| PP., pp. | (Italian) abbreviation of pianissimo, pianissimo piano |
| pp. | abbreviation of 'pages' (as in pp. 23-25 which means 'pages 23 to 25') |
| PPP., ppp. | (Italian) abbreviation of pianississimo |
| originally meaning as soft as possible, changes in the dynamic range of modern sound systems have relegated this mark to only the third in the range of piano markings |
| PPPP., pppp. | (Italian) abbreviation of pianissississimo |
| PPPPP., ppppp. | (Italian) abbreviation of pianississississimo |
| P.P.S | abbreviation of post post scriptum (Latin: a second addition to a letter or document placed after an earlier one which would be denoted P.S.) |
| P.P.V | abbreviation of 'pay-per-view' (a form of pay TV in which the viewer pays only for the programmes he or she wishes to watch) |
| PR | abbreviation of 'public relations' |
| pr. | abbreviation of 'printed' |
| p.r. | abbreviation of 'public relations' |
| Prabandha | a term from Hindustani classical music, a perfectly composed piece of music |
| prächtig | (German) grand, magnificent, splendid, in a pompous and majestic manner |
| prachtvoll | (German) grandly, pompously |
| präcis | (German) exact, precise, rhythmically precise |
| Práctica | (Spanish f.) practice |
| Practical edition | see 'Performance edition' |
| Practice | repeatedly perform a series of exercises, or habitually carry out relevant tasks, in order to improve a particular skill or range of skills |
| Practice chanter | a reeded wind-instrument used to practice tunes usually played on the Scottish Highland pipes |
- Anonymous / Practice Chanter
|
| Practice clavier | replica of the regular carillion clavier but with tuned metal bars to produce the notes |
| Practice mute | on string instruments, this heavier mute fixes onto the bridge of the instrument and reduce its loudness. It is not used in any serious context, but can be useful to reduce the volume of the instrument when practicing |
| Practice violin | a violin with a small sound box which can only produce a small sound |
- Practice Violin, Brighton, England, ca 1820-1840
- Practice Violin, France, about 1900
|
| práctico | (Spanish) practical |
| Praeambulum | (Latin) introduction, preamble, prelude |
| Praecentio | (Latin) introduction, preamble, prelude |
| Praecentor | see precentor |
| Praefectus | (Latin) the president, the prefect |
| Praefectus chori | (Latin) master of the choristers |
| Praeludium | (Latin) prelude |
| Praemium Imperiale | a prize for artists that has been awarded since 1989 at the suggestion of the Emperor of Japan. It is intended to be a "Nobel Prize in art" and an expansion on the Nobel Prize in Literature to other fields of fine art. The artists awarded are distinguished "for their achievements, for their influence which they exert internationally in their art, and for enriching the world community". The Japan Art Association assigns this annually for an artist's life work in each of five categories: painting, sculpture, architecture, music and film/theatre |
- Praemium Imperiale from which this extract has been taken
|
| Praenomen (s.), Praenomina (pl.) | (Latin) the only name in which parents had some choice, roughly equivalent to the given name of today. It was a personal appellation given to a male infant on his day of lustration. In the earliest period, praenomina had female versions, which often end in -a (thus, Larthia for Larth). By the time of the historically attested Republic, women no longer normally had praenomina. Exceptions were women in the imperial family, who were often given the name Julia (especially wives of the emperor, but occasionally sisters and mothers as well) |
| Praesente cadavere | (Latin) (a requiem mass celebrated) in the presence of the corpse |
| Praesidium | (Latin) the executive committee of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. |
| praeteritus | (Latin) back |
| pragmático | (Spanish) pragmatic |
| Pragmatics | the social use of language, especially the effect of social and linguistic context on language |
| Pragmatism | a philosophy the evaluates assertions solely by their practical consequences and bearing on human interests |
| Prahlad | son of Hiranyakashipu, a mythological demon-king; Prahlad's worship of Vishnu led to persecution by his father who was ultimately slain by Narasimha, the 'Man-Lion' avatar of Vishnu |
| Prahu | (Malay) or proa, a boat used in the Malay Archipelago propelled by sails or by oars and having an outrigger at one side |
