The Music Term Glossary G-O

The musical term glossary.

G
• gaudioso – with joy
• gentile – gently
• geschwind (Ger) – quickly
• getragen (Ger) – sustainedly
• giocoso or gioioso – gaily
• giusto – strictly, exactly, e.g. tempo giusto in strict time
• glissando (simulated Italian) – a continuous sliding from one pitch to another (a true glissando), or an incidental scale executed while moving from one melodic note to another (an effective glissando). See glissando for further information; and compare portamento in this list.
• grandioso – grandly
• grave – slowly and seriously
• grazioso – gracefully
• gustoso – with gusto
H
• H (Ger) – B natural in German; B means B flat
• Hauptstimme (Ger) – "head" voice, chief part; i.e., the contrapuntal line of primary importance, in opposition to Nebenstimme
• hemiola (English, from Greek) – the imposition of a pattern of rhythm or articulation other than that implied by the time signature; specifically, in triple time (for example in 3/4) the imposition of a duple pattern (as if the time signature were, for example, 2/4). See Syncopation.
I
• immer (Ger) – always
• imperioso – imperiously
• impetuoso – impetuously
• improvisando – with improvisation
• improvisato – improvised, or as if improvised
• in altissimo – in the highest; i.e., play or sing an octave higher
• incalzando – getting faster and louder
• insistendo – insistently, deliberate
• in modo di – in the art of, in the style of
• intimo – intimately
• irato – angrily
K
• kräftig (Ger) – strongly
L
• lacrimoso – tearfully; i.e., sadly
• lamentando – lamenting, mournfully
• lamentoso – lamenting, mournfully
• langsam (Ger) – slowly
• largamente – broadly; i.e., slowly (same as largo)
• larghetto – somewhat slowly; not as slow as largo
• Larghissimo – very slowly; slower than largo
• largo – broadly; i.e., slowly
• lebhaft (Ger) – briskly, lively
• legato – joined; i.e., smoothly, in a connected manner (see also articulation)
• leggiero – lightly, delicately
• lent (Fr) – slowly
• lento – slowly
• liberamente – freely
• libero – free, freely
• l'istesso – see lo stesso, below
• loco – [in] place; i.e., perform the notes at the pitch written (generally used to cancel an 8va direction)
• lontano – from a distance; distantly
• lo stesso (or commonly, but ungrammatically, l'istesso) – the same; applied to the manner of articulation, tempo, etc.
• lugubre – lugubrious, mournful
• luminoso – luminously
• lusingando – coaxingly
M
• ma – but
• ma non troppo – but not too much
• maestoso – majestically, in a stately fashion
• magico – magically
• magnifico – magnificent
• main droite (Fr) – [played with the] right hand (abbreviation: MD or m.d.)
• main gauche (Fr) – [played with the] left hand (abbreviation: MG or m.g.)
• malinconico – melancholy
• mano destra – [played with the] right hand (abbreviation: MD or m.d.)
• mano sinistra – [played with the] left hand (abbreviation: MS or m.s.)
• marcatissimo – very accentuatedly
• marcato – marked; i.e., accentuatedly, execute every note as if it were to be accented
• marcia – a march; alla marcia means in the manner of a march
• martellato – hammered out
• marziale – in the march style
• mässig (Ger) – moderately
• MD – see mano destra and main droite
• melancolico – melancholic
• melisma – the technique of changing the note (pitch) of a syllable of text while it is being sung
• measure – the period of a musical piece that encompasses a complete cycle of the time signature, e.g., in 4/4 time, a measure has four quarter-note beats
• meno – less; see meno mosso, for example, under mosso
• mesto – mournful, sad
• meter (or metre) – the pattern of a music piece's rhythm of strong and weak beats
• mezza voce – half voice; i.e., with subdued or moderated volume
• mezzo – half; used in combinations like mezzo forte (mf), meaning moderately loud
• mezzo forte – half loudly; i.e., moderately loudly. See dynamics.
• mezzo piano – half softly; i.e., moderately softly. See dynamics.
• mezzo-soprano – a female singer with a range usually extending from the A below middle C to the F an eleventh above middle C. Mezzo-sopranos generally have a darker vocal tone than sopranos, and their vocal range is between that of a soprano and that of an alto.
• MG – see main gauche
• misterioso – mysteriously
• mobile – flexible, changeable
• moderato – moderate; often combined with other terms, usually relating to tempo; for example, allegro moderato
• modesto – modest
• moll (Ger) – minor; used in key signatures as, for example, a-moll (A minor), b-moll (B♭ minor), or h-moll (B minor) (see also dur (major) in this list)
• molto – very
• morendo – dying; i.e., dying away in dynamics, and perhaps also in tempo
• mosso – moved, moving; used with a preceding più or meno (see in this list), for faster or slower respectively
• MS – see mano sinistra
• moto – motion; usually seen as con moto, meaning with motion or quickly
• munter (Ger) – lively
N
• narrante – narratingly
• naturale or nat. – natural; i.e., discontinue a special effect, such as col legno, sul tasto, sul ponticello, or playing in harmonics
• N.C. – No chord, written in the chord row of music notation to show there is no chord being played, and no implied harmony.
• Nebenstimme (Ger) – under part; i.e., a secondary contrapuntal part, always occurring simultaneously with, and subsidiary to, the Hauptstimme
• nicht (Ger) – not
• nobile or nobilmente – in a noble fashion
• notes inégales (Fr) – unequal notes; i.e., a principally Baroque performance practice of applying long-short rhythms to pairs of notes written as equal
O
• omaggio – homage, celebration
• one-voice-per-part, or OVPP – the practice of using solo voices on each musical line or part in choral music.
• ossia – or instead; i.e., according to some specified alternative way of performing a passage, which is marked with a footnote, additional small notes, or an additional staff
• ostinato – obstinate, persistent; i.e., a short musical pattern that is repeated throughout an entire composition or portion of a composition
• ottava – octave; e.g. ottava bassa: an octave lower