Dictionary: B

British Broadcasting Corporation

A single finger holding multiple strings on a stringed instrument at the same time. Symbol used in standard notation for guitar. Number indicates w…

a genre from the Dominican Republic that is played with guitars and percussion, usually with lyrics that focus on love, treachery, jealousy and des…

string plucked far from the nut thus producing a round and flutelike tone

a continuous heavy accent on beats 2 and 4 in jazz and rock and roll music

a descending appoggiatura

playfulness; a quick eighteenth century piece in 2/4 time

playfulness; a quick eighteenth century piece in 2/4 time

a large eight to ten string Ethiopian plucked lyre with a trapezoidal wooden frame

a large eight to ten string Ethiopian plucked lyre with a trapezoidal wooden frame

trifle, unpretentious; a short, light instrumental piece of music of no specified form, usually for piano

a long necked Turkish lute, with a pear shaped body, also found in Greece

dance or ballet; flamenco dance

typical festive Bolivian handkerchief dance

a slow samba rhythm from Brazil

to lower

low, deep

a Mexican twelve string guitar

phenol plastic; but now usually covers a range of different types of plastic

a royal dance of the Baganda people from Uganda

a triangular guitar like instrument with a fretted finger board normally bearing three strings of Russian origin

the adjustment of volume and timbre between instruments or voices so that, when required, each is clearly heard through the general texture

in a dance style, to be danced

a narrative song, often sentimental, with verses alternating with a refrain

thirteenth , fourteenth and fifteenth century formes fixes, a strophic piece, each stanza having an initial repeated section followed by a second s…

in the style of a ballad

a dance form, originally Italian, established at the French court in the sixteenth century, formal and courtly, originally danced both by professio…

a ball, dance

a flamenco singing style known as swing songs

the national dance of Colombia, South America

a Serbian dance

a group of instrumental players

volume

dance like instrumental music from Iran

volumes

of the cittern family, Spanish with six pairs of strings

Portuguese mandolin

small South American Creole lute, pear shaped, and with a fretted neck, that comes in various sizes and ranges and has from 8 to 15 steel strings

a plucked string instrument of the lute family, popular both as a solo and as an accompanying instrument to songs of the sixteenth and seventeenth…

of the cittern family, Spanish with six pairs of strings

a fretless plucked dulcimer found in the Ukraine, with a short neck, an oval flat body and which is held vertically

small 12 string mandolin type instrument, played with a pick, with a very short wide neck and 14 metal frets, popular in Spain and Spanish America

a bandurria with 6 metal strings instead of guts strings

a plucked, four to nine wire occasionally gut strung instrument, the strings lying on a low bridge over a resonator made of a metal hoop, popular i…

a ukulele banjo

a mandolin banjo

(West African) dance rhythm for young women

a vertical line used to metrically divide music into groups of beats see Staff, Barline, & Clef

Persian ud

a popular, banal style of close harmony singing, originally all male, begun in the US in the late nineteenth century

a song or instrumental piece associated with boats and boating generally in compound duple (6/8) or compound quadruple (12/8)

a song or instrumental piece associated with boats and boating generally in compound duple (6/8) or compound quadruple (12/8)

a song or instrumental piece associated with boats and boating generally in compound duple (6/8) or compound quadruple (12/8)

rapid alternation of open and stopped strings on the violin

See clef in Staff, Barline, & Clef

a song or instrumental piece associated with boats and boating generally in compound duple (6/8) or compound quadruple (12/8)

a vertical line drawn across the staff to mark off measures of a particular length, containing a number of notes whose total time value is set by t…

barn dances are the product of the colonial United States of America. Early Americans recreated them from England's country dances. They were perfo…

bizarre, a very clearly definable type or genre of European music from the period c. 1580 to c. 1730

bizarre, a very clearly definable type or genre of European music from the period c. 1580 to c. 1730

bizarre, a very clearly definable type or genre of European music from the period c. 1580 to c. 1730

the baroque style of dance evolved during the middle of the seventeenth century

an early form of the modern guitar, normally double strung with five courses unlike the six single strings on the modern instrument

a device that clamps to the neck of a plucked string instrument and which change its tuning by shortening the sounding length of every string See B…