| Praiser | publicist (colloquial) |
| Praisery | public relations firm (colloquial) |
| praktisch | (German) practical |
| praktisch veranlagt | (German) practically minded |
| Praline | (French) a sweetmeat made by coating nuts or other small delicacies with boiling sugar |
| praliné | (French) browned in boiling sugar, (a confection) incorporating chopped or ground burnt almonds |
| Prall | (German, Dutch, from Prallen, literally 'to rebound') or Pralltriller, an upper or inverted mordent, a melodic embellishment consisting of the quick alternation of a principal tone with an auxiliary tone above it, usually the next of the scale |
| before the nineteenth century, the pralltriller was an ornament that occurred only after a descending second (i.e. the note that is ornamented with the trill must be preceded by the note one diatonic step higher). The pralltriller is played like an extremely rapid trill and contains only four notes, the first of which is tied to the preceding note. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788) says, "the pralltriller ... is distinguished from the others by its speed and brevity." He also says, "Unlike other embellishments, it cannot be demonstrated slowly to students. It must literally crackle. It must be snapped on its final appearance ... with such exceeding speed that the individual tones are heard with difficulty. Because of this, its acuteness stands beyond comparison with other trills." |
|
| Pralltriller | (German m.) see Prall |
| Präludien | (German pl.) preludes |
| präludieren | (German) to prelude, to play a prelude |
| präludiren | (German, archaic spelling) to prelude, to play a prelude, to improvise |
| Präludium | (German n.) prelude, introduction |
| pranzare | (Italian) to dine, to lunch |
| Pranzo | (Italian m.) dinner, lunch |
| Pranzo nuziale | (Italian m.) wedding breakfast |
| präpariert | (German) prepared |
| präpariertes Klavier | (German n.) prepared piano |
| Prassi esecutiva | (Italian f.) performing practice[corrected by Priscilla Worsley] |
| Prästanten | (German) pipes belonging to the Presant, or open diapason, that are placed in front of the organ case |
| Prater | chatterer, an obnoxious and foolish and loquacious talker |
| Prateria | (Italian f.) grassland |
| Pratica | (Italian f.) practice, training, paper (document) |
| praticabile | (Italian) practicable |
| Praticante | (Italian m./f.) apprentice, (regular) church goer |
| praticare | (Italian) to practise, to associate with, to make |
| pratico | (Italian) practical, skilful, experienced |
| Pratique | (French f.) permission allowing the crew of a ship to land in a port on conclusion of quarantine, or on showing a clean bill of health |
| pratique | (French) practical, skilful, experienced |
| Pratique de l'exécution | (French f.) performing practice |
| Pratique d'exécution | (French f.) performance practice |
| Prato | (Italian m.) meadow, lawn (in a garden) |
| Pratos | (Portuguese) cymbals |
| Prattica di musica (1591) | written by Lodovico Zacconi (1555-1627), and reprinted in 1596, an invaluable guide to study of performance practice of vocal music of the very late Renaissance. Parts of his work were incorporated by Michael Praetorius into his Syntagma musicum (1618), and by Pietro Cerone into his Melopeo y maestro (1613) |
| Pravo hora | see 'Balkan folk dance' |
| Praxisvortrag | (German m.) hands-on lecture, practical lecture |
| Prayer | a request or thanksgiving to God or an object of worship, preghiera (Italian), Gebet (German), prière (French), supplication (French) |
| Prayer-book | a book of set prayers |
| Prayer-mat | a small carpet on which Muslims kneel to pray |
| Prayer-wheel | a revolving cylindrical box inscribed with or containing sacred prayers |
| Preamble | preliminary statement, introduction |
| Preambolo | (Italian m.) preamble |
| Préambule | (French m.) introduction, preamble, prelude |
| Preámbulo | (Spanish m.) preamble |
| Preamblum | in the sixteenth century, synonymous with anabole, toccata, fantasia, ricercar, prelude and prooemium |
| Pre-amp | see 'preamplifier' |
| Preamplifier | or 'pre-amp', an amplifier which precedes another amplifier to prepare an electrical signal for further amplification or processing |
- Pre-amplifier from which this extract has been taken
|
| preavvisare | (Italian) to forewarn |
| Preavviso | (Italian m.) warning |
| Prebend | a cathedral or collegiate church benefice; normally consisting of the revenue from one manor of the cathedral estates which furnished a living for one cathedral canon, or prebendary |
