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Tabla -
A small drum held in the lap or placed on the floor so it may be played with the hands in music of India. Its body is conical with the smaller cut through considerably before it would come to a point, so as to provide the sound and air hole for the drum. It is the featured percussion in ragas and other folk music.
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Taffanel, Paul -
The best-known flute virtuoso a century ago. His Etudes remain current.
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Tarantella -
A fast dance in 6/8 which is named for the tarantula. The spider's bite is supposed to cause its victim to dance wildly until they drop dead.
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Tarnhelm -
The magic helmet forged from the Rheingold by Alberich. It has the property of allowing its wearer to shift-shape. So, while Fafner is a giant in Das Rheingold, his acquisition of the Tarnhlem with the rest of the gold gives him the capability to guard his hoard as a dragon in Siegfried.
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Tchaikovsky (and Fauré) -
Tchaikovsky admired Fauré's Piano Quartet. The France to Russia connection returned to France when Debussy was the first pianist to play the Tchaikovsky Piano Trio when he was in the employ of Madame von Meck, Tchaikovsky's patroness.
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Temperaments -
There are several methods of spacing the twelve tones which lie within an octave. Each different plan is called a temperament.
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Tempi -
The plural of Tempo, the speed. So when a piece has several speeds, the plural is used. ________________________
Tempo -
The speed.
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Tempo change -
Changing the speed within a piece. When this is done by a soloist it is easy. But when more have to accomplish it at the same time it takes some coordination.
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Tempo nuance -
Gaining a musical effect through small changes in the speed a few notes at a time.
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Tenor -
1) The vocal range lying approximately from the C within the F clef and reaching the C two octaves higher. Tenor music is most often written in the G clef beginning in the 20th century, but for centuries it was written in the "Tenor clef," the C clef with the indicator resting on the fourth line of the staff.

2) The voice carrying the melody or *cantus firmus in medieval music. The practice continued into the baroque period whenever a cantus firmus was used, as in the Credo of Bach's Mass in B minor.
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Tenuto -
Stretched. This often means that a tone is held for its full value. But in opera a tenuto mark (-) lengthens the tone considerably, distorting the *tempo.
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Terezin -
The Nazi's 'Paradise Ghetto' northwest of Prague, where the arts flourished, though most of the inhabitants perished in Auschwitz.
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Terraced dynamics -
Often used as the hallmark of the baroque: Loud and soft at specific levels with no gradation flowing from one to the other.
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Tessitura -
The range in which a piece generally lies for a voice or instrument. Even though it may include extreme notes out of that range, its tessitura is where it is most of the time.
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Tetrachord (major) -
Starting pitch, up a whole step, up a whole, up a half.
Example: A (start), B (up a whole), C-sharp (up a whole), D (up a half). See
also *Major scale.
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Text-painting -
The expressive use of musical devices to imitate or underline a text. An example might be plucked strings for drops of rain or tears. A famous convention was descending half-steps perceived as sighs and thus sorrow as in the penitent observing the Crucifixion in a Bach Passion or on the secular side, the death of the Commendatore in Mozart's Don Giovanni.
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Textures -
The various types of music: single-line, *Alberti bass, *contrapuntal, *chorale, etc.
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Thalbergian arrangement -
Demanding exceptional and showy pianism, likely to include copious use of *third hand effects.
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Thematic group -
Ideas a composer places together to be contrasted to another thematic group.
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Thematic modulation -
Tonal center changes within the theme, not just the harmony. The tune in and of itself feels as if it is changing key.
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"Theme Russe" -
The Russian folk song which is featured in the finale of Beethoven's String Quartet, op. 59, no. 2. The inclusion of the folk tune was in honor of Prince Rasumovsky, who was the commissioner of the three-quartet set.
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Theorbo -
A 14-stringed bass instrument in the lute family. It has the characteristic pear-shaped belly. It stands quite tall, usually a bit over five feet. The player is a theorbist.
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Theremin -
An early electronic instrument. Because it has no keys, but changes pitch by moving the hand up and down next to a vertical metal rod, the basic sound is that of sliding. The same is true of loud and soft, which are controlled by moving the other hand near and far from a horizontal metal bar.
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Thick scoring -
Simply means that the composer has many instruments playing at the same time. This can lead to thickness of sound.
