Category: Music Terms

A ballad is a slow, narrative song with a dramatic tune, usually focusing on themes like love, loss, or bravery. It typically features repeating verses to make the story memorable. …

Remastered music is an existing recording that has received new mastering processing for a new release. It normally uses the original performance and an existing mix, rather than recording the …

Programmatic music is an instrumental type of music that evokes certain emotions and triggers the listener’s imagination in the process. It gives the listener something to think about and triggers …

A refrain is a recurring line, phrase, or passage in a song. A chorus may be called a refrain, but a short refrain can also sit inside a verse rather …

A slow tempo is considered – largo (40–60 bpm), larghetto (60–66 bpm) and adagio (66–76 bpm). These 3 fall into the category of what is known as a ‘slow tempo’ …

Presto tempo means “very fast, very quick” and it is classified as a very upbeat tempo in music. A common approximate range is 168–200 beats per minute, though the beat …

The word RIFF means a repeated musical pattern that’s usually short, sometimes two or four bars long. The term is associated with jazz, and Merriam-Webster dates its first known written …

Tempo is a term that refers to the speed at which a song should be played. Tempo is measured in beats per minute (bpm) and is included on the top …

Contemporary classical music is a type of classical music created recently. It was most often used to describe post-tonal compositions after the death of Anton Webern in the early 21st …

An Ostinato is a short rhythmic or melodic pattern that is persistently repeated in the same voice or several voices throughout a composition.  Ostinatos are often used as an exercise …