| Prebendary | a cathedral or collegiate church canon supported by a prebend, normally the income from one manor of the cathedral estates |
| precario | (Italian) precarious |
| Precauzione | (Italian f.) precaution, care |
| précédemment | (French) previously |
| Precedence effect | see 'Haas effect' |
| précèdent | (French) previous, preceding |
| Precedente | (Italian m.) precedent |
| precedente | (Italian) previous, preceding |
| Precedenza | (Italian f.) precedence, right of way (path, etc.) |
| precedere | (Italian) to precede |
| Precentor | (Latin, literally 'first singer') or praecentor, dating back to at least the fourth century, the person who, in church, leads or directs the choir or the singing, the equivalent of the cantor in a synagogue |
| Preceptory | monastic house of the order of Templars |
| Preces privatae | (Latin) private prayers, as distinct from liturgical prayers recited in public |
| Precetto | (Italian m.) precept |
| Precettore | (Italian m.) tutor |
| Precettore di musica | (Italian m.) a teacher of music |
| Préchantre | (French m.) the leader or director of a choir |
| précieux (m.), précieuse (f.) | (French) absurdly affected, ridiculously over-refined (often anglicized as 'precious') |
| Precio | (Spanish m.) price |
| Precise | accurately expressed, definite, exact, accurately expressed, preciso (Italian), Präcis (German), précis (French) |
| Préciosité | (French) absurd affectation, ridiculous over-refinement |
| Precisely | in a precise manner, exactly, quite so (as a reply), as you say (as a reply) |
| Precio de suscripcion | (Spanish m.) subscription |
| Precios al alcance de su bolsillo | (Spanish m.pl.) prices to suit your pocket |
| precipitamente | (Italian) hurry, haste |
| precipitando | (Italian) precipitately, hurrying |
| precipitato | (Italian) precipitate, hurried |
| Precipitazione | (Italian) precipitation, haste, hurry |
| précipité | (French) impetuously, hurriedly, acceleratedly |
| precipitosamente | (Italian) impetuously, hurriedly |
| precipitoso | (Italian) impetuous, hurried |
| Précis | (French m.) an abridgement, a summary |
| précis (m.), précise (f.) | (French) precise |
| precisione | (Italian) (rhythmically) precise, (rhythmically) exact |
| preciso | (Italian) (rhythmically) precise, precisely, (rhythmically) exact, exactly |
| Pre-classical music | music predating the Classical period |
| Precompositional decisions | in music, precompositional decisions are those decisions which a composer decides upon before or while beginning to create a composition |
- Precompositional from which this extract has been taken
|
| Predella | (Italian) a painted or carved panel at the back of an altar, which forms the basis of the alter-piece above it |
| the term has come to be used more generally for any decorative panel at the foot of any picture |
| Predica | (Italian f.) sermon, lecture |
| predicare | (Italian) to preach |
| Predisposition | having susceptibility to a condition or trait |
| Prefatory staves | used when transcribing or transposing early music, to show the original clef, time signature and first note |
| Préface | (French f.) preface |
| Préfacier | (French m.) a professional writer of prefaces that may be appended to the works of other writers |
| Prefacio | (Spanish m.) preface, introduction |
| Prefazione | (Italian f.) preface |
| Preferencia | (Spanish f.) preference |
| preferente | (Spanish) preferential |
| préférer ne pas (avoir à) se prononcer sur | (French) to prefer not to comment on |
| préférer ne pas s'engager à | (French) to prefer not to commit oneself to |
| preferible | (Spanish) preferable |
| preferido | (Spanish) favourite |
| preferir | (Spanish) to prefer |
| Preferred reading | a term used in the theatre, as well as in music, to distinguish that interpretation of the script or score that most closely follows that indicated by the author whether in the text or by some other means |
| in should be stressed that a 'preferred reading' is not necessarily the best or most effective interpretation, only that it is that for which the author or composer has indicated a preference |
| prefigurar | (Spanish) to foreshadow |
| prefijar | (Spanish) to fix beforehand, to prefix |
| Prefijo | (Spanish m.) prefix, dialling code (telephone) |
| Prefisso | (Italian m.) prefix |
| Prefix | a morpheme added to the beginning of a word - for instance, the prefix re- can be added to the word play to create the word replay |
