Glossary of
Music Terminology

Here is a very simple glossary of music terminology, with terms used in this website with reference to viola and string playing.

Musical terms and often taken for granted and non specialized music lovers (and even specialized ones!) may find them very obscure and hard to understand.

Many of these terms are in Italian because Italian music dominated all over Europe since medieval times so the Italian terminology remained in use by most composers.

I hope these simple definitions help you enjoy music, and if you find any music terms that you would like to see explained, just ask!

Beautiful gifts for musicians and music lovers, some free

aria

arpeggio

cadenza - with videos

cantabile

chord

concerto

crescendo

drone

folk music

harmonics 

key

octave

pizzicato

recitative - recitativo

rondò

scordatura

score

sinfonia

sinfonia concertante

sonata

suite

virtuoso

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