Terms of Musical Expression
The links below provide more terms, including Italian, French and German, all needed to pass the theory exams.
Alphabetised by 'Musical Term'
English | Symbol | Musical Term | Language |
|---|---|---|---|
Up bow | Performance Direction | ||
accent (placed over or under a note) | Performance Direction | ||
play an octave lower | Performance Direction | ||
pause on the note | Performance Direction | ||
Press down / release the damper pedal | Performance Direction | ||
repeat marks – at the sign go back to the beginning | Performance Direction | ||
Performance Direction | |||
slur (joining two different notes) | Performance Direction | ||
play an octave higher | Performance Direction | ||
Down bow | Performance Direction | ||
72 crochet beats in a minute | Performance Direction | ||
repeat marks – at the second sign go back to the first sign and repeat the music from there | Performance Direction | ||
Performance Direction | |||
spread the notes of the chord quickly starting from the bottom | Performance Direction | ||
very loud | fortissimo | Italian | |
moderately loud | mezzo forte | Italian | |
moderately quiet | mezzo piano | Italian | |
very quiet | pianissimo | Italian | |
octave | 8va | Performance Direction | |
Soft pedal, or Muting pedal, also called una corde. Normally three strings are used per note. When the soft pedal is pressed, the whole keyboard is shifted along so that hammers on strike two strings in the upper register and one string in the lower register | Left pedal | Performance Direction | |
Sostenuto pedal (not fitted to all pianos). Depressing the pedal dampens only the notes that have been struck | Middle pedal | Performance Direction | |
Damper pedal. When pressed, felts are lifted off the piano strings to allow the sound to be sustained. | Right pedal | Performance Direction | |
Sostenuto Pedal – hold the sustain pedal down for the notes indicated by the line | S.P._______ | Performance Direction | |
three strings, release the soft pedal | Tre corde | Italian | |
one string, depress the soft pedal | Una corde | Italian | |
gradually getting quicker | accelerando | Italian | |
slow | adagio | Italian | |
fairly quick (but not as quick as allegro) | allegretto | Italian | |
quick | allegro | Italian | |
at a medium (walking) speed | andante | Italian | |
bowed | arco | Italian | |
in a singing style | cantabile | Italian | |
with mute | con sordini / con sord. | Italian | |
gradually getting louder | crescendo | Italian | |
repeat from the beginning | da capo | Italian | |
repeat from the sign | dal segno | Italian | |
gradually getting quieter | decrescendo | Italian | |
gradually getting quieter | diminuendo | Italian | |
the end | fine | Italian | |
loud | forte | Italian | |
smoothly | legato | Italian | |
a slur shows that the notes are to be played in a single bow stroke | legato | Italian | |
slow | lento | Italian | |
hand (mano sinistra, m.s. - left handed; mano destra, m.d. - right handed; also used for the harp) | mano | Italian | |
half | mezzo | Italian | |
moderately | moderato | Italian | |
soft | piano | Italian | |
plucked | pizzicato | Italian | |
a little | poco | Italian | |
gradually getting slower | rallentando | Italian | |
gradually getting slower | ritardando | Italian | |
held back | ritenuto | Italian | |
without mute | senza sordini / senza sord. | Italian | |
detached | staccato | Italian | |
play on the A string | sul A | Italian | |
play on the D string | sul D | Italian | |
play on the E string | sul E | Italian | |
play on the G string | sul G | Italian | |
play near the bridge | sul ponticello | Italian | |
speed, time (a tempo: in time) | tempo | Italian |