| in music, also called a 'preparation', that part of a trill that precedes the shake |
| pregando | (Italian) praying |
| Preghiera | (Italian f.) prayer, request, supplication |
| (Italian f.) an aria or chorus in which the characters pray for divine assistance, it was a highly popular ingredient of early nineteenth-century Italian opera |
| Pregón | (Spanish m.) announcement |
| pregonar | (Spanish) to announce |
| Pregones | (Spanish m. pl.) street-vendor or market trader chants or calls |
| see córo-pregón |
| Pregunta | (Spanish f.) question |
| preguntar | (Spanish) to ask |
| preguntarse | (Spanish) to wonder |
| Preguntas frecuentes | (Spanish f. pl.) frequently asked questions, FAQ |
| Prehistoric music | in the history of music, prehistoric music (previously called primitive music) is all music produced in preliterate cultures (prehistory), beginning somewhere in very late geological history. Prehistoric music is followed by ancient music in most of Europe (1500 BCE) and later musics in subsequent European-influenced areas, but still exists in isolated areas. Prehistoric music thus technically includes much of the world's music before European expansion and domination, for example, traditional Native American music of preliterate tribes and Australian Aboriginal music. However, it is more common to call the "prehistoric" music of non-European continents, especially that which still survives, as folk, indigenous or traditional music |
- Prehistoric music from which this extract has been taken
|
| prehistórico | (Spanish) prehistoric |
| Preise drücken | (German) to force down prices |
| preistorico | (Italian) prehistoric |
| Prejudice | an opinion or attitude that can be positive or negative but is often negative and aimed at people who are not cultural 'insiders' |
| Prejuicio | (Spanish m.) prejudice |
| prejuzgar | (Spanish) to prejudge |
| Prelado | (Spanish m.) prelate |
| Preliminar | (Spanish m.) preliminary |
| preliminar | (Spanish) preliminary |
| Prellmechanik | (German f.) the term Viennese or Prellmechanik refers to the type of fortepiano action used, and possibly invented, by Johann Andreas Stein (1728-1792) in Augsburg, Germany around the year 1770. The success of Stein's pianos was due to excellent craftsmanship and to new and improved parts in the action. Stein used the Viennese hopper, or Prellmechanik (escapement) action, which was similar to Silbermann's. However, a distinctive feature of Stein's instruments was the innovation (whether or not he invented it is uncertain) of replacing the stationary rail with individual spring-loaded excapement levers, one for each key |
- The Viennese Action from which this extract has been taken
|
| Prelude | preludio (Italian), Vorspiel (German), entrée (French) |
| (from the Latin praeludium, literally 'a piece played before another') a piece that is played before another piece or group of pieces, serving as an introduction, in the case of J.S. Bach (1685-1750), for example in the Well-Tempered Clavier, to a fugue in the same key |
| in the sixteenth century, the prelude became more improvisatory, more like a toccata, fantasia, anabole, ricercar, preambulum and prooemium |
| Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) wrote a number of preludes for piano solo, most famously his 24 Preludes, Op. 28 |
- Preludes (Chopin) from which the fourth entry has been taken
|
| Prélude | (French m.) prelude, introductory movement |
| Prélude non mesuré | (French m.) particularly associated with Louis Couperin (1626-1661), harpsichord versions of the improvisational meanderings with which the great French lutenists, Charles Mouton (1617-1699), François Dufaut (c.1604-c.1672) and Ennemond Gauthier (1575-1651), might begin their performances. The music's 'lute' origins are found in the broken chords, the profusion of embellishments, the spacing of the voices, even the emphasis on dance music. Couperin scored his preludes without any explicit indications of rhythmic values, aside from the pitches, all else was left up to the performer |
| préluder | (French) to tune up, to perform preludes |
| Prelude to the afternoon of the faun | see Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune |
| Preludio | (Italian m., Spanish m.) prelude, introductory movement, prélude (French) |
| Preludium | (Latin) prelude, introductory movement |
| prematuro | (Spanish) premature |
