R…
R & B abbreviation for rhythm and blues
Ra…
Rabab ancient instrument found in Afghanistan and India. a hollowed-out body of wood with a membrane stretched over the opening. Combinations of gut and metal strings pass over a bridge which rests on a taught membrane
Rababa Afghan lute with 13 sympathetic strings. The three main gut strings are stretched across a goat skin
Rabbia (Italian) anger, rage, Fury
Raddolcendo (Italian) becoming gentler, calming down
Raddolcente (Italian) becoming gentler, calming down
Raddoppiare (Italian) to double
Raddoppiamento (Italian) doubling
Raffrenando (Italian) checking the speed, slowing
Rageur (French) ill-tempered
Ragtime a musical syle of 1890s America, a forerunner of jazz
Rajão a mid-size Portuguese guitar from the island of Madeira
Raking performing broken chords on the lute
Raks sharki belly dance or Oriental dance
Ralentir (French) to slow down
Rall. abbreviation of rallentando
Rallentamento (Italian) slow
Rallentando (Italian) slowing
Rallentato (Italian) slowed
Rallentare (Italian) to slow
Rammentatore (Italian) prompter
Rancheras (Spanish) Mexican cowboy music usually accompanied by a mariachi band
Range from the lowest note to the highest note whether in a piece of music, or an instrument
Rant old English dance of the seventeenth century in duple meter and binary form
Rap rhythmic chanting consisting of improvised rhymes performed to rhythmic accompaniment
Rapidamente (Italian) rapidly
Rapidità (Italian) rapidity
Rapido (Italian) rapid
Rapproacher (French) bring closer together
Rapso music style from Trinidad and Tobago
Rapsodia (Italian) rhapsody
Rasch (German) quick
Rascher (German) quicker
Rasgueado (Spanish) a style of guitar playing in which the strings are strummed
Rasguedo (Spanish) a style of guitar playing in which the strings are strummed
Raspa, La Mexican dance from Veracruz
Rattenendo (Italian) holding back
Rattenere (Italian) to hold back
Rattenuto (Italian) held back
Rauh (German) coarse, rough
Rauschend (German) murmuring, rustling
Ravvivando (Italian) quickening
Ravvivato (Italian) quickened
Re…
Recapitulation the return of the opening thematic material
Recessional composition to be performed at the end of a church service as the clergy leaves the church
Recht (German) right
Rechte (German) right
Recital a musical performance usually involving a small number of performers
Recoupe a dance of the French Renaissance
Recueilli (French) meditative
Red Palm An alternative wood for the back and sides of a classical guitar. see Wood Choices for Back & Sides see Alternative Wood Choices for Back & Sides see Anatomy of a Classical Guitar
Redend (German) speaking
Redoublement (French) doubling
Redoubler (French) doubling
Redowa a fast, triple-time dance from Bohemia
Reduction simplified arrangement of a composition
Reduire (French) to arrange
Reduzieren (German) to arrange
Redundant entry an extra voice in the initial entries or the exposition in a fugue
Redwood Lace Burl An alternative wood for the back and sides of a classical guitar. see Wood Choices for Back & Sides see Alternative Wood Choices for Back & Sides see Anatomy of a Classical Guitar
Reel lively Scottish, Irish or Scandinavian dance in 4/4
Refin. A non original finish on a guitar. see Anatomy of a Classical Guitar
Refrain a chorus or a part of a song that recurs often at the end of each of a number of verses
Refrapper (German) to strike again
Reggae a slow tempo rhythmic style that originated in Jamaica
Regie (German) production
Register range of an instrument with a characteristic sound
Registrieren (German) to register
Registrierung (German) registration
Registro (Italian) register
Rein (German) pure
Réjouissance (French) a spirited movement found in suites of the baroque period
Relâché (French) loosened
Related keys musical keys that because of their similarity are easy to move between
Relative keys keys that share a common key signature, for example, C major and A minor
Relative pitch an ability to identify one pitch with reference to another given pitch
Religieuse (French) religious
Religieux (French) religious
Religiosamente (Italian) with a devotional feeling
Religioso (Italian) religious
Remettre (French) to put back
Remote keys the relationship between keys that have relatively few notes in common, for example, the key of C and the key of F sharp
Renaissance (Italian) an era of music between the fifteenth- and sixteenth-centuries
Rendition a performance
Renforcer (French) increase
Renforcez (French) increase
Rentrée (French) re-entry
Renvoi (French) the repeat sign
Repeat a sign indicating that a section of a piece of music is to be played a second time. see Repeats, D.S.,D.C….
Repeat sign a sign indicating that a section of a piece of music is to be played a second time. see Repeats, D.S.,D.C….
