| f |
the fourth degree of the c scale |
|
fabordon |
Spanish corruption of French fauxbourdon |
| faburden |
a method of improvised sixth-chord
harmonization |
| facile |
fluent |
|
fackeltanz |
Prussian ceremonial court dance |
| fado |
popular music of urban Portugal. consists of song, dance and guitar
accompaniment |
|
fagott |
is the bassoon, the bass of the woodwind section in the orchestra |
| fake |
to improvise from a melody line |
|
falsa |
dissonance |
|
false cadence |
a deceptive cadence |
| falsetto |
a singing voice that is in a "false"-higher than normal-register, such as the
countertenor |
| falsetto |
a high, light, artificial voice used to sing notes that are above the normal
register |
|
familiar style |
in four part writing, music in which the voices move uniformly with regard to rhythm and syllables, as in a church
hymn |
| family |
term used to describe a set of musical instruments with common characteristics, such as the violin family
or the saxophone family |
| fancy |
see fantasia |
|
fandango |
a rhythmic Spanish dance in triple time, accompanied by castanets and guitar. used by late 19th-and early 20th-century composers such as
Rimsky-Korsakov and de falla. |
| fanfare |
a fanfare is a flourish of trumpets or other similar instruments, used for military or ceremonial purposes, or music that conveys this
impression |
| fantasia |
music written in a free, unconstrained
form |
| fantasy |
a piece in freestyle and form |
| farandole |
a dance from Provence, France in 6/8 time, accompanied by pipe and
tabor |
| farce |
absurdity |
| farruca |
a lively dance from Andalusia, in southern
Spain, with gypsy associations |
| fasola |
a system of solemnization in which only four of the syllables are used, the syllables fa sol la being applied to c-d-e as well as f g a, and mi being used for the
seventh |
|
fastoso |
pompous |
|
feierlich |
festive |
|
feldmusik |
brass music for outdoor performance |
|
feminine cadence |
cadence terminating on an unstressed beat |
| feria |
non feast weekday in the church calendar |
|
fermata |
a symbol that means to hold the note or rest until the conductor directs you to
stop |
|
ferne |
as from a distance |
|
fernwerk |
echo organ |
| festival |
a group of performances together |
|
festoso |
festive |
| f-holes |
the vaguely f-shaped sound holes in an instrument in the violin
family |
|
fiato |
breath |
|
fibbonacci series |
a mathematical sequence in which the next number in the series is the sum of the previous two numbers. used by many 20th century composers to determine various elements of
composition, especially Bela Bartok |
|
fiddle |
an early form of bowed string instrument, which later developed into the violin. a term still used in orchestral
playing |
|
fidicen |
string player |
|
fiero |
fiery, spirited |
| fife |
small keyless flute |
| fifth |
the interval of five diatonic degrees |
| figuration |
repetition of the same melodic or harmonic
figure |
| figure |
a musical motif |
|
figured bass |
bass line annotated with numerals to indicate
harmony |
|
figured chorale |
a chorale in which a certain figure is
repeated |
|
figured melody |
a highly ornamented melody |
|
filar il tuono |
properly synonymous with messa di voce, however usually interpreted to mean sustained but not changing in
volume |
|
film music |
originally music played live by a pianist to accompany silent films and mask the projector noise. as technology evolved, so did this musical
form |
|
fin' al segno |
as far as the sign, repeat from beginning to
sign |
| fin |
French, meaning 'end' |
|
finale |
the last movement of a sonata or symphony, or the last section of an
opera |
| fine |
the end; the conclusion |
| fingerboard |
a strip of hard wood affixed to the neck of a stringed instrument. the strings are placed over it and the fingers come down on it to change the pitch of the
strings |
|
fingerfertigkeit |
agility of fingers |
| fingering |
the use of fingers to play an instrument.