| premendo | (Italian, literally 'trampling') or calcando (Italian), accelerando (Italian), pressing forward, hurrying the time, compressing the time, betonend (German), drängend (German), en comprimant (French) |
| premiar | (Spanish) to give a prize to, to reward |
| premiare | (Italian) to give a prize to, to reward |
| Premiazione | (Italian f.) prize giving |
| Premier | the largest drum used in tumba francesa, a dance style originating in the Oriente (eastern) province of Cuba, amongst the Africans who left Haiti after the Haitian Revolution of 1791 |
| premier (m.), première (f.) | (French) first |
| Premier cru | (French m.) (wine made from) the first and best growth of a vine |
| Premier danseur (m.), Première danseuse (f.) | (French) the leading dancer in a ballet company |
| Premier danseur étoile (m.), Première danseuse étoile (f.) | (French) the title of the highest rank in the Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris |
| Premier de l'an | (French m.) New Year's Day |
| Premier dessus | (French m.) first treble, first soprano |
| Premiere | (German f.) première |
| Première | (French f.) first night (of a play, opera, etc.), opening night |
| the term is now used more specifically for the 'first night' of a film |
| première | pertaining to the voice, see taille |
| Première chanteuse | (French f.) prima donna |
| Première édition | (French f.) first edition |
| Première exécution mondiale | (French f.) world première |
| Première fois | (French f.) first time |
| Première partie | (French f.) first part |
| Premier farceur | (French m.) the leading comedian in a dramatic company |
| Premier plan | (French m.) foreground, (as opposed to dernier plan, 'background') |
| Première représentation | (French f.) first performance |
| premier renversement | (French) first inversion (of a chord) |
| premiers temps, les | (French) at first, in the beginning |
| Premier temps d'une mesure | (French m.) down beat |
| Premier violon | (French m.) first violin |
| Premier violon (solo) | (French m.) (orchestral) leader, concertmaster |
| Premio | (Italian m., Spanish m.) prize, reward |
| Premio gordo | (Spanish) first prize |
| Pre-modern | a term usually used to describe a period of time prior to what might be called 'modern'. However in her contribution to the PMJS mailing list (archived at the reference below) Rein Raud complains that ""pre-modern" indicates that "modernity" is inevitable and that "pre-modern" is a kind of a preparatory stage for it" which may not be the connotation that those using the term intend |
|
| Premonición | (Spanish f.) premonition |
| Premonstratensian | order of canons derived from the Augustinians, founded in 1121 |
| premuorsamente | (Italian) anxiously |
| Premura | (Spanish f.) urgency, lack |
| premuroso | (Italian) thoughtful |
| preñado | (Spanish) pregnant, full (figurative) |
| Prenda | (Spanish f.) pledge, article of clothing, garment, linen |
| Prendas | (Spanish f. pl.) talents (qualities), forfeits |
| prendar | (Spanish) to captivate |
| prendarse | (Spanish) to be captivated, to fall in love |
| prendarse de | (Spanish) to be captivated by, to fall in love with |
| prendendo la lettera | (Italian) taking the letter |
| prender | (Spanish) to capture, to fasten, to catch, to take root |
| prendere | (Italian) take up! |
| prendere a destra | (Italian) to turn right |
| prendere a sinistra | (Italian) to turn left |
| prendere il flauto | (Italian) to take up the flute (an instruction given, for example, to a player who has just played a passage on the piccolo or alto flute to switch back to the concert flute) |
| prendere informazioni | (Italian) to make inquiries |
| prendere la palla al balzo | (Italian) to seize an opportunity |
| prendere un abbaglio | (Italian) to make a mistake |
| prendere una boccata d'aria | (Italian) to get a breath of fresh air |
| prenderse | (Spanish) to catch fire |
| prendersi un'arrabbiatura | (Italian) to get angry |
| prendre | (French) take up! |
| prendre à droit | (French) to turn right |
| prendre à gauche | (French) to turn left |
| prendre ... au collet | (French) to collar ... (grab someone, get their attention) |
| prendre au dépourvu | (French) to catch unawares |
| prendre au pied de la lettre | (French) to take literally |
| prendre au sérieux | (French) to take seriously |
| prendre bien la chose | (French) to take something well |
| prendre congé de | (French) to take one's leave of |
| prendre conscience de | (French) to become aware of |
| prendre des risques | (French) to take chances |
