| B | (German) the note 'B flat' - what the German's call B flat (Bes) is actually our B double flat |
| Bacchanalia | riotous song or dance pertaining to Bacchus, the Roman god of wine |
| Bacchetta (It.), Bacchette (It. plural form), Baguette (Fr.) | drumstick, conductor's baton |
| Badinage, Badinerie | (French) playfulness |
| Bagatelle | (Fr., German) trifle, unpretentious |
| Baile, Bayle | (Spanish) dance or ballet |
| Baisser | (French) to lower, as 'to tune down a violin string' |
| Balalaika | a triangular guitar-like instrument with a fretted finger-board normally bearing three strings of Russian origin |
| Ballabile | (Italian) in a dance style |
| Ballad | a song, originally to be danced, but generally without dance associations |
| Ballad opera | eighteenth-century English comic play with songs based on popular tunes but set to new words |
| Ballade | fourteenth- and fifteenth-century formes fixes, each stanza having an initial repeated section followed by a second section played only once; a dramatic heroic piano piece often inspired by poetry; a setting of a poem to music |
| Balladenmässig | (German) in the style of a ballad |
| Ballerino, Ballerina | (Italian) male dancer, female dancer |
| Ballet | a dance form originally formal and courtly, originally danced both by professionals and guests but now danced by professionals |
| Ballo | (Italian) a ball (dancing), dance |
| Bamboula | a tambourine of African descent from the West Indies, a dance accompanied by instrument |
| Banatanka | a Serbian dance |
| Band, Bände | (German) volume (a book), volumes |
| Bandora, Bandore, Bandurria | of the cittern family |
| Banjo | a plucked, four to nine wire- (occasionally gut-) strung instrument with a circular body to which is attached an generally un-fretted neck, the strings lying on a low bridge over a resonator made of a metal hoop over which parchment is tensioned |
| Barber-Shop Harmony | a popular, banal style of close harmony singing |
| Barcarolle (Fr.), Barkarole (Ger.) | a song or instrumental piece generally in compound duple or compound quadruple time associated with boats and boating |
| Bariolage | (French) rapid alternation of open and stopped strings on the violin |
| Barn Dance | a dance of rural origin in simple quadruple time |
| Barocco (It.), Barok (Ger.), Baroque (Fr.) | originally meaning bizarre, coarse, uncouth (Portuguese, barroco); today applied to European music from the period c. 1580 to c. 1730 |
| Barre (Fr.) | a device that clamps to the neck of a plucked string instrument (e.g. a guitar) and which change its tuning by shortening the sounding length of every string |
| Baryton | A type of bass viol that has both bowed and sympathetic strings |
| Baskiche Tänze | (German) Basque dance |
| Baskische Trommel | literally 'Basque drum', tambourine |
| Basques | a term applied to rhythmically complex dance music of Basque origin |
| Bassa, Basso, Bassi (plural form) | (Italian) low, bass |
| Bass-bar | a strip pf 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 response |
| Basse | (French) bass |
| Basse chiffrée (Fr.), Basse continue (Fr.), Basso continuo (Italian) | figured bass from which 17th- and 18th-century keyboard players realised accompaniments |
| Basse Dance | a very early dance type, in which the feet are kept close to the ground) remembered for the way in which Basse Dance tunes continued to inspire composers long after the dances themselves had become extinct, probably sometime in the 16th century; the dance may be in duple or triple time, or a mixture of the two, often improvised over a tenor cantus firmus |
| Basse d'harmonie | (French) Ophicleide |
| Bassettflöte | (German) old name for the bass recorder |
| Basso ostinato | Ground bass |
| Bassposaune | (German) bass trombone |
| Bass-saite | (German) the bottom string on a bowed or plucked instrument |
| Batterie | (French) noisy percussion instruments, a rhythmic sequence using in military drumming |
| Battre | (French) to beat time |
| Battuta, A | (Italian) a tempo, return to the original speed |
| Bauernleier | (German) hurdy-gurdy |
| Be | (German) the flat sign |
| Bearbeit, Bearbitung | (German) arranged, arrangement |
| Beaucoup | (French) much |
| Bebend | (German) trembling, tremulo |
| Bebung | a tremulo effect achieved by rocking the finger on the key of a clavichord while the tangent is in contact with a sounding string |
| Bécarre | (French) the natural sign |
| Becken, Beck (abbreviation) | (German) cymbals |
| Bedächtig | (German) careful |
| Bedarfsfall, Im | (German) in case of need |
| Bedautend | (German) considerable |
| Begeistert | (German) inspired, enthused |
| Begeisterung | (German) inspiration, exaltation |
| Begleiten | (German) to accompany |
| Begleitung | (German) accompaniment |
| Begleitend | (German) accompanying |
| Behaglich | (German) agreeably |
| Behend, Behendigkeit | (German) nimbly, nimbleness |
| Beherzt | (German) courageous |
| Beide | (German) both |
| Beinahe | (German) almost |
| Beispiel | (German) example |
| Beisser | (German) mordant (ornament) |
| Beklemmt, Beklommen | (German) oppressed |
| Bel canto | (Italian, beautiful singing voice) a lyrical, smooth vocal style associated with 18th century Italian professional singers and sdesigned to show off the singer's voice |
