Music Performance Terms

Tempo Terms

Presto	Very rapidly
Vivace	Quickly; spirited
Allegro	Fast; lively
Allegretto	Moderately fast; slower than Allegro
Moderato	Moderately
Andantino	Somewhat faster than Andante
Andante	At a walking pace
Adagio	Rather slow; leisurely
Lento	Slow
Largo	Slow; broad
Grave	Very slow; solemn

Change-of-Tempo Terms

A tempo	Return to original tempo
Accelerando (accel.)	Gradually increasing in tempo
Meno mosso	With less movement or motion
Piu mosso	With movement or motion
Rallentando (rall.)	Gradually slowing in tempo
Ritardando (rit.)	Gradually slowing in tempo
Ritenuto (riten.)	Immediately slowing in tempo; also used synonymously with rallentando and ritardando

Dynamic Levels

Crescendo (cresc.)	Gradually becoming louder
Decrescendo (decresc.)	Gradually becoming softer
Diminuendo (dim.)	Gradually becoming softer
Pianissimo (pp)	Very soft
Piano (p)	Soft
Mezzo piano (mp)	Moderately soft
Mezzo forte (mf)	Moderately loud
Forte (f)	Loud
Fortissimo (ff)	Very loud
Sforzando (sf., sfz.)	Strongly accented; with an emphatic stress

Other Music Terms

Animato	Animated; with spirit
Cantabile	In singing style
Coda	A concluding section of a composition
Con moto	With motion
Da capo (D.C.)	Repeat from the beginning
Da capo al fine (D. C. al fine)	Repeat from the beginning to Fine (the end)
Dal segno (D. S.)	Repeat from the sign
Dal segno al fine	Repeat from the sign to Fine (the end)
Dolce	Sweetly; delicately
Espressivo	Expressively
Fine	The end of a composition
Giocoso	Humourously; playfully
Grazioso	Gracefully
Legato	Smoothly; connected
Leggiero	Lightly; nimbly
Maestoso	Majestically; with dignity
Marcato	Marked; stressed
Meno	Less
Molto	Much
Mosso	Motion
Pesante	Heavily
Piu	More
Poco	Little; a little
Scherzando	Playfully
Sempre	Always
Simile	In the same manner
Sostenuto	Sustained
Troppo	Much