In every grade you will be tested on your knowledge of various musical terms, signs and symbols. No video can help you learn these – it’s just a case of taking a deep breath and learning each term one-by-one. Of course, every time you look at a piece of music see what terms and symbols are used – if you’re not sure what something is, look it up or ask a music teacher. You’ll be amazed what you can learn just by looking at a piece of music.
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If an exam question asks for the meaning of a symbol don’t just give the English translation of the word. For example, if you were asked to give the meaning of the following symbol:
Don’t just give the answer as “Forte”; this is not the meaning. A perfect answer would be “loud” or “forte, which means loud”.
| All grade 1, grade 2 and grade 3 terms as well as the following: | |
| ITALIAN: | |
| affettuoso | tenderly |
| affrettando | hurrying |
| amabile | amiable, pleasant |
| appassionato | with passion |
| calando | getting softer, dying away |
| cantando | singing |
| come | as, similar to |
| facile | easy |
| fuoco | Fire |
| giusto | proper, exact |
| l’istesso | the same |
| morendo | dying away |
| niente | nothing |
| nobilmente | nobly |
| perdendosi | dying away |
| possibile | possible |
| quasi | resembling |
| sonoro | resonant, with rich tone |
| sopra | above |
| sotto | below |
| veloce | swift |
| voce | voice |
| FRENCH: | |
| à | to, at |
| animé | animated, lively |
| assez | enough, sufficiently |
| avec | with |
| cédez | yield, relax the speed |
| douce | sweet |
| en dehors | prominent |
| et | and |
| légèrement | light |
| lent | slow |
| main | but |
| moins | less |
| modéré | at a moderate speed |
| non | not |
| peu | little |
| plus | more |
| presser | hurry |
| ralentir | slow down |
| retenu | held back |
| sans | without |
| très | very |
| un, une | one |
| vif | lively |
| vite | quite |