Music Key Terms

Movements
Movement To be
played in
___ tempo
Andante Moderately
Slow
Adagio Slow
Largo Slow and
Dignified
Style
Allegro Brisk
Allegretto Fairly Brisk
Presto Quick
Dolce Sweetly and
Softly
Scherzando Playful
Manner

Basso
(Plural bassos or bassi)
A bass voice or vocal
 part.
Bagatelle
A short, light piece of
music, especially one for
the piano.
Chromaticism
Relating to or using
notes not belonging to
the diatonic scale of the
key in which a passage
is written.
○ (Of a scale)

ascending or
descending by
semitones.
○ (Of an instrument)

able to play all the

notes of chromatic
scale.
Continuo (also basso
continuo)
(In baroque music) an
accompanying part that
includes a bass line and
 harmonies, typically
played on a keyboard
instrument and with
other instruments such
as cello or bass viol.
Fermata
A pause of unspecified
length on a note or rest.
● A mark over a note or
rest that is to be
lengthened by an
unspecified amount.
Finale
The last part of a piece
of music, especially
when particularly
dramatic or exciting.
Fugue
À contrapuntal
composition in which a
short melody or phrase
(the subject) is
introduced by one part
and successively taken
 up by others and
developed by
interweaving the parts.
Gigue
A lively piece of music in
the style of a dance,
typically of the
Renaissance or Baroque
period, and usually in
compound time.
Homophonic
Characterized by the
movement of
accompanying parts in
the same rhythm as the
melody. Often
contrasted with
polyphonic.
Minuet
A slow, stately ballroom
dance for two in triple
time, popular especially
in the eighteenth
century.
 ○ A piece of music in
triple time in the
style of a minute,
typically as a
movement in a
suite, sonata, or
symphony and
frequently coupled
with a trio.
Motif
A short succession of
notes producing a single
impression; a brief
melodic or rhythmic
formula out of which
longer passages are
developed.
Motive
A motive, like its cousin
motif, indicates a
distinctive idea that
unifies an object,
whether the paisley
wallpaper pattern that
pulls together a room or
the famous opening of
Beethovenʼs Fifth
Symphony.
The term motive,
however, actually comes
from the Latin motus,
meaning “motion,” so
even though music
borrows the term from
everyday language, it
seems to have its origin
in the musical notion of
time and in a patternʼs
development over time.
One might liken motives
to the amino acids that
are the basic building
blocks of our bodies.
Indeed, motives
combine to form phrase
members, which in turn
combine to form
complete phrases.
 Phrases, by extension,
combine to form
periods. This
hierarchical process can
continue all the way to
the piece level.
Nocturne
A short composition of a
romantic or dreamy
character suggestive of
night, typically for piano.
Polyphonic
(Especially of vocal
music) in two or more
parts each having a
melody of its own;
contrapuntal. Compare
with homophonic.
(Of an instrument)
capable of producing
more than one note at a
time.
Prelude
An introductory piece of
 music, most commonly
an orchestral opening to
an act of an opera, the
first movement of a
suite, or a piece
preceding a fugue.
○ A short introductory

piece of music,
especially for the
piano.
Quartet
A group of four people
playing music or singing
together.
○ A composition for a

Quartet.
Sarabande
A slow, stately Spanish
dance in triple time.
○ A piece of music

written for the

sarabande.
Scherzo
A vigorous, light, or
 playful composition,
typically comprising a
movement in a
symphony or sonata.
Sonata
A composition for an
instrumental soloist,
often with a piano
accompaniment,
typically in several
movements with one or
more in sonata form.
Symphony
An elaborate musical
composition for full
orchestra, typically in
four movements, at least
one of which is
traditionally in sonata
form.
Duplet
A pair of equal notes to
be performed in the
time of three.
Octuplets
A group of eight notes
to be performed in the
time of four or six.
Quintuplet
(Usually quintuplets) a
group of five notes to be
performed in the time of
three or four.
Septuplets
A group of seven notes
to be performed in the
time of four or six.
Triplets
A group of three equal
notes to be performed
in the time of two or
four.
○ A set of three

rhyming lines of
verse.