JC's Musical Dictionary
- A patella
- Unaccompanied knee-slapping.
- Adagio fromaggio
- To play in a slow and cheesy manner.
- Aleatoric Music
- Music composed by the random selection of pitches and rhythms.
Frequently found in the choir anthem.
- Antiphonal
- Leaving your answering machine on all the time.
- Antiphonal
- Referring to the prohibition of cell phones in the concert hall.
- Appologgiatura
- An ornament you regret after playing it.
- Approximatura
- A series of notes played by a performer and not intended by the composer,
especially when disguised with an air of "I meant to do that."
- Approximento
- A musical entrance that is somewhat close to the correct pitch.
- Augmentation
- Special surgery for altos involving the implantation of falsettos.
- Basso Continuo
- When the director can't get them to stop.
- Castrato
- The highest male voice (some alteration required).
- Concerto Grosso
- An accordion concert.
- Contralto
- An alto who has been convicted.
- D.C. al capone
- You betta go back to the beginning, capiche?
- Diminuendo
- The process of quieting a rumor in the orchestra pit.
Perhaps the most difficult dynamic in music.
- Dominant
- In a choral relationship, usually the alto.
- Glissando
- What directly precedes the highest note of a descant.
- Grand Pause
- When the conductor loses his place.
- Kvetchendo
- Gradually getting annoyingly louder.
- Leitmotif
- Like a regular motif, but less filling.
- Molto bolto
- Head straight for the ending, but don't make it seem rushed.
- Perfect Pitch
- Throwing a banjo in the dumpster without hitting the sides.
- Polychoral Motet
- Six parrots singing "Exultate Justi"
- Riff
- What happens when someone takes your choir robe.
- Rondo
- A popular sixties song as in 'Help, help me, Rondo.'
- Score
- Basses 3, Tenors 0.
- Spritzicato
- Plucking of a stringed instrument to produce a bright,
bubbly sound, like sparkling water.
- Tempo tantrum
- What an orchestra is having when it's not keeping time with the conductor.
- Tonic
- What is generally enjoyed over ice after choir rehearsal.
- Vesuvioso
- A gradual buildup to a fiery conclusion.