P
P	Pacato	Calm; quiet.
	Partita	Another word for suite
	Passion	The 4 accounts of the suffering and death of Christ (from the Gospel)
	Pastorale	A musical expression of a genre familiar in European literature from Hellenistic times or earlier; suggesting a rural idyll
	Pausa	A rest.
	Pavan	A stately duple metre dance of the 16th and early 17th centuries.
	Pensieroso	Contemplative; thoughtful.
	Pesante	Heavy.
	Petite	Little.
	Peu a peu	Little by little.
	Pianissimo	Very soft.
	Pianississimo	Very, very soft; the softest common dynamic marking.
	Pitch	The pitch of a note is the frequency of its vibrations.
	Piu	More; e.g. piu mosso - more motion.
	Pizzicato	Pinched; plucking the strings of an instrument.
	Plainchant	The traditional monodic chant of the Catholic and Eastern Christian liturgies.
	Poco	Little; e.g. poco accel., poco a poco - little by little.
	Poi	Then or afterwards
	Polacca	In the Polish manner
	Polka	A Bohemian dance
	Polonaise	A Polish dance in triple metre
	Polyphony	The writing of music in many parts or in more than one part
	Postlude	"Play after;" the final piece in a multi-movement work; organ piece played at the end of a church service.
	Prelude	"Play before;" an introductory movement or piece.
	Premiere	First performance.
	Prestissimo	Very, very fast; the fastest tempo.
	Presto	Very quick.
	Primo	First.
	Principal	Instrumental section leader.
	Prologue	An introductory piece that presents the background for an opera.
	Psalm	From the Book of Psalms in the Bible, sung to Plainchant.
Q
Q	Quadrille	A popular ballroom dance in a brisk duple metre.
	Quartet	A piece for four performers.
	Quintet	A piece for five performers.
	Quodlibet	A quodlibet is a light-hearted composition generally containing a combination of well known tunes.
R
R	Rallentando	Gradually slower; synonymous with ritardando.
	Range	The gamut of pitches, from low to high, which a singer may perform.
	Rapide	Rapidly.
	Refrain	A short section of repeated material which occurs at the end of each stanza.
	Renaissance	The period 1450 - 1600.
	Requiem	Mass for the Dead
	Resonance	Reinforcement and intensification of sound by vibrations.
	Rhapsody	A work free in form and inspiration, often an expression of national temperament
	Rigaudon	A French folk-dance
	Rinforzando	A reinforced accent.
	Risoluto	Resolute.
	Ritardando	Gradually slower; synonymous with rallentando.
	Ritenuto	Immediate reduction in tempo.
	Ritmico	Rhythmically.
	Ritornello	A recurrent phrase or passage
	Rococo	A light decorative French style
	Romanticism	Most commonly, a period or the predominant features of that period, from the early 19th century until the early 20th.
	Rondo	The use of a recurrent theme between a series of varied episodes, often used for the rapid final movement of a classical concerto or symphony.
	Round	Like the canon, a song in which two or more parts having the same melody, starting at different points; the parts may be repeated as desired.
	Rubato	A direction to allow a player a measure of freedom in performance.
	Ruhig	Quiet.
	Rustico	Pastoral; rustic; rural.
S
S	Saltarello	A rapid Italian dance in triple metre
	Sanft	Soft; gentle.
	Sarabande	A slow dance in triple metre, generally found in the baroque instrumental suite.
	Scale	A succession of tones. The scale generally used in Western music is the diatonic scale, consisting of whole and half steps in a specific order.
	Scherzo	A light-hearted movement found from the early 17th century.
	Schnell	Fast.
	Score	The written depiction of all the parts of a musical ensemble with the parts stacked vertically and rhythmically aligned.
	Secco	"Dry;" unornamented.
	Section	A division of a musical composition.
	Segno	Sign
	Sequidilla	A fairly quick triple-metre Spanish dance.
	Sehr	Very.
	Sehr leise beginnend	Very soft in the beginning.
	Semi	Opera-Dramatic works of the later 17th century that combined spoken drama with a significant element of music
	Semitone	A half step; the smallest interval on the keyboard.
	Sempre	Always; e.g. sempre staccato.
	Semplice	Simple.
	Senza	Without; e.g. senza crescendo.
	Septet	A piece for seven performers.