| prendre du bon temps | (French) to enjoy oneself, to have a good time |
| prendre du champs | (French) to step back, to stand back |
| prendre du galon | (French) to be promoted, to gain a stripe (also figurative) |
| prendre du poids | (French) to gain weight |
| prendre du ventre | (French) to develop a paunch |
| prendre en auto-stop | (French) to give a lift to (a hitch-hiker) |
| prendre en charge | (French) to take charge of, to give a ride to (transport) |
| prendre en considération | (French) to take into consideration |
| prendre feu | (French) to catch fire |
| prendre fin | (French) to come to an end |
| prendre froid | (French) to catch a cold |
| prendre garde | (French) to be careful, to watch out |
| prendre garde de (ne pas) | (French) to be careful not to |
| prendre goût à ... | (French) to take a liking to ... |
| prendre la chose bien | (French) to take it well |
| prendre la chose mal | (French) to take it badly |
| prendre la clé des champs | (French) to run away |
| prendre l'air | (French) to get a breath of fresh air |
| prendre la langue avec ... | (French) to make contact with ... |
| prendre l'eau | (French) to take in water |
| prendre le contre-pied | (French) to take the opposite view |
| prendre le dessus | (French) to get the upper hand |
| prendre le frais | (French) to get a breath of fresh air |
| prendre le meilleur sur ... | (French) to get the better of ... |
| prendre le parti de | (French) to decide to |
| prendre les devants | (French) to take the initiative |
| prendre le temps de faire | (French)to find time to do, to make time to do |
| prendre mal la chose | (French)to take something poorly |
| prendre (une) meilleure tournure | (French)to take a turn for the better |
| prendre modèle sur ... | (French)to model oneself on ... |
| prendre pour argent comptant | (French) to take at face value |
| prendre rendez-vous avec | (French) to make an appointment with |
| prendre sa retraite | (French) to retire (from work) |
| prendre ses jambes à son cou | (French) to run off |
| prendre son courage à deux mains | (French) to get up one's courage |
| prendre son essor | (French) to expand |
| prendre tout son temps | (French) to take one's time |
| prendre un bain de foule | (French) to mingle with the crowd |
| prendre une claque à ... | (French) to get a slap in the face from ... (figurative) |
| prendre une décision | (French) to make a decision |
| prendre un rhume | (French) to catch a cold |
| prendre un verre | (French) to have a drink |
| Prends-ça du bon côté. | (French) Look on the bright side. |
| prenez! | (French) take! |
| Prenez votre temps | (French) Take your time |
| Prensa | (Spanish f.) press |
| Prensa | (Spanish f.) press |
| Prensa amarilla | (Spanish f.) yellow press, gutter press (pejorative), tabloid press |
| Prensa amarillista | (Spanish f.) sensationalist press, yellow press |
| Prensa musical | (Spanish f.) music press (journalism), pressa musicale (Italian f.), Musikpresse (German f.), presse musicale (French f.) |
| prensar | (Spanish) to press |
| Prenumeration | (Swedish) subscription |
| Prep | to prepare |
| preparar el terreno | (Spanish) to prepare the ground |
| préparaté | (French) prepared |
| Preparation | preparazione (Italian), Vorbereitung (German), préparation (French) |
| a harmonic device in which a note which causes a chord to be discordant is used in the previous chord within which it is concordant |
| also called a 'prefix', that part of a trill that precedes the shake |
| what is done to a piano, before a performance, in order to 'prepare' it - see 'prepared piano' |
| in ballet, the special movements with which a dancer prepares to dance |
| Préparation | (French f.) preparation |
| preparato | (Italian) prepared |
| préparatoire | (French) preparatory |
| Preparazione | (Italian f.) preparation |
| Prepared guitar | a guitar which has had its timbre altered by placing various objects on or between the instrument's strings |
- Prepared guitar from which this extract has been taken
|
| Prepared piano | a term coined by John Cage (1912-1992), describing a piano into which items have been inserted between the strings to change the sound during performance |
|
| preparen ... apunten ... ¡fuego! | (Spanish) ready ... take aim ... fire! |
| prep pf | abbreviation of 'prepared piano' |
| Pre-prandial | before the meal |
| Pre-production | stage at which a motion picture or TV project is prepared to go into production |
