 | 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 |