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"Third-hand" -
An effect on the piano of making it sound as if there are three hands playing rather than two. This is accomplished by having the musical material which is near the center of the piano be played by the two hands as they alternately play away from the center then dive into the middle for a note or two before trading off to the other hand.
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Third Stream -
A term coined by Gunther Schuller and/or John Lewis (pianist with the Modern Jazz Quartet) for their 1960s album of that name. It means the blending of classical and jazz traditions into a third style. Success in achieving this has been elusive at best. All too often it sounds like two streams traveling side by side.

Coming from the jazz side probably the finest blend, and thus the finest third-stream piece is The Riddle by clarinetist Bill Smith, who recorded the work with Dave Brubeck in the '60s, supplanting alto-saxophonist Paul Desmond as wind soloist on the album. However, the great rhythm section of bassist Eugene Wright and percussionist Joe Morello remained intact. In a gross oversight by Columbia, as of this writing, it has not been re-released on CD.
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Thirds -
The distance of three letter-names in music, e.g. A up to C inclusive. Along with sixths, they make the same effect as singing the harmony of "O, tell me whyyyy" at summer camp.
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Thirds, doubly inflected -
The middle of a chord is played as both major and minor. An example would be A-C-C-SHARP
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32-bar songs -
A=8 bars; A repeats; B=8 bars; A repeats.
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Thirds, parallel -
Means two letter names down. If the melody goes C-D-F-E-G, the gymel, a third down will go A-B-D-C-E. It makes the same effect as playing the middle section of Chopsticks. This is also very typical in *mariachi as well as much western European folk music.
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3/4 -
Three beats per measure with a quarter note receiving one beat. This is the meter of the Ländler and the waltz.
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Through composed -
1) Composed without exact repeats; 2) composed throughout, without improvisational sections.
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Thumb position -
On a stringed instruments, when the thumb, which usually is positioned behind the fingerboard, has to be moved onto the fingerboard so the fingers can reach farther into the highest pitches of a stringed instrument.
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Tierce de Picardy -
At the end of a piece in minor the final chord is made to sound as a major chord. This was developed in Picardy, thus its name. It was a favorite device of Bach and other Baroque composers.
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Timbral counterpoint -
Relating to tone colors (*timbre) being played against each other like voices.
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Timbral -
Relating to tone color, or *"timbre".
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Timbre -
The quality of a tone as defined by how much emphasis each of the harmonics receives within the vibrations of the fundamental pitch. Tone color.
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Time lag -
In music which covers a large space the performers must take into account the time it takes for the sound to travel from one place to another.
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Time signature -
Refers to the way meter is described in music. Typically two numbers placed vertically in the staff at the beginning of a piece to show what the *meter of the music is. If the meter changes within the work, then a new time signature is placed in the score at the appropriate location. The first number means the number of beats in a measure, the second what kind of note is being counted. The most usual first numbers are 2, 3, 4, and 6. Others tend to be irregular. The bottom number must be 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc., most commonly 2, 4, or 8.
Ex.: 2/4 - Upper number shows two beats; the lower number shows that a quarter note will be the unit we count. 9/8 - Upper number = nine beats; lower shows and eighth note as the unit.
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Timpani ( sing. Timpanum) -
"Kettle drums". Large drums with differing diameters whose heads can be tuned. In earlier times, even in this century, the drum heads had to be tuned by twisting a series of key-headed tightening screws around the perimeter of the head. From mid-century on the prevalent timpani have a mechanism which tunes the heads through the use of a foot-pedal. When timpani were first used, they played the notes of the lowest trumpet part, striking those which were available on the drums.
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Timpani roll with sticks -
Instead of rolling on the drumhead with the usual felt/yarn mallet, the player uses a stick like that for a snare drum. Elgar uses this effect in the Enigma Variations as accompaniment to a clarinet solo.
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Toccata -
To be touched (as opposed to played with mouth or bow). Keyboard music of such rapidity that the tones seem to be merely touched rather than given weight.
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Tonal center -
The pitch at which a piece "needs" to end or come to rest. In western music it tends to be related to how and where we hear half-steps in the context of a piece of music.
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Tonal framework -
When a piece is non-tonal it may still have a general tonal area in which it lies. This may be the result of not using some pitches or of returning to a few pitches which the ear hears as more important than the others.