Barré chord shapes let guitarists transpose harmonies while preserving familiar left hand geometry. Good setup depends on thumb placement, arm supp…

(1885 1944) See Classical Guitarists and Composers

soft instruments suitable for chamber music

popular Malagasy dance rhythm from Diego Suárez

Basque dance

a term applied to rhythmically complex dance music of Basque origin

a strip of wood glued under the belly of a sound board to support one foot of the bridge and to improve the instrument's bass frequency resonant re…

double bass

the bottom string on a bowed or plucked instrument

low, deep, bass

bass

a very early dance type, in which the feet are kept close to the ground

low, deep, basses

low, deep, bass

figured bass

ground bass, a pattern repeated several times over in the bass line to accompany one or more ever varying upper parts

racket

the lowest part in a polyphonic composition

a piece suggesting a battle

to beat time

a beat; a bar or measure

a tempo, return to the original speed

Afro Brazilian jam sessions

Afro Brazilian jam sessions

dance or ballet; flamenco dance

the flat sign

A part of a note. See beam in Elements of a Musical Score

Notes beamed in groups in a manor to distinguish the beats in a measure. See Elements of Standard Notation for Classical Guitar see Elements of Tab…

arranged

arrangement

rhythmic pulse in a piece of music; a throbbing or undulating effect taking place in rapid succession when two notes not quite of the same pitch ar…

much

trembling, tremolo

a complex 1940's jazz style, characterized by very fast or very slow tempos with improvised lines of notes, irregular accents, and extended harmony…

the natural sign

natural sign

careful

in case of need

considerable

inspired, enthused

inspiration, exaltation

to accompany

accompanying

accompaniment

agreeably

nimbly

nimbleness

courageous

when a performer deliberately sounds the notes slightly after the beat set by the ensemble

both

almost

example

mordant

oppressed

oppressed

animating

animated

more animated

at will, at your pleasure, ad lib

optional

warlike

warlike

the upper surface of a stringed instrument on which the bridge rests, also called the table

amusing

a sign which lowers the pitch of a note by one semitone

a sign which lowers the pitch of a note by one semitone

a sign which lowers the pitch of a note by one semitone

well, much

well marked, accented

well held

a change in the pitch of a note for expressive purposes, so named because on the guitar the effect is produced, literally, by bending the string

well, much

the second part of the Sanctus of the Mass

when preceded by A suo the phrase means ad lib

when preceded by A suo the phrase means ad lib

Kenyan Luo pop music

the sign placed before a note that is neither sharpened or flattened

comfortable

rocking, lulling, swaying

a lullaby or instrumental piece in compound duple, 6/8 time

Croatian fretted bass

prepare, make ready

already, previously

a sixteenth and seventeenth century dance originally from Bergamo, then in simple duple time, but now associated with a wider range of time signatu…

a sixteenth and seventeenth century dance originally from Bergamo, then in simple duple time, but now associated with a wider range of time signatu…

a shepherd's song

a sixteenth and seventeenth century dance originally from Bergamo, then in simple duple time, but now associated with a wider range of time signatu…

to make restful

becoming restful

become restful

more restful

calming

the note B double flat

to speed up

to speed up

animated

prominent, in a decided style

praying

stressed, emphasized, accentuated

accentuation

sadness

saddened

agile

agility

speeded

quicker

speed

Indian devotional song

a popular hybrid of traditional Indian music fused with late twentieth century pop

a half note

a song for two voices

well, very

famous blues band of the Midwest, also known as Authorizes Personnel

a rhythmic style which originated with the Beti people of present day Cameroon, Originally associated with war, the shedding of blood and calls for…

Indian plucked lute

a musical form made up of two sections sometimes termed A and B

two beats in a bar or measure

A fermata

repeat, encore, play again

until

whispered

a thirty second note see Note Values

where two keys are used simultaneously, originating from the use of modes, common in pre baroque, folk style and more modern works

where two keys are used simultaneously, originating from the use of modes, common in pre baroque, folk style and more modern works

entreating

a short necked Japanese lute, used in the seventh century in gagaku, with a cranked neck. played with an oversized plectrum. The number of frets va…

music played on the biwa

bizarre, whimsical

a quick tempo dance, characterized by a shaking or wiggling of the body

a half note see Note Values

to remain

remains

where the notes of the entire chord are played simultaneously and structured accordingly in succession

mere, merely

form of country & western music that developed during the mid 1940's, played by groups that include a double bass, two or more guitars, mandolins,…

flattened third, seventh and occasionally fifth degrees of the major scale

See Musical Scales

wordless humming

sketch

the resonance box of a stringed instrument

tie or bind

tie or bind

a triple meter dance but includes only one or two sections or movements as compared with the standard three in a bolero

