Ka…
Kabosy short lute in the shape of a box, from Madagascar
Kamaycha vertically held string instrument from India. nineteen strings, three of gut for melody, two of brass for drone, and fourteen of steel for sympathetic resonance
Kammer (German) chamber
Kammerton (German) the pitch used for instruments in Germany during the Baroque period, where a’ was about 410-425 Hz
Kankukus Afro-Brazilian dance
Kanon (German) canon
Kantele traditional Finnish stringed instrument, laid on a table or across the player’s knees and plucked
Kanun Middle Eastern instrument dating before the time of Christ. similar to a zither, 72-75 grouped strings, which are tuned flat and then raised or lowered in small semitone increments using a series of latches
Karaoke popular nightclub style from Japan where customers sing the melody to accompanying prerecorded tracks
Kaum (German) barely
Kavatine (German) cavatina
Kayagum a Korean 12-string zither
Ke…
Kecak ancient Balinese trance dance performed to appease the gods in times of difficulty
Keck (German) audacious
Keckheit (German) audacity
Keen an Irish funeral song
Keineswegs (German) no way
Keleli a two or three string long necked lute from Chad
Kerfing (guitar lining) is Tapered strip(s) of wood glued around the inside seams of a guitar to add strength and stability where the sides meet the top and back. Kerfing has spaced slits that render the wood strip flexible. see Anatomy of a Classical Guitar
Key specific scale or series of notes defining a particular tonality
Key note the first note of the scale upon which a piece of music is based
Key signature an arrangement of sharps or flats placed on the far left hand side of each line of the staff, indicating scale of the piece. see key signature in Elements of a Musical Score see Elements of Standard Notation for Classical Guitar see Table of Key Signatures
Ki…
Kidumbak a style from Zanzibar, percussive and dance-based
Kind (German) child
Kinder (German) children
Kindlich (German) childlike
Kirche (German) church
Kirchencantate (German) church cantata
Kitchen department unkind description of the percussion section of an orchestra
Kithara ancient Greek lyre-like instrument, a square or rounded resonator box (body) and as many as eleven gut strings supported by a yoke attached to two arms attached to and rising from the body
Kitsch a work that is shallow, pretentious, gaudy, without substance, or calculated to have popular appeal
Kizomba music an Angolan style based on the semba, rumba and quilapanga
Kl…
Klagend (German) lamenting
Kläglich (German) lamentable
Klammer (German) brace
Klang (German) sound, tone
Klangfarbe (German) timbre, tone
Klar (German) clear, distinct
Klein (German) small, minor
Kleine (German) small, minor
Klingen (German) resonant, to sound
Klingend (German) resonant, to sound
Kn…
Kneifend (German) pizzicato, plucking
Ko…
Koa Koa was first used as a tonewood in the ukuleles of Hawaii for its warm tone. Colors ranging from brown to gold with rich and varying grain. see Wood Choices for Back & Sides see Alternative Wood Choices for Back & Sides see Anatomy of a Classical Guitar
Kobsa plucked lute
Kokle Latvian lap zither
Kolomyika a quick duple-time Polish dance
Komisch (German) comic
Kompa popular style of Haitian tropical music created in the 1950s
Komponiert (German) composed
Komun-go Korean six-string zither
Komuz a three stringed lute from Kyrgyzstan
Koni a small traditional four-stringed lute in the form of a teardrop from Gambia
Kono strummed lute from Ghana
Kontingo West African lute
Kontrapunkt (German) counterpoint
Kontretanz a country dance
Konzert (German) concert, concerto
Konzertstück informal concert piece, usually in one movement, for solo instruments and orchestra
Kopuz Central Asian Turkic short lute
Kora West African harp lute with 19 strings, popular in Gambia, Senegal and Mali. has a skin stretched across a large gourd, a wooden neck and gut or nylon fishwire strings stretched across a tall bridge. played in a similar way to a harp
Koryaga one stringed instrument with a string fixed on a curved branch of a tree. The sound is made by a violin bow or plucked, and the notes are changed with the use of a wire bent over the branches’ ends.
Kostenka (German) a type of Serbian dance
Koto a 13 string Japanese zither of Chinese origin. about 6 feet long. laid horizontally with waxed silken strings stretched tightly over movable bridges along the length of the instrument. plucked using ivory picks
Kr…
Kraft (German) strength, vigour
Kräftig strong, vigorous
Krakoviak Polish dance from the Kraków region, in 2/4 time with syncopated rhythms
Krakowiak Polish dance from the Kraków region, in 2/4 time with syncopated rhythms
Krar a six-string bowl-shaped lyre from Ethiopia
Kreis (German) cycle, circle
Kreuz (German) the sharp sign
Ku…
Kucheng a 16 or 21-stringed zither. the most popular plucked traditional Chinese instrument on Taiwan
Kujawiak a quick, triple-time Polish dance
Kum Korean seven-stringed zither used in court music
Kurz (German) short
Kurze (German) short
Kurzer Vorschlag (German) acciaccatura
Kw…
Kwaito an urban South African genre developed in the 1990s, a fusion of various musical sounds that were popular in the 1990s, including South African dance music, hip hop, Jamaican influences, house music and rhythm and blues
Kwassa-kwassa dance style from the Democratic Republic of Congo that was developed in the 1980’s