A Tempo
Return to the original tempo
Accelerando
Gradually faster
Adagio
Slowly
Allegro
Fast/quick
Allegretto
Slightly slower than Allegro
Andantino
Slightly faster than Andante
Andante
Moderate walking tempo
Animato
Animated, with spirit
Arpeggio
Continuous broken chord
Cantabile
Singing style
Con Brio
With vigor/spirit/brilliance
Con Moto
With motion
Dolce
Sweetly
Enharmonic
Two different names for the same pitch (C# and D-flat)
Fermata
Hold the note longer
Largo
Very slowly, “large”
Legato (slur)
Play smoothly; connect the notes
Leggiero
Lightly, delicately
Lento
Slowly
Marcato
Stressed, marked
Molto
Much; very
Mordent
Play the first note, then the note below, then back to the first note.
Opus
Indicates the chronological order when a composer’s music was written
Ostinato
Repeated pattern
Parallel Major/minor
Major and minor keys with the same letter name (like C Major and c minor)
Phrase
Musical sentence (at least 4 measures long)
Presto
Very fast
Poco
little
Rallentando
Gradually slower
Robusto
Robustly, loudly
Scherzando
Playfully, jokingly
Sforzando
Play suddenly loud; a sudden accent
Simile
Continue in the same style
Spiritoso
Spirited
Sostenuto
Sustained
Subito
Suddenly; at once
Tenuto
Play the note slightly louder than the others
Tranquillo
Tranquilly, peacefully
Tre Corda
Release the left/soft pedal
Una Corda
Press down on the left/soft pedal
Vivace
Quickly, lively
Vivo
Brisk, lively
Atonality
No specific key or tonality
Bitonality
Two different keys at the same time
Canon
Each voice exactly imitates the melody of the first voice
Allargando
Gradually slower
Con Fuoco
With fire or fury
Enharmonic
Two different names for the same pitch, like C-sharp and D-flat
Giocoso
Merrily, with humor
Gracioso
Gracefully
Leggiero
Lightly, delicately