped in both countries, urged both sides to get along better and affirmed America’s pledge of mutual defence with Japan—though an unnamed senior American military official stage-whispered to the Washington Post that America wouldn’t go to war “over a rock”.

2012 September 22, “East Asian rivalry: protesting too much”, in The Economist

There is some evidence to suggest that in whispered speech, particularly stage whispered speech, the larynx is raised appreciably.


probationer

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


fioritura

/fjɒɹɪˈtjuːɹə/

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

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

(music) A musical embellishment or ornamentation.


dumb show

en-noun

dumb show (countable and uncountable, plural dumb shows)

The expression “literary and artistic works” shall include every production in the literary, scientific and artistic domain, whatever may be the mode or form of its expression, such as books, pamphlets and other writings; lectures, addresses, sermons and other works of the same nature; dramatic or dramaticomusical works; choreographic works and entertainments in dumb show; […]

1977, Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Berne Convection), Article 2http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Convention_for_the_Protection_of_Literary_and_Artistic_Works/Articles_1_to_21

(theater) A performance during which the players do not speak; mime.


chordophone

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

cordòfon

chordophone — see also stringed instrument


round robin

/ˌɹaʊnd ˈɹɒbɪn/

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

der

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

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

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

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


pulsatile

en-adj

pulsatile (comparative more pulsatile, superlative most pulsatile)

more pulsatile (comparative)
most pulsatile (superlative)

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

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


big break

The East London Line gained a connection to the Jubilee Line Extension when a new station was added at Canada Water in 1999, but its big break came in 2010, when it was incorporated into the London Overground, a network that rehabilitates some dowdy and obscure suburban lines (most particularly the old North London Railway) to create an orbital railway for the capital.

2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, page 93

(entertainment, idiomatic) A breakthrough, especially the first big hit of a previously unknown performer or performers in the entertainment industry.

läpimurto

(entertainment) A breakthrough, especially the first big hit of a previously unknown performer or performers


modal scale

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


ghost band

(entertainment) Impersonators of a well-known musical band hired to perform while the real band members are elsewhere.


suona

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

zh-l

嗩吶／唢呐 (suǒnà)

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


volti

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


saltato

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