Musical Terms
This is a list of musical terms and what they mean. It’s not complete, but it is all the terms you need to know for the level 3 AMEB Theory of Music exams.
I put this together mainly to help me study for the exams. I’ll add to it as needed.
Speed
Adagio, slowly
Allegro, lively and fast
Allegreto, moderately fast
Andante, at an easy walking pace
Con moto, with movement
Largamente, broadly
Larghetto, rather broadly
Largo, broadly
Lento, slowly
Moderato, at a moderate pace
Prestissimo, extremely fast or as fast as possible
Presto, very fast
Vivace, lively, spirited
Vivo, lively, spirited
Other terms
Ad libitum, at pleasure, quite freely
Agitato, with aggitation
Animato, with animation
Attacca, go on at once
Ben marcato, well marked
Cantabile, in a singing style
Con anima, with feeling
Con brio, with spirit
Con forza, with force
Con grazia, with grace
Da capo al fine, from the beginning to the word fine
Dal segno, from the sign
Dolce, soft and sweet
Legato, smoothly, well-connected
Leggiero, lightly
Loco, at a normal pitch (after 8va sign)
Maestoso, majestic
Main droite (M.D.), right hand
Main gauche (M.G.), left hand
Mezzo staccato, moderately short and detached
Molto, very
Opus, a work or group of works
Poco, a little
Risoluto, with resolution
Sempre, always
Senza, without
Sostenuto, sustained
Stacatto, detached, short
Tranquillo, calmly
Tre corda, release the soft pedal
Una corda, with the soft pedal
Modifications to speed
A tempo, return to former speed
Accelerando (accel.), gradually becoming faster
Allargando, becoming broader
Meno mosso, slower
Piu mosso, quicker
Rallentando (rall.), gradually becoming slower
Ritardando (ritard.) (rit.), gradually becoming slower
Ritenuto (riten.) (rit.), immediately slower or held back
Signs
barline
double barline
slur
tie
Intensity of sound
Calando, getting softer and slower
Crescendo (cres.) (cresc.), gradually becoming louder
Decrescendo (decres.) (decresc.), gradualy becoming softer
Diminuendo (dim.), gradually becoming softer
Forte (f), loud
Forte-piano (fp), loud then immediately soft
Fortissimo (ff), very loud
Mezzo forte (mf), moderately loud
Mezzo piano (mp), moderately soft
Morendo, dying away
Piano (p), soft
Pianissimo (pp), very soft
Sforzando (sf) (sfz), a strong accent