their term also is used to identify specifically which fingers should play which notes and
chords |
|
fioritura |
embellishment |
| fipple |
the block of wood which directs the flow of air, by plugging the mouthpiece, in a woodwind instrument of the recorder family, known as fipple flute (or whistle flute). examples of fipple flutes include the recorder, flageolet, and tin or penny
whistle |
|
fipple flute |
whistle flute |
|
fistelstimme |
falsetto |
|
fistula |
medieval name for flute or organ pipe |
|
fixed do |
a system wherein do is equivalent to c and does not move depending on the tonal
center |
|
fixed syllables |
all the musical syllables in a fixed do system are likewise
fixed |
| flageolet |
type of fipple flute particularly popular in the
17th-century |
| flam |
two strokes on the side drum, with the first beat consisting of a short note and the second being a long one. |
|
flamenco |
a Spanish gypsy style of dance |
| flat |
a sign which indicates that the pitch be lowered one half
step |
| flats |
an accidental that lowers a given pitch by one half-step. see also key
signature |
|
flatterzunge |
fluttertonguing |
| flautando |
instruction to a player of a stringed instrument to bow over the fingerboard so as to produce a flute-like
tone |
|
flautato |
a violin technique in which the sound of a flute is imitated by bowing near the end of the
fingerboard |
|
flautino |
small flute |
| flautist |
a flautist is a player of the flute |
|
flauto |
flute or recorder |
| flaviol |
small Spanish flute |
|
flebile |
mournful |
|
flicorno |
Italian variation of the flugelhorn. |
|
fliessend |
flowing |
| florid |
used to describe a melody, or style, that is embellished with
ornaments |
|
flos |
embellishments, as trill, mordent, or
vibrato |
|
flöte |
flute |
|
flott |
briskly |
| flourish |
fanfare or very brilliant (often improvised)
passage |
| flute |
the word flute may indicate a variety of wind instruments without reeds.
The modern orchestra makes use of transverse flutes, augmented as necessary by a smaller transverse flute known as a piccolo and very occasionally by a larger instrument, the alto or bass flute, pitched a fourth
lower |
|
flugel |
grand piano |
|
flugelhorn |
originating in Germany as a military instrument, it is a type of brass instrument, related to the trumpet, played mainly in brass bands. |
|
flussig |
flowing |
| folia |
a Portuguese dance, performed at fast speed with
castanets |
| folk |
music which emanates from a community, usually composed and freely edited by non-musicians. tends to be simple in form and easily
remembered |
|
folk music |
generally taken to mean music (also song and dance) that has been transmitted orally within a community for many years before being written down or
recorded |
|
folk song |
national song |
| follia |
is a well known dance tune popular from the 16th century or earlier and found in the work of composers such as
Corelli, who used the theme for a set of variations forming a violin sonata, or later by
Rachmaninov in his incorrectly named variations on a theme of
Corelli. |
| foot |
unit of measure of organ pipes |
| form |
the structure of a piece of music. basic forms include the fugue, rondo, and sonata. a piece may be "free" in form-that is, unrelated to any conventional
structure |
| formant |
an amplified harmonic that gives a vocal continuant a characteristic vowel sound, and by its amplitude relative to the fundamental, also more subtle tone
color |
|
forte |
instruction to play an instrument or sing loudly. abbreviated as
f |
|
fortepiano |
loud followed immediately by soft |
|
fortissimo |
very loud but under control |
|
fortspinnung |
the process of development in a piece, as opposed to mere
repetition |
| forza |
force |
|
forzando |
with force, loud |
|
foundation stops |
unison and octave sounding ranks of the
organ |
| fourth |
the interval of four diatonic degrees |
|
fourth chord |
used in jazz, chords built on fourths rather than
triads |
|
frauenchor |
female chorus |
|
frei |
freely |
|
freistimmigkeit |
free voice leading, a style where lines sometimes merge or disappear. used primarily for keyboard
music |
| French harp |
mouth organ |
| French horn |
a coiled brass instrument with valves, developed-particularly in
France, hence the name-from the earlier hunting horn. often used in the orchestra, also in brass, military, and concert
bands |
| French sixth chord |
an augmented sixth chord, which contains a second from the
tonic |
| frequency |
the number of wave crests per second, hertz. |
| fret |
narrow strip embedded or affixed to the fingerboard of a stringed instrument, having the effect of breaking it up into discrete pitches, as opposed to a fretless instrument which can produce a continuum of
pitches |
| fretta |
an instruction to play an instrument in a hurried
manner |
| frettoloso |
hurried, worried |
|
freudig |
joyous |
|
fricasee |
French for quodlibet |
| frog |
the lower part of a violin bow, the nut |
| frottola |
a lighthearted Italian song for several voices, popular in the 16th
century |
|
fröhlich |
joyful |
|
fuga |
fugue |
|
fugato |
in the style of a fugue. |
|
fughetta |
short fugue |
| fugue |
"flight." a contrapuntal piece, in which two or more parts are built or "layered" on a recurring subject that is
introduced alone, and followed by an answer, which is the subject (or theme) at a different pitch, usually the
fifth |
| fuguetta |
a little fugue |
| fulle orchestra |
an orchestra with all the usual 4 sections-strings, woodwind, brass and
percussion |
| function |
the way in which chords, and individual tones within the chord, tend to imply movement toward another
chord |
| fundamental |
the first harmonic. the root of a chord |
|
fuoco |
instruction to play in a fiery manner |
| furiant |
dance with rapid changes of rhythm. |
|
furioso |
furious |
|
fullstimme |
filling part with no independence |
| fz |
forzando, sforzando |