| Prequel | a novel, play, film, or other narrative usually written after the popular success of an earlier work but set before the events in that successful earlier work, and incorporating characters, settings, and situations with which the audience is already familiar |
| Préramiste | (French) a term referring to the generation of French composers active mainly between the death of Jean-Baptiste Lully (1687) and the premiere of Jean-Phillipe Rameau's first opera, Hippolyte et Aricie (1733) |
| Pre-Raphaelite | Pre-Raphaelitism, or the Pre-Raphaelite movement, began in 1848 as a protest against conventional art and literature. A band of young London artists, poets, and intellectuals formed a "brotherhood" dedicated to re-creating the type of medieval art existing before the Renaissance. Hence, they took their name from Raphael (1483-1520), the earliest major Renaissance artist in Italy. Like the Romantic poets, Pre-Raphaelites wished to regain the spirit of simple devotion and adherence to nature. Hence, they rejected modernity, mass production, and urbanization. Typical Pre-Raphaelite writings involve an interest in chivalry, courtly love, ballads, archaic diction, pictorial qualities and visual imagery |
- Literary Terms and Definitions from which this extract has been taken
|
| près | (French) near, close to |
| Presa | (Italian f.) a sign § , employed to show where in a canon other parts should enter, also called guida |
| Pre-sales | territorial sales of planned motion pictures to distributors worldwide, usually conducted to raise funding for lower budget, independent pictures |
| Presbytery | the part of the church lying east of the choir, where the high altar is placed |
| Prescriptivist | a grammatical treatise or a lexicon is said to be prescriptivist if it has the goal of fashioning guidelines or "rules" for grammar, spelling, and word use, as opposed to being descriptivist where it describes unjudgmentally how a group of people tend to use language |
| près de la table | (French) near the soundboard |
| près de la touche | (French) on a stringed instrument, an instruction to play near the fingerboard |
| près du chevalet | (French) on a stringed instrument, an instruction to play close to the bridge |
| près du bord | (French) near the edge, near the rim (of a drum) |
| Presence | person's appearance or bearing particularly when that is imposing |
| Presencia | (Spanish f.) presence |
| presentar al cobro | (Spanish) to use cash |
| resentarse a un examen | (Spanish) to sit an exam |
| Présentation | (French f.) presentation, introduction |
| Presenza | (Italian f.) presence |
| Préservation | (French f.) protection, preservation |
| Preset | (English, German m.) or default, which, in computer science, refers to a setting or value automatically assigned to a software application, computer program or device, outside of user intervention. Such settings are called presets, especially for electronic devices |
- Default (computer science) from which this extract has been taken
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| Presión atmosférica | (Spanish f.) atmospheric pressure |
| presque | (French) almost, nearly |
| presque personne | (French) hardly anyone, hardly anybody, almost nobody, scarcely anyone, scarcely anybody |
| presque rien | (French) almost nothing, barely audible, quasi niente (Italian), fast nichts (German) |
| Press | on an accordion, pressing the bellows together to force air out through the reeds whose valves are open |
| Pressa meccanica | (Italian f.) power press, punch press (engineering equipment) |
| Pressa musicale | (Italian f.) music press (journalism), Musikpresse (German f.), presse musicale (French f.), prensa musical (Spanish f.) |
| pressando | (Italian) accelerando, hurrying, pressing, urgen |
| pressant (m.), pressante (f.) | (French) pressing, urgent, hurrying on |
| pressant, en | (French) accelerando, hurrying, pressing, urgent |
| pressante | (Italian) accelerando, hurrying, pressing, urgent, hurrying on |
| Press board | see 'card stock' |
| Presse | (German f., French f.) press (journalism) |
| pressé | (French) hurried, hurriedly |
| Presse musicale | (French f.) music press (journalism), pressa musicale (Italian f.), Musikpresse (German f.), prensa musical (Spanish f.) |
| presser | (French) to press, to push, to squeeze (fruit), to speed up, to hasten, to hurry (someone), to speed (something) up |
| (French) to be urgent |
| pressez | (French) pressing, pressando (Italian), accelerando (Italian), bedrängend (German), acelerando (Spanish) |
