| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Forte (f) | loud |
| Piano (p) | soft |
| Mezzo Piano (mp) | medium soft |
| Mezzo Forte (mf) | medium loud |
| Fortissimo (FF) | very loud |
| Pianissimo (pp) | very soft |
| Crescendo (< or cres.) | gradually get louder |
| Descendo (> or desc.) | gradually get softer |
| Ritardando (rit.) | slower |
| Muriendo (mur.) | die away (softer and slower) |
| Accelerando (accel.) | speed up |
| Piu mosso | faster |
| Rubato | no marked tempo, free expression of player |
| Tempo | speed (pace) of a piece of music |
| Prestissimo | Extremely fast |
| Presto | Very fast |
| Vivace | lively and fast |
| Allegro | fast and bright |
| Moderato | moderatly |
| Andante | walking speed (not fast) |
| Adagio | slow and stately |
| Grave | slow and solemn |
| Largo | very slow |
| Con | with |
| Molto | very |
| Poco | a little |
| meno | less |
| poco a poco | little by little |
| Rush | unintentional speeding up |
| Drag | unintentional slowing down |
| a tempo | return to base tempo |
| Time signature | refers to number of beats in measure and what note recieves one beat |
| D.S. al fine | return to the coda and play to the end |
| D.S. al coda | return to a place in the music designated by the coda and continue until directed to move to the coda, a separate ending section |
| Coda | sign taking the form of an slashed "s" with a dot on either side |
| Repeat sign | a double line with two dots, return to either the beginning of the piece or another repeat sign |
| End sign | a double line at the end of a piece |
| Treble Clef | When the note G is placed on the second line of the staff |
| Bass Clef | When the note F is placed on the fourth line of the staff |
| 8va | play note an octave above as written |
| Tie | play two tied notes as one unboken note |
| slur | play notes within slur without seperation |
Combine with other sets
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