Repeated notes reiteration of a tone at the same pitch level
Repeated notes see Repeated Notes, Sequences, & Passages
Repeated passage see Repeated Notes, Sequences, & Passages
Repeated Sequence of Two Notes see Repeated Notes, Sequences, & Passages
Repercussion the frequent repetition of the same sound
Répertoire compositions prepared for performance
Repeticiôn (Spanish) repeat
Répétition (French) rehearsal
Repetizione (Italian) rehearsal
Replica (English) musical instrument that is a reproduction
Replica (Italian) repeat
Replicato (Italian) doubled
Replicazione (Italian) repetition
Repos (French) repose
Reprendre (French) to take up again
Reprenez (French) take up again
Reprise (French) repeat, recapitulation, revival; a shortened version of a major composition in a stage production used to reward the audience with a repeat of a popular melody, often used as a finale to a scene or an act
Requiem musical composition honoring the dead
Requinto small guitar used in Spain, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico
Requinto jarocho small 4-string Mexican guitar from the Jarocho region
Résolument (French) resolutely
Resolution harmonic progression from discord to concord
Resoluto (Italian) resolute
Resoluzione (Italian) firmness, steady rhythm
Resonator those parts of instruments which resonate or vibrate, thus enhancing the sound of the instrument, particularly the body of a guitar (an example of a resonator box)
Ressortir (French) to make a melody stand out
Rest a musical symbol indicating a period of silence see rest in Note Values see Elements of Standard Notation for Classical Guitar
Restez (French) remain on a note or string
Restring Install new strings on a guitar. see How to Change Classical Guitar Strings
Retardando (Italian) to hold back, holding back, held back (gradual change of tempo)
Retardation suspension in a harmony that resolves upwards rather than downwards; a slowing down of the tempo
Retenant (French) to hold back immediately
Retenu (French) to hold back immediately
Retrograde motion a theme played backwards
Retrograde inversion motion a theme played backwards and upside down
Retrouvez (French) re-attain
Réunis (French) coupled
Reveille (French) the military signal announcing the start of the day, wake-up call
Revenir (French) to return
Reverse motion imitation in contrary motion, that is, the ascending intervals are changed to descending intervals and the descending intervals changed to ascending
Rêveur (French) dreamy
Revidiert (German) revised
Rewap a three-string long necked lute of the Turks in China. The resonator is usually round, covered with python skin or other elements and sometimes there are elaborate wood, bone and horn inlays
Rezitativ (German) recitative
Rh…
Rhapsody similar to fantasia applied to pieces from the nineteenth-century inspired by extroverted romantic notions
Rhododendron Burl An alternative wood for the back and sides of a classical guitar. see Wood Choices for Back & Sides see Alternative Wood Choices for Back & Sides see Anatomy of a Classical Guitar
Rhythm the disposition of strong and weak beats in a piece of music
Rhythm and blues American pop music style popular between the 1940’s and 1960’s
Rhythmé (French) rhythmic
Rhythmique (French) rhythmic
Rhythmisch (German) rhythmic
Rhythm section the performers using percussion instruments; when applied to a jazz band, the rhythm section includes piano, double bass (or electric bass), guitar and drum kit
Rhythmus (German) rhythm
Ri…
Ribattuta (Italian) a trill in dotted rhythm
Ribs the sides of a stringed instrument such as a guitar, violin, …..
Ricercarta (Italian) an elaborate contrapuntal piece of music
Ricercare (Italian) an elaborate contrapuntal piece of music
Richettato (Italian) spiccato
Richtig (German) precise, right
Riddle canon a canon in which the composer has left it to the performer to choose at which point and at which pitch the following voice(s) should start
Ride out the final chorus of a piece
Ridotto (Italian) a reduction, an arrangement, an 18th century entertainment in which audience and musicians would take part
Riduzione (Italian) reduction, arrangement
Riff a short music phrase, often repeated, particularly in jazz or blues
Rigadoon (Old English) a dance in simple duple or quadruple time
Rigaudon (French) a dance in simple duple or quadruple time
Right Hand Fingerings See Right hand fingerings in Left & Right Hand Fingerings
Rigore (Italian) strict time
Rigoroso (Italian) strict time
Rilasciando (Italian) to slow, slowing, slowed
Rilasciante (Italian) to slow, slowing, slowed
Rilassando (Italian) to slow, slowing, slowed
Rilassato (Italian) to slow, slowing, slowed
Rimettendo (Italian) returning to the original tempo
Rimettendosi (Italian) returning to the original tempo
Rin. (Italian) accenting, accented
Rinforzando (Italian) repose
Rinforzare (Italian) repose
Rinforzato (Italian) repose
Ring shout religious dance performed by African-American slaves
