Meaning

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Music Words Meaning

P

PALESTRINA

Palestrina was an Italian composer. He was born in c 1525 and died in c 94. He composed Masses, madrigals.

PALLET

In music, a palette is a valve between the wind chest and the mouth of a pipe or row of pipes in an organ.

PANDEAN PIPES

The pandean pipes are an early form of musical instrument consisting of a single row of seven or more short reeds or pipes closed at their lower ends and joined together, also graduated in length so as to produce the notes of the diatonic scale when the pipes are individually sounded by blowing across their upper ends.

PARATA

The Parata is a traditional Maltese dance performed by children on the morning of Carnival Saturday. The dance is a mock-enactment of the Maltese victory over the Turks.

PARLANDO

In music, parlando is a directive for a piece to be sung or played in the style of a recitative.

PARTITA

In music, a partita is a suite or a set of variations.

PAS DE DEUX

In ballet, a pas de deux is a dance for two.

PASSACAGLIA

The passacaglia is an old Italian or Spanish dance tune, in slow three-four measure, with divisions on a ground bass, resembling a chaconne.

PASSING TONE

In music, a passing tone is a tone introduced between two other tones, on an unaccented portion of a measure, for the sake of smoother melody, but forming no essential part of the harmony.

PASSION MUSIC

Originally, passion music was music set to the gospel narrative of the passion of Christ. After the Reformation, it became a kind of oratorio, with narrative, chorals, airs, and choruses, having for its theme the passion and crucifixion of Christ.

PASTORAL

In music, pastoral refers to a cantata or lyrical composition relating to rural life. They are compositions for instruments characterised by simplicity and sweetness.

PASTORALE

In music, pastorale describes a composition in a soft, rural style, generally in 6-8 or 12-8 time.

PAUL ABRAHAM

Paul Abraham was a hungarian composer. He wasborn in 1892 at Apatin abd died in 1960. He studied at Budapest from 1910 to 1916 and in 1927 was appointed conductor with the Budapest Hauptstadtischen Operettentheater, where his first operetta, 'Der Gatte des Fraeuleins' , was performed in 1928. Moving to berlin, he later left when his music was banned by the Nazis and he travelled first to Vienna and then Paris and the USA before returning to Germany after the war.

PAUL DUKAS

Paul Dukas was a French composer. He was born in 1865 at Paris and died in 1935. His most popular work is the Sorcerer's Apprentice which was used by Walt Disney in his film Fantasia.

PAUL HINDEMITH

Paul Hindemith was a German composer. He was born in 1895.

PAVAN

The Pavan (Pavane) is a moderately paced dance dating from the 16th century or possibly earlier.

PEDAL NOTE

A pedal note is a musical note which is held or sustained through an organ point.

PEDAL ORGAN

A pedal organ is an organ which has pedals or a range of keys moved by the feet.

PERFECT CADENCE

In music, a perfect cadence is a complete and satisfactory close in harmony, such as upon the tonic preceded by the dominant.

PERFECT CHORD

In music a perfect chord is a concord or union of sounds which is perfectly coalescent and agreeable to the ear, such as the unison, octave, fifth, and fourth forming a perfect consonance.

PETER TCHAIKOVSKY

Peter I. Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer. He was born in 1840 and died in 1893. He composed Nutcracker, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty.

PHRASE

In music a phrase is a short clause or portion of a period. A composition consists first of sentences, or periods; these are subdivided into sections, and these are in turn subdivided into phrases.

PHRYGIAN MODE

Phrygian mode is one of the ancient Greek modes of music, very bold and vehement in style. It is so called because it is fabled to have been invented by the Phrygian Marsyas.

PIANETTE

A pianette is a small piano.

PIANISSIMO

In music, pianissimo is a direction to execute a passage as softly as possible.

PIANO

The piano is a musical instrument with a keyboard. It was invented in the 18th century as a development of the harpsichord. Strings are stuck by hammers when the keys are depressed.

PIANOGRAPH

A pianograph is a form of melodiograph applied to a piano.

PIATTI

In music, piatti is another name for cymbals.

PIBCORN

A pibcorn is a Welsh musical wind instrument or pipe, with a horn at each end.

PIBROCH

A pibroch is a Highland air, suited to the particular passion which the musician would either excite or assuage. the term is generally applied to those airs that were played on the bagpipe before the Highlanders when they went out to battle.

PICCOLO

The piccolo is a small woodwind instrument of the flute family. It is played from the treble clef, but its music is usually written an octave lower than the pitch of the sounds produced.

PIETRO GUGLIELMI

Pietro Guglielmi was an Italian composer. He was born in 1727 at
Massa di Carrara and died in 1804. He was a prolific writer of operas, both comic and serious and also of chamber music and masses. In 1793 he was appointed musical director to the Vatican.

PIETRO MASCAGNI

Pietro Mascagni was an Italian composer. He was born in 1863 and died in 1945. He composed Cavalleria Rusticana.