Spanish dance in 3/4 time; Cuban dance derived from the Spanish bolero, initially into 2/4 time then eventually into 4/4, but always slow

harp from West Africa with four gut strings over a gourd resonator and an attached tin rattle

a three string bass harp with a resonating gourd that can be used as a drum

one string bass from the Ivory Coast

in jazz and particularly in bop, an unexpectedly loud beat from the drummer on a backbeat, upbeat or irregular eighth note beat

a blues style of music which evolved in the Mississippi basin of the Deep South of the U.S.A

a complex 1940's jazz style, characterized by very fast or very slow tempos with improvised lines of notes, irregular accents, and extended harmony…

a French dance similar to the gavotte but beginning on the fourth beat of four rather than the third of four as in the gavotte

a French dance similar to the gavotte but beginning on the fourth beat of four rather than the third of four as in the gavotte

use of a chord in a key in which it is not diatonic, or the substitution of a chord from a different key into a work

a term used to describe when a note is divided into an unusual number of smaller notes, for example, when three quarter notes are to be played in t…

a French dance similar to the gavotte but beginning on the fourth beat of four rather than the third of four as in the gavotte

a Brazilian popular music style developed in the late 1950s

a slide guitar, where a smooth, hard object, usually a hollow metal or glass cylinder, is used to change the pitches of the strings

comic

a French dance similar to the gavotte but beginning on the fourth beat (of four) rather than the third (of four) as in the gavotte

end

an improvisation

the curves in the sides of the instrument, especially the C shaped inward curves that form the waist

a twentieth century long necked Greek lute with a fretted neck and a pear shaped body containing two courses of strings which are tuned like the up…

catgut, made from the intestines of sheep, lambs or goat

beats per minute, the usual measurement of tempo

of the arm

a rustic dance in duple time, similar to the gavotte, originating in France

a perpendicular line with bracket joining multiple staves

a rustic dance in duple time, similar to the gavotte, originating in France

a rustic dance in duple time, similar to the gavotte, originating in France

a rustic dance in duple time, similar to the gavotte, originating in France

arm

bridal song

bravery, gallantry

skill, spirit

a rustic dance in duple time, similar to the gavotte, originating in France

a rustic dance in duple time, similar to the gavotte, originating in France

provides a solo instrumentalist, usually the leader of a jazz or Blue Grass group, to play without the rest of the ensemble

originating from the hip hop movement, it consists of jerky rhythmic patterns, smooth linear robot like movements, syncopation and helicopter spins…

where, by use of a mark like a large comma or apostrophe placed above the stave, the composer requests that the performer break the musical line, s…

a term applied to the performance of music on all instruments indicating all silences between sounds

largo, broad

a double whole note see Note Values

the device, normally made of wood, that transfers energy from a vibrating string to the belly, table or soundboard; the B section of an A A B A son…

brilliant, bright, sparkling, with verve and vivacity

brilliant, bright, sparkling, with verve and vivacity

brilliant, bright, sparkling, with verve and vivacity

a drinking song

free, spirit

spirited

broken, as in arpeggiation

Basque combat dance

an arpeggiated chord where the notes are played one after the other

an ensemble consisting of several different kinds of instruments

where alternate notes are played an octave apart

the interposition of short sections (general only a bar or two) in a contrasting time signature; unusual time signatures that can be unsettling to…

brusquely, short and abruptly

rustic

rustic

Japanese court dance

A banjo like instrument from India. made of a number of strings passing over what resembles a finger board. However, instead of directly fingering…

festive type of Gypsy flamenco song and dance that originated Spain

double bass

jest

jestingly

jocular

jocular

jocular

in a jocular manner

to improvise on preset harmonies

a street performer; in music, a person who plays music on the street

classical Japanese dance