| Wachsend | (German) growing |
| Wachtel | (German) 'quail'; an instrument imitating the bird-cry of the quail |
| Wachtelpfeife | see: wachtel |
| Wagner tubas | brass instruments derived from the French horn although looking like baritone horns; available as a B-flat tenor and an F bass |
| Wah-wah pedal | a foot operated device used by an electric guitarist and bassist which modulates the output by removing low frequencies and boosts high frequencies producing the characteristic 'wah-wah' effect |
| Wait | a medieval salaried musician acting a town watchman or a member of a court band; also old name for a shawm |
| Während | (German) during |
| Waldflöte | (German) 'woodland flute'; an organ pipe often at 4-foot pitch |
| Waldhorn | a valveless hunting horn |
| Waltz | a simple triple time dance derived from the old German Ländler; the dance generally has an introduction, a number of different melodies, before finishing with a coda; harmonically, the dance has one strong chord on the first beat, with two weaker chords on the second and third beat, this pattern repeated from bar to bar |
| Walzer | (German) see: waltz |
| Walzertempo | (German) waltz-time |
| Wankend | (German) wavering, shaking |
| Wärme | (German) warmth |
| Washboard | a kitchen utensil played by moving a drumstick over it; used in dance bands |
| Wassail | a drinking festival often mentioned in Christmas carols |
| Water Organ | see: hydraulus |
| Waveform | a sound wave generated by an oscillator to produce notes with different timbres; hence: sine, pulse, sawtooth, square |
| Wayte | an old name for the hautboy or shawm |
| Wechseln | (German) to change |
| Wechselnote | (German) see: changing note |
| Weg | (German) away, off |
| Wehmut | (German) sorrow |
| Wehmuth | (German) sorrow |
| Wehmütig | (German) sorrowful |
| Wehmüthig | (German) sorrowful |
| Weich | (German) soft, tender, light, minor |
| Weinend | (German) wailing |
| Weinlied | (German) drinking song |
| Well-tempered | see: equal temperament |
| Welsh Harp | a celtic harp |
| Wenig | (German) little |
| Werden | (German) to become |
| Werdend | (German) becoming |
| Whammy bar | a pitch bending device that moves the bridge on a guitar |
| Whiffle | a fife, used in English morris dancing |
| Whip | a percussion instrument consisting of two pieces of wood hinged so that the player can snap the arms together to simulate the sound of a whip |
| Whistle | an end-blown pipe of wood, metal or plastic |
| Whistling | the human whistle relies on the shape of the mouth, acting as a resonator, to pitch the sound produced; if two whistling notes are produced, the resonances are set-up in the back and front of the mouth; some whistlers can hum a note while whistling another |
| Whole note | (American) semibreve |
| Whole rest | (American) semibreve rest |
| Whole step | (American) a whole tone |
| Whole tone | the interval of a major second |
| Whole tone scale | a scale made only of whole tones |
| Wie | (German) as, like, as if |
| Wie anfänglich | (German) as at the beginning |
| Wieder | (German) again |
| Wiederholung | (German) repetition |
| Wiegend | (German) rocking, swaying |
| Wiegenlied | (German) lullaby, berceuse |
| Wienerisch | (German) Viennese |
| Wind chimes | a percussion instrument made of hollow wood, bamboo or metal tubes, suspended on a frame, and struck or blown by the wind |
| Wind machine | a device that simulates the sound of the wind |
| Wirbel | (German) drum roll |
| Wirbeltrommel | (German) tenor drum |
| Wohlgefällig | (German) pleasant, pleasantly |
| Wolf | a false note on a stringed instrument the result of an unintentional resonant response |
| Wood block | a percussion instrument |
| Wq | after Alfred Wotquenne (1867-1939) who catalogued C.P.E. Bach's works in 1905 |
| Wuchtig | (German) weighty |
| Wunsch | (German) wish |
| Würde | (German) dignity |
| Würdig | (German) dignified |
| Wut | (German) rage |
| Wuth | (German) rage |
| Wütend | (German) raging, furious |
| Wüthend | (German) raging, furious |
| Wüthig | (German) raging, furious |
| Wütig | (German) raging, furious |
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