| Belebend, Belebt, Belebter | (German) animating, animated, more animated |
| Beleiben, Nach | (German) at will, at your pleasure, ad libitum |
| Beleibig | (German) optional |
| Bellicoso, Bellicosamente (adverb form) | (Italian) warlike |
| Belly | the upper surface of a stringed instrument on which the bridge rests, also called 'the table' |
| Belustigend | (German) amusing, gay |
| Bémol (Fr.), Bemolle (It.) | flat |
| Ben, Bene | (Italian) well, much |
| Beneplacito, Beneplacimento | (Italian) when preceded by 'A suo' the phrase means 'ad libitum' |
| Bequadro | (Italian) the natural sign |
| Bequem | (German) comfortable |
| Bercement | (French) rocking, lulling, swaying |
| Berceuse | (French) a lullaby or instrumental piece in compound duple time |
| Bereite vor | (German) prepare, make ready |
| Bereits | (German) already, previously |
| Bergamasque (Fr.), Bergamasca (It.), Bergomask (Ger.) | a dance originally from Bergamo, then in simple duple time, but now associated with a wider range of time signatures |
| Bergerette | (French) a shepherd's song |
| Beruhigen, Beruhigt, Beruhigter, Beruhigend, Beruhigung (noun) | (German) to make restful, become restful, more restful, becoming restful, calming (noun) |
| Bes | (German) the note 'B double flat' |
| Beschleunigen, Beschleunigt | (German) to speed up |
| Beseelt | (German) animated |
| Bestimmt | (German) prominent, in a decided style |
| Betend | (German) praying |
| Betont | (German) stressed, emphasised, accentuated |
| Betonung | (German) accentuation |
| Betrübnis, Betrübt | (German) sadness, saddened |
| Beweglich, Beweglichkeit, Bewegt, Bewegter, Bewegung | (German) agile, agility, speeded (or moved emotionally), quicker, speed (or emotion) |
| Bianca | (Italian) minim, half-note |
| Bicinium | a song for two voices |
| Bien | (French) well, very |
| Bind | alternative word for 'tie' |
| Bis | (French) twice, encore (play again) |
| Bis | (German) until |
| Bisbigliato | (Italian) whispered |
| Biscroma | (Italian) demisemiquaver or thirty-second note |
| Bittend | (German) entreating |
| Bizzarro | (Italian) bizarre, whimsical |
| Blanche | (French) minim, half-note |
| Blasinstrumente | (German) wind instruments |
| Blasmusik | (German) music for wind instruments |
| Bleiben | (German) to remain |
| Bleibt | (German) remains |
| Blockflöte | (German) recorder, 2ft pitch metal organ pipe |
| Bloss | (German) mere, merely |
| Blue notes | lowered third, seventh and occasionally fifth degrees of the major scale |
Blues | standard twelve-bar chord progression, an African-American vocal genre | | Bocca chiusa (It.), Bouche fermée (Fr.) | wordless humming |
| Boceto | (Spanish) sketch |
| Bogen, Bog (abbreviation) | (German) bow (for stringed instrument), 'tie' or 'bind' |
| Bogenstrich | (German) bow stroke |
| Bois | (French) wood |
| Bois, Les | (French) the wood-wind |
| Boîte | (French) swell box of an organ |
| Bolero | a simple, triple time Spanish dance performed by couples |
| Bombard | a large member of the shawm (oboe-like) family |
| Bombarda | (Italian) euphonium (a member of the tuba family) |
| Bones | pieces of rib bone played like castanets |
| Bongos | a pair of small Cuban drums, fixed together with a metal bar, played with the thumb and fingers |
| Borre (Eng.), Borree (Eng.), Borry (Eng.), Bourrée (Fr.) | 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 |
| Bouffons | old sword dance performed by men in cardboard armour, also called 'Mattachins' or Matassins' |
| Bourdon | a low sounding organ pipe, the lowest string on a lute or violin, a large deep-sounding bell, the drone string of a hurdy-gurdy, a drone pipe of a bagpipe |
| Bout | (French) end (of a bow) |
| Boutade | (French) an improvisation |
| Boyau | (French) catgut, actually made from sheeps' intestines |
| Braccio | (Italian) of the arm, i.e. stringed instrument held under the chin or against the upper arm, as opposed to 'gamba', those held down between the legs or on the lap |
| Brace | a perpendicular line with bracket, joining the two staves of piano music |
| Branle (Fr.), Bransle (Fr.), Brawl (Eng.), Brawle (Eng.), Brantle (Eng.) | a rustic dance in duple time, similar to the gavotte, originating in France |
| Bras | (French) arm |
| Bratsche, Bratschen (plural), Br. (abbreviation) | (German) viola |
| Brautlied | (German) bridal song |
| Bravoure | (Fr.) bravery, gallantry |
| Bravoure (Fr.), Bravura (It.) | skill |
| Breit | (German) largo, broad (as in bowing) |
| Bridge | the device, normally made of wood, that transfers energy from a vibrating string (on a stringed instrument or a 'string-bearing' keyboard instrument) to the belly, table or soundboard |
| Brillant (Fr.), Brillante (Fr.), Brillante (It.) | brilliant |
| Brindisi | (Italian) a toast |
| Brio | (Italian) free, spirit, vigour |
| Brioso | (Italian) spirited |
| Brisé | (French) broken, as in 'arpeggiation' |
| Brume, Buée | (French) mist |
| Brummeisen | (German) Jew's Harp |
| Bruscamente | (Italian) brusquely |
| Buccolico, Bucolico | (Italian) rustic, bucolic |
| Buffa, Buffo | (Italian) comic |
| Buffonesco, Buffonescamente (adverb) | (Italian) buffoon-like, droll |
| Burla, Burlando, Burletta | (Italian) jest, jestingly, a musical farce |
| Burlesco, Burlesca | (Italian) burlesque, jocular |
| Busk | to improvise on preset harmonies |
Services
