Letter music terms

Core vocabulary

• A cappella — choral music without instrumental accompaniment
• Accelerando — gradually faster
• Adagio — very slow
• Allegro — rapid and lively
• Andante — moderately slow, but moving
• Arpeggio — chord tones played successively
• Crescendo — gradually louder
• Decrescendo — gradually softer
• Dynamics — intensity or volume of sound
• Fermata — hold a note or rest beyond its written value
• Forte — loud
• Harmony — two or more pitches sounding together
• Interval — distance between two pitches
• Key signature — sharps or flats identifying the key
• Melody — an organized succession of pitches and rhythm
• Meter — recurring organization of strong and weak beats
• Ritardando — gradually slower
• Staccato — short and detached
• Tempo — speed of the music
• Time signature — numbers showing the meter
• Triad — a three-note chord built in thirds
• Unison — parts sounding the same pitch or octave equivalent