PIFFERO

A piffero is a kind of fife and also, a rude kind of oboe or a bagpipe with an inflated skin for a reservoir.

PIROUETTE

In ballet, a pirouette is a complete turn, or a series of turns, on one leg.

PITCH

In music, pitch is the relative acuteness or gravity of a tone, determined by the number of vibrations which produce it. the term applies to the place of any tone upon a scale of high and low. Musical tones with reference to absolute pitch, are named after the first seven letters of the alphabet; with reference to relative pitch, in a series of tones called the scale, they are called one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Eight is also one of a new scale an octave higher, as one is eight of a scale an octave lower.

PIZZICATO

In music, pizzicato indicates that the instruments of the violin family have their sounds produced by plucking the strings instead of using the bow. This device for imitating the tones of the harp was first used by Monteverde.

PLAGAL

In music, plagal describes a piece as having a scale running from the dominant to its octave. It is said of certain old church modes or tunes, as opposed to those called authentic, which ran from the tonic to its octave.

PLAGAL CADENCE

In music a plagal cadence is a cadence in which the final chord on the tonic is preceded by the chord on the subdominant.

PLANXTY

A planxty is an Irish or Welsh melody for the harp, sometimes of a mournful character.

PLIE

In ballet, plie is a bending of the knees.

POCO

In music, poco means a little and is used chiefly in phrases indicating the time or movement.

POCO A POCO

In music, poco a poco means little by little. It is used in phrases indicating the time or movement for example poco a poco crescendo meaning gradually increasing in loudness.

POGO

The pogo was a punk dance of the late 1970's and early 1980's which involved jumping into the air whilst keeping the arms straight at the sides of the body, the body stiff and tense and the legs straight and the head cocked to one side. The body was propelled upwards by flexing the feet.

POINT

In music a point is a dot or mark used to designate certain tones or time. In ancient music a point was a dot or mark distinguishing or characterising certain tones or styles, for example as points of perfection, or of augmentation, etc. In modern music a point is a dot placed at the right hand side of a note, to raise its value, or prolong its time, by one half, as to make a whole note equal to three half notes, a half note equal to three quarter notes.

POLKA

The polka is a lively Bohemian folk dance in 2-4 measure, with the third quaver accented.

POLONAISE

The polonaise is a Polish national dance of slow movement in three-quarter time beginning always on the beat with a quaver followed by a crotchet, and closing on the beat after a strong accent on the second beat, made up of a march or promenade. The name is also applied to the music used for the dance, which was especially elaborated by Chopin.

POLYCHORD

A polychord is a musical instrument of ten strings. A polychord is an apparatus for coupling two octave notes, capable of being attached to a keyed instrument.

POLYPHONIC

In music, polyphonic means consisting of several tone series, or melodic parts, progressing simultaneously according to the laws of counterpoint.

POLYPHONY

In music a polyphony is a composition in mutually related, equally important parts which share the melody among them as opposed to a homophony, in which the melody is given to one part only, the others filling out the harmony.

POMPOSO

In music, pomposo means in a grand and dignified style.

PORTAMENTO

In singing, or in the use of the bow in music, portamento is a gradual carrying or lifting of the voice or sound very smoothly from one note to another as though gliding from tone to tone.

PRELUDE

In music a prelude is a strain introducing the theme or chief subject. A prelude is a movement introductory to a fugue, but independent.

PREPARATION

In music, preparation is the holding over of a note from one chord into the next chord, where it forms a temporary discord, until resolved in the chord that follows, that is the anticipation of a discordant note in the preceding concord, so that the ear is prepared for the shock.

PRESTISSIMO

In music, prestissimo means very quickly or with great rapidity.

PRESTO

In music, presto is a direction for a quick, lively movement or performance, quicker than allegro, or any rate of time except prestissimo.

PRIMITIVE CHORD

In music a primitive chord is a chord, the lowest note of which is of the same literal denomination as the fundamental base of the harmony.

PROGRAMME MUSIC

Programme music is descriptive instrumental music which requires an argument or programme to explain the meaning of its several movements.

PROGRESSION

In music a progression is a regular succession of tones or chords, that is the movement of the parts in harmony or the order of the modulations in a piece from key to key.

PROLATION

Prolation was a mediaeval method of determining of the proportionate duration of semibreves and minims.

PUI TOSTO

In music, pui tosto means faster or more rapid.

PYOTR TCHAIKOVSKY

Pyotr Tchaikovsky was a 19th century Russian composer.

PYROPHONE

A pyrophone is a musical instrument, in which the various notes are produced by the burning of hydrogen gas within glass tubes of varying lengths and sizes.

PYRRHIC DANCE

The Pyrrhic Dance was an ancient Greek dance which consisted of moves representing an attempt to avoid the strokes of an enemy in battle. It was viewed as a kind of training for war.