band class projects S2017
*NOte: Percussion assignments are listed and completed through the "Schoology" link provided

Music Terms / Vocabulary

Style Terms

Al fine                   to the end

Cantabile             in a singing style

Chromatic           scale of all half-steps

Coda                      closing section of a piece

Da capo                from the beginning

Dal segno            from the sign  

Dolce                     sweetly

Etude                    short composition for one instrument

Fermata               note or rest held for a duration established by the conductor

Legato                  smoothly, connected

Molto                    very

Poco a poco        little by little

Segno                   sign 

Soli                         entire section plays unison

Solo                       one player alone

Staccato               brief and detached

Tacet                     do not play

VOLUME TERMS

Crescendo          progressively louder

Diminuendo       gradually fading away

Decrescendo     progressively softer

Fortissimo           as loud as possible

Forte                     played loudly

Mezzo                  moderately

Piano                     played softly

Pianissimo           played very softly

SPEED TERMS

Accelerando       gradually increase tempo

A tempo              in the original tempo

Andante              at a walking pace, moderate tempo

Allegro                  lively, fast

Largo                     broadly, slow

Moderato           moderately

Maestoso            majestically

Ritardando          slowing down

Rallentando        broadening of tempo

Presto                   very quickly

Tempo                  overall speed of a piece of music