	Serenade	A piece for evening performance; suggests a piece of music in honour of someone or something.
	Sereno	Serene; peaceful.
	Sforzando	Sudden strong accent on a note or chord.
	Sharp	A symbol which raises the pitch of a note one-half step.
	Siciliana	A Sicilian shepherd dance or song
	Simile	An indication to continue in the same manner.
	Sin'	Until.
	Sinifonia	A passage or piece of instrumental music, sometimes an introductory piece, leading later to the Italian overture, known as the sinfonia before the opera, the origin of the Italian symphony.
	Sinfonia Concertante	A concerto that uses two or more solo instruments.
	Singspiel	A stage work that makes some use of spoken dialogue, even in a context of primarily musical interest.
	Sinistra	Left hand.
	Sino	Until.
	Smorzando	Fading away.
	Soave	Sweet; mild.
	Sognando	Dreamily.
	Solo	To perform alone or as the predominant part.
	Sonata	Originally designated music that was to be played rather than sung.
	Sonatina	A short sonata.
	Sostenuto	Sustaining of tone or slackening of tempo; play smoothly.
	Spiccato	On string instruments, a bowing technique wherein the bow is bounced on the string at moderate speed.
	Staccato	Detached sounds, indicated by a dot over or under a note; the opposite of legato.
	Stanza	A selection of a song, two or more lines long, characterized by a common meter, rhyme, and number of lines.
	Stesso	Same.
	Stretto	The device by which a second voice enters with the subject overlapping a first voice, rather than starting after the completion of the subject by the first voice; also a faster speed.
	Subito	Suddenly.
	Suite	An instrumental piece consisting of several shorter pieces.
	Sul	On the.
	Sur	On; over.
	Svelto	Quick; light.
	Symphony	A piece for large orchestra, usually in four movements, in which the first movement often is in sonata form. A large orchestra.
	Syncopation	Accent on an unexpected beat.
T
T	Tafelmusik	Music used to accompany banquets.
	Tanto	Much; so much.
	Tarantella	A folk- dance from the Southern Italian town of Taranto.
	Te Deum	A canticle sung in thanksgiving and forming a part of the Divine Office, where it appears after Matins on Sundays and major feast days.
	Tempo	The speed at which a piece of music is played.
	Tempo primo	Return to the original tempo.
	Teneramente	Tenderly.
	Tenuto	Hold or sustain a note longer than the indicated value; usually not as long a duration as the fermata.
	Ternary form	A tripartite musical structure; three part song form, in which the third part is an exact or modified repetition of the first.
	Terraced dynamics	The Baroque style of using sudden changes in dynamic levels, as opposed to gradual increase and decrease in volume.
	Theme	A complete tune or melody which is of fundamental importance in a piece of music.
	Theory	The study of how music is put together.
	Toccata	An instrumental piece, often designed to display the technical proficiency of a performer.
	Tonality	The term used to describe the organization of the melodic and harmonic elements to give a feeling of a key center or a tonic pitch.
	Tone	A note; the basis of music.
	Tosto	Quick.
	Tranquillo	Tranquilly; quietly; calm.
	Tremolo	The quick repetition of a note, particularly in string-playing.
	Troppo	Too much; e.g. allegro non troppo - not too fast.
	Troubadour	Court poets and composers of Southern France in the 12th and 13th centuries.
	Tutti	All; a direction for the entire ensemble to sing or play simultaneously.
U
U	Una corda	Soft pedal.
	Unison	Singing or playing the same notes by all singers or players, either at exactly the same pitch or in a different octave.
	Un peu	A little; e.g. un peu piano.
	Un poco	A little.
	Upbeat	One or more notes occurring before the first bar line, as necessitated by the text for the purpose of desirable accent; the unaccented beat of a measure.
V
V	Variation	The manipulation of a theme by the use of melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic changes.
	Verismo	Realism
	Vespers	The evening service of the Divine Office
	Vibrato	Repeated fluctuation of pitch.
	Virtuoso	A brilliant, skillful performer.
	Vivace	Lively; brisk; quick; bright.
	Vivo	Lively; bright.
	Vocalise	A vocal work, whether an exercise or not, that has no words.
	Volti subito	Turn [the page] quickly.
W
W	Waltz	A dance in triple time, became the most popular of all ball - room dances in the 19th century
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