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Tonal shift -
When the music diverges from the tone with which one expects the piece to conclude.
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Tonality -
The single tone to which a piece of music gravitates. This is called a key center.
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Tonally -
Using the musical language associated with tonality. Even when, as in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, one is hard pressed to say what the tonal center is at any given point, still the way the music flows is based upon the tonal language.
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Tone cluster -
Pitches on neighboring tones. Though dramatic and often harsh when played loudly, they can be sweet when played gently and high. On the page, tone clusters written on a single staff look like clusters of grapes.
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Tone poem -
A piece of music which has an extra-musical subject, which it portrays in the music. The term was invented by Franz Liszt, who composed several, the most famous of which is Les Préludes. Strauss began his mature career with tone poems (Till Eulenspiegel, Don Juan, Death and Transfiguration, etc.). Smetana strung together six tone poems to make his nationalistic cycle Ma Vlast.
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Tongueing -
The use of the tongue to begin and end tones on a wind instrument.
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Tonic -
Step one (I) of a scale. The tone which is felt to be the 'home'.
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Tonicization -
A brief *modulation which never feels as if it has changed. Tones of a new key are introduced, but the process is so speedy that the ear never escapes the tug of the original key.
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Totentanz-
'Dance of Death', a recurring image in plague devastated Europe. The paintings and drawings inevitably show everyone from a bishop to a low-life as reduced to the appropriate clothing hanging on a skeleton. They are usually led by Death, often playing a violin.
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Tracker action -
When the connection between the keys and the pipes of an organ is mechanical, not, as in most modern instruments, electronic.
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Trading-off (or "trading twos" or "trading fours") -
A jazz term for players alternating short improvisations of equal length, usually four measures or two measures. But one of the more fun things to witness is the shrinking trade-off. From 8 bars, to 4, to 2, to 1, to 2 beats, to 1 beat. It surely demands that the players keep their wits about them.
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Transposition -
Writing a piece out in a new key, but otherwise unaltered. This is most commonly done for two reasons. 1) A singer or choir needs to find a comfort level either higher or lower than the original key; 2) Instruments have their fundamental pitches in various keys for historic reasons. So it is normal for an orchestral score to have "Clarinet in B-flat" or "Horn in F", to name the two most common.
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Trap-set -
The percussion lay-out of jazz or rock drummers. Left foot for bass drum, right foot for "high-hat" cymbals, snare immediately in front of the player, completed with an array of various tom-toms and *suspended cymbals.
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Trebles -
Supposed to be boy singers.
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Tremolando -
Very rapid repetition of one or two notes.
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Tremolo -
A quick alternation between two (or on a keyboard, more) pitches. On stringed instruments it has the additional meaning of a quickly bowed repetition of the same pitch. In vocal music the repetition of the pitch is a feature of the early baroque.
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Très lent -
Very slowly.
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Très modéré -
Very moderately.
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Tri-tone -
The distance of three whole-steps. The interval was once considered to be the "Devil's Interval" because it was so impure and caused disruption within the *modal system. Indeed, there are no tri-tones in naturally occurring *harmonics.

The interval can be spelled as an Augmented Fourth (A up to D-sharp) or as a Diminished Fifth (A up to E-flat). Tri-tones often show up in non-tonal music because, when not resolved according to ancient procedures, they tend to destroy tonality.

Fafner the dragon in Wagner's Siegfried sings only tri-tones, which makes him quite a forbidding character.
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Triadic harmony -
Chords based on thirds, such as A-C-E. (See *Intervals)
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Trill -
The quick alternation of two neighboring tones, usually as fast as possible. A "measured trill" is the quick alternation using even subdivisions of the beat.
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Trio -
The middle section of a minuet or scherzo. In a time when little contrast was possible because of the limitations of the instruments, the middle section of a Minuet was reduced to three players to create contrast. Even in later music, when more than three play the trio, the music takes on a different texture, in Schubert traditionally slower than the surrounding Minuet.
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Trio sonata -
A baroque form originated by Salomone Rossi in the early 1600s. It is actually for four players: two soloists and the continuo which is made up of two players. Since the continuo is a bass line, the two soloists and bass line are why it is called a trio. The trio sonata is usually in four movements: slow-fast-slow-fast.
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Triple meter -
Any meter which feels as if it must be counted in three.
