- Accelerado - gradually increase the tempo
- Accent - attack the note louder
- Accidental - a sign indicating the normal pitch is to be raised or lowered
- Accompaniment - secondary musical material, supports more important material
- Adagio - slower than andante
- Al Fine - to the end
- Alla Breve - same as Cut Time
- Allegretto - moderately fast
- Allegro - quick and lively
- Andante - moderately slow
- Animato - lively
- Arpeggio - notes of a chord played one at a time
- A Tempo - indication to return to the original tempo
- Bar Line - vertical line through a staff to separate measures
- Cantabile - in a singing style
- Chord - combination of three or more tones
- Coda - closing section
- Common Time - four beats to a measure
- Con - with
- Countermelody - a less important melody that can be played along with the main melody
- Crescendo - gradually play louder
- Cut Time - a time signature indicating two counts in each measure, with the half note getting one beat
- D.C. al Coda - go back to the beginning and play until the coda sign - then skip to the Coda
- D.C. al Fine - go back to the beginning and play until the Fine
- D.S. al Coda - go back to the sign and play until the coda sign - then skip to the Coda
- D.S. al Fine - go back to the sign and play until the Fine
- Decrescendo - gradually play softer
- Diminuendo - gradually play softer
- Divisi - part of the section plays the top notes, the others play the bottom notes
- Dolce - sweetly
- Dynamics - loudness or softness of the music
- Enharmonics - notes that are written differently but sound and are played the same
- Ensemble - group of performers
- Fermata - hold the note or rest longer than its usual value
- Fine - the end
- Flat - lowers the pitch of a note by ½ step
- Form - structure or organization of a piece of music
- Forte - loud
- Fortissimo - very loud
- Grazioso - gracefully
- Harmony - two or more different notes played at the same time
- Improvisation - making new music while playing
- Interval - distance between two notes
- Introduction - section of music that precedes the first theme
- Key - tonal center of a composition
- Key Signature -– sharps or flats at the beginning of the staff indicating what key the piece is in
- Largo - very slow
- Ledger Line - a line added above or below the staff for higher and lower notes
- Legato - smooth and connected
- Maestoso - majestically
- Measure - space between two bar lines, also known as a bar
- Melody - succession of tones forming a musical line
- Metronome - a device used to help with counting
- Mezzo Forte - medium loud
- Mezzo Piano - medium soft
- Moderato - moderate speed
- Modulation - change of keys
- Molto - very
- Moto - motion
- Natural - cancels a flat or a sharp
- Phrase - a musical thought or sentence
- Piano - soft
- Pianissimo - very soft
- Pick-up notes - a note or notes that come before the first full measure
- Pitch - the highness or lowness of a tone
- Poco - little
- Rallentando - decreasing in speed
- Ritardando - gradually slow down the tempo
- Scale - a collection of pitches going from lowest to highest, or highest to lowest
- Sempre - always
- Sharp - raises the pitch of a note by ½ step
- Simile - continue playing in the same manner
- Slur - a curved line that connects two or more notes of different pitches
- Soli - the whole section plays
- Solo - one person plays
- Sostenuto - sustained
- Staccato - a dot placed above or below a note meaning to play the notes with more separation
- Staff - lines and spaces on which music is written
- Tempo - the speed of music; how fast or slow it is played
- Tenuto - a line placed above or below a note meaning to play the notes with little or no space between them
- Theme - the main musical idea in a piece of music
- Tie - a curved line that connects two notes of the same pitch
- Time Signature - the top number tells the number of counts in each measure, the bottom number tells what kind of note gets one beat
- Tutti - everyone plays
- Unison - everyone plays the same notes
- Variation - a repeated music idea which has been slightly changed in some way from the original
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