Rinyu-gaku (Japanese) the music of Southern Asia
Rip a loud tonal slide up to a note often ending with a sharp accent
Ripetizione (Italian) repetition
Ripieno (Italian) a term used to distinguish passages played by soloists and those played by the whole orchestra
Riposata (Italian) reposeful
Riposo (Italian) repose
Riprendere (French) resume original tempo
Ripresa (Italian) repeat
Riscaldano (Italian) livelier
Risolutamente (Italian) resolutely
Risoluto (Italian) bold, resolute
Risoluzione (Italian) resolution
Rispetto a type of Italian folk-song
Ristringendo (Italian) quickening
Risvegliato (Italian) animated
Rit. (Italian) Ritardando; to hold back, holding back, held back (gradual change of tempo)
Ritard. (Italian) Ritardando; to hold back, holding back, held back (gradual change of tempo)
Ritardando (Italian) to hold back, holding back, held back (gradual change of tempo)
Ritardare (Italian) to hold back, holding back, held back (gradual change of tempo)
Ritardato (Italian) to hold back, holding back, held back (gradual change of tempo)
Ritardo (Italian) the gradual diminishing of speed
Riten. (Italian) Ritenuto; suddenly slower
Ritenuto (Italian) suddenly slower
Ritmo (Italian) rhythm
Ritmo di tre battute music played so quickly that each measure is played as a single beat and each group of three bars is a single hypermeasure
Ritmico (Italian) rhythmic
Ritornel (English) an instrumental piece
Ritornell (German) an instrumental piece
Ritornello (Italian) an instrumental piece
Ritorno (Italian) return
Ritournelle (French) an instrumental piece
Ritterlich (German) knightly
Ro…
Robusto (Italian) robust, strongly voiced
Rock a popular music style developed in the United States and Great Britain in the late 1960s
Rock music a popular music style developed in the United States and Great Britain in the late 1960s
Rock and Roll American popular music of the 1950’s
Roco (Italian) raucous
Rococo (French) a florid musical style generally applied to the music of the sons of Bach, early Haydn and Mozart
Roh (German) coarse, rough
Rollers The part of a guitar tuner that attaches the string. see How to Change Classical Guitar Strings see Anatomy of a Classical Guitar
Romance a short instrumental piece with the lyrical character of a vocal romance
Romancero (Spanish) a collection of romantic songs
Romance sans paroles (French) song without words
Romantic era an era of music following the Classical era and ending around 1900
Romantic music nineteenth-century music that is lyrical, harmonically chromatic, emotionally charged and nationalistic
Romanza (Italian) romance
Rombando (Italian) humming
Ronde (French) a whole note see Note Values
Rondeña a flamenco fandango from Ronda
Rondo an instrumental form in which the first or main section is repeated between subsidiary sections and to conclude the piece; usually in lively tempo
Root the fundamental note in a chord
Ronroco an Andean string, has five double-strings
Rose the ornamental rosette set into a hole cut into the soundboard, as in the lute
Rosette The rosette serves several purposes. It acts a a reinforcement to prevent cracking at the end grains of the sound hole area of the top of a guiter. It also acts as a visual focal point to the beauty of the guitar and, by design, is personal to its maker. see Anatomy of a Classical Guitar
Rote a method of teaching by imitation
Rotondo (Italian) a full tone
Roulant (French) rolling
Roulante (French) rolling
Round a short perpetual vocal canon in which all the voices sing at the same pitch or at an octave to it
Rounded binary compositional form with two sections, in which the second ends with a return to material from the first, each section is usually repeated
Rovescio, Al a passage that can be performed in a reverse order; a sequence of notes starting high and falling
Ru…
Ruan mellow sounding Chinese instrument played with a plectrum and similar to the mandolin
Rubab Afghan plucked lute. has a short neck with double chambers and three main playing strings made of animal gut or string. also has several drone and sympathetic metal strings
Rubato (Italian) a limited freedom of rhythm and tempo when performing a piece of music; the time extension applied to one note is taken from an adjoining note or notes
Rücksicht (German) consideration
Rudement (French) roughly
Rudl Swedish and Norwegian country dance
Rueda a Spanish round dance in quintuple time
Ruhe (German) peace
Ruhepunkt (German) the fermata sign
Ruhezeichen (German) the fermata sign
Ruhig (German) peaceful
Rull Swedish and Norwegian country dance
Rumba Cuban rhythms played at informal celebrations
Rumba columbia a style of Cuban rumba differing from other rumbas by having a 6/8 beat
Rumba flamenca a rumba style from southern Spain
Run rapid ascending or descending of notes
Runddans Swedish round dance
Russa (Italian) Russian
Russo (Italian) Russian
Rustico (Italian) in a rustic manner
Ry…
Rythme (French) rhythm
Rythmique (French) rhythmic