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Triple time -
The accents divide into threes, as in ONE-two-three, ONE -two-three.
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Triple-stop -
Three pitches are held in the left hand of a stringed instrument. They are bowed by the use of a sweep across the strings from lowest to highest unless otherwise indicated.
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Triple-tonguing -
Articulation on wind instruments is done with the tongue. One way of tonguing tones on an instrument very fast is triple-tonguing, on a cornet this is done by going 'ta-ka-ta' with the tongue very fast. As fast as the unpracticed can do this, the pro can go faster.
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Tripled bass line -
Three different players on three different instruments play the bass line.
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Triplet figure -
Produced by saying 'Blueberry' over and over.
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Triplets -
Three rhythmic subdivisions of a beat where two are usual. If saying 'ap-ple, ap-ple' is the usual two, then 'blue-ber-ry, blue-ber-ry' is a triplet.
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Tristanesque -
Referring to Wagner's erotic Tristan und Isolde. In it the erotic and morbid are merged, so the final scene is actually called the "Love Death". No matter how the music wanders from key to key in its unsettled fashion, there is always an expectation that there will the big climactic moment.
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Tromba marina -
An instrument with one played string and fifty sympathetically vibrating strings. The bridge is hollow and contains a small bell which amplifies the sound of both the played tone and the sympathetic tones. The single string is played only on its *overtones. The "tromba" (trumpet) part of the name is because of the little amplifying bell and because the upper overtones upon which it depends have the same quality as a natural trumpet; the "marina" is from the colloquial Polish "maryn" for bass tuba.
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Trombones -
Were often used to signal death. This is no doubt based on the idea of 'die letzte Posaune' the last trombone. Or, if you speak English, the last trumpet. Mozart uses them in Don Giovanni's confrontations with the statue of the Commendatore.
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Tropes -
1) Elaborations inserted into the melody of chants. These could be quite lengthy. When on the word 'Alleluia' the trope was called a Sequence. 2) A standard "figure of speech" or in music, a standard form into which the music can be poured. In literature the Homeric "rosey-fingered dawn" is a trope; in music a minuet could be considered a trope, but so can a standard ornament like a turn.
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Troubadour -
A medieval French musician who, to simplify drastically, belonged to a tradition in which the words and music were both by the singer. Certain melodic and textual characteristics can be identified by scholars.
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Trumpets and oboes -
In the days of real Royalty, trumpets were the instruments of the monarch when engaged in military exercises. Oboes were the instruments of the monarch at home. Thus in Shakespeare's plays when stage directions say 'hautboys' (oboes) we know the domestic nature of the royal scene before a word is spoken.
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Turn -
A standard ornament in which the primary written tone is followed in succession by its upper neighbor, the tone again, the lower neighbor, the tone again, and then the next written tone. Very rarely a turn will stand alone. Some early pieces (single-digit K. numbers) for flute and harpsichord by Mozart come to mind as having stand-alone turns. The turn is such a standard figure that a special musical sign is used instead of writing it out. An inverted turn (going down first) is written out as part of an important melody in von Weber's Der Freischütz, and in Wagner's Die Götterdämmerung the motif of 'Brünnhilde as mortal' has the first 5 out of its 9 notes as part of a written out turn.
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Tutti -
All players together.
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12/8 -
Four beats to a measure with each beat having three subdivisions, ONE, two, three, FOUR, five, six, SEVEN, eight, nine, TEN, eleven, twelve.
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Twelve-tone composition -
See *Dodecaphonic
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Two against three -
is having one line progress with three equally spaced notes at the same time as another voice has but two equally spaced notes. Using your two hands you can approximate this by tapping Both hands, then Right-Left-Right over and over to the rhythm "pie, ap-ple pie". B R-L-R, B R-L-R, etc., thus playing the three in the right and the two in the left. B L-R-L of course puts the three in the left hand.
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Two-manual instrument -
(See: *Goldberg Variations)
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Two players to a part, -
If the players aren't exactly together it can sound quite out of tune
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Two-bands -
One of Charles Ives' favorite games was to recreate the effect of two different marching bands playing at different places in a parade. As one halts within earshot, the other comes closer until there is riotous chaos with different speeds, keys, and tunes. In the Variations he does not go so full out, but imagines more the effect of sitting in a church and hearing one band through the windows on one side and the other band wafting through the opposite windows.