| pressieren | (German) to perform an accelerando (Italian) |
| Pressing on with the speed | affrettando (Italian), stretto (Italian), stringendo (Italian), drängend (German), en pressant (French), pressez (French) |
| pressiren | (German, archaic spelling) to perform an accelerando (Italian) |
| Pressmen | a term traditionally applied to workers in a guild who operated hand presses. As presses were adapted to steam power pressmen continued to work them; but when cylinder presses emerged and became larger and more complex, a manager class of press operators emerged. They were paid more and formed a separate guild that often put them at odds with pressmen. As technology created more advanced presses, a general rise in skills was required for all workers involved in printing. In the 1890s different types of workers in the print trades joined together in single trade unions |
| presso | (Italian) near, nahe (German), près de (French), cerca de (Spanish) |
| presso la tavola | (Italian) near the soundboard, nahe am Korpus anzupfen (German), près de la table (French), cerca de tabla de armonía (Spanish) |
| Press run | the totality of output from a press in one continuous printing. Because of the time involved in setting a press up for printing, and the time needed to clean up afterwards, a printer usually needs to print a minimum (usually 500 sheets) in order to make a profit |
| Pressus | a compound neume consisting of a virga, an oriscus and a punctum. The pressus can be found either in isolation or in combination |
| Press variant | unlike a deliberately revised edition printed at a later date, a press variant is a minor and usually unintentional variation among books printed in the same edition or print run |
| presta atención a esto | (Spanish) pay attention to this |
| prestamente | (Italian) rapidly, hurriedly, hastily |
| Prestant (s.), Prästanten (pl.) | (German) in the organ, the open diapason stop, of either 32 ft., 16 ft., 8 ft. or 4 ft. scale |
| (French) in a French organ the Prestant is a 4 ft. stop. The name is also synonymous with the English 'Diapason' and the German Principal, which are both 8 ft. stops |
| prestar atención | (Spanish) to pay attention |
| prestarle asistencia a ... | (Spanish) to give ... assistance |
| Prestation | (French f.) performance |
| Presta valve | a valve commonly found in high pressure road style and many mountain bicycle inner tubes |
| Prestezza | (Italian) quickness, rapidily |
| Prestige | (French) reputation and influence resulting from past achievements and hence contributing to (a person's) social standing |
| prestissimamente | (Italian) very quickly, with the utmost rapidity, as fast as possible |
| prestissimo | (Italian) as quick as possible (the quickest movement) |
| prestmo | abbreviation of prestissimo (Italian: as fast as possible) |
| presto | (Italian) quick, faster than allegro, quickly, rapidly |
| presto alla tedesca | Presto alla tedesca is a very misleading direction. Although presto generally means 'very fast' and alla tedesca means 'in the German style' (i.e. 'like a German Waltz'), a German Waltz is actually not fast; in fact, the best known dance of this kind is the villager's Waltz in Der Freischutz by Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826). As a marking Allegro non troppo would be a more appropriate |
| presto assai | (Italian) very quick, prestissimo |
| presto parlante | (Italian) an instruction used in recitative meaning to 'speak rapidly' |
| prêter | (French) to attribute |
| Prêt-à-porter | (French) (clothes) ready to wear, 'off the peg' |
| Prétendant | (French m.) a claimant to the throne of France |
| Pretia | small high tone drum from Ghana |
| Pretium | (Latin) price |
| Pretzel | (German) a salty biscuit baked in the form of a knot |
| preux | (French) valiant, gallant |
| Preux chevalier | (French m.) a valiant knight, a gallant knight (particularly one who displays gallantry and protectiveness towards a woman) |
| previa recomendación de | (Spanish) on the recommendation of |
| Previous | coming before in time or order, precedente (Italian), vorhergehend (German), antérieur (French), précédent (French) |
| Prezzo | (Italian m.) price |
| Prezzo unitario | (Italian m.) one price only |
| Prick | or 'pricked', formerly used to mean 'written' or 'dotted down' |
| Pricked | see 'prick' |
| Prick song | in the 15th- and 16th-centuries, in contradistinction to an exemporaneous performