Guest Author - Michelle Taylor

For those of you interested in reading music, as well as listening to it, here’s a list of notations, words, and symbols used in music. It is interesting to note that most musical terminology is written in Italian, with German taking second place. A very few terms are in French or Latin as well.

A cappella: without instrumental accompaniment.
Adagio: slow.
Allegro: fast.
A tempo: return to even tempo.
Crescendo: cresc. increase in volume.
Decrescendo or Diminuendo: decresc. or dim. decrease in volume.
Dolce: sweetly.
Forte: f loud.
Fortissimo: ff very loud (note: the symbol fff is not an official symbol, and is referred to in several different ways, denots extreme volume. Some names used are fortississimo, forte fortissimo, and triple forte.)
Glissando: to glide or slide between notes.
Largo: broadly, slowly.
Legato: smoothly.
Marcato: stressed or pronounced.
Measure: the amount of a written music piece that contains the full amount of beats the time signature calls for.
Meter: the pattern of rhythm.
Mezzoforte: mf medium loud.
Mezzopiano: mp medium soft.
Molto: “a lot” to change quickly.
Perdendo: fading away, losing volume intentionally.
Pianissimo: pp very soft (note: the symbol ppp is not an official symbol, and has several different names, designates extreme quiet. Some names used are pianississimo, piano pianissimo, and triple piano.)
Piano: p soft.
Poco a poco: “little by little” to change gradually.
Primo or prima: first or foremost.
Rallentando: Rall. progressively slower, more stately.
Ritardando: Ritard. or Rit. to gradually slow down.
Sotto Voce: in an undertone.
Staccato: to hit notes quickly and shortly.
Stanza: a verse of a song.
Tempo: the overall speed of a piece, “tempo” is normally followed by a qualifying word that denoted the speed the song should take.
Tempo Prima or Tempo 1: refers to returning to the original speed of a song, after a change has been made.
Tremolo: the quick repetition of the same, or two repeating, notes.
Time Signature: (also known as the meter signature) The upper number denotes how many beats should be played in a measure, and the lower number shows which note should receive the whole beat. For example: 3/4 time translates into 3 beats per measure, with the quarter note receiving the full beat. 6/8 time translates into 6 beats per measure, with the 8th note getting the full beat.
Vibrato: Vibrating, differs from tremolo in that. vibrato vibrates between different pitches of the same note, whereas tremolo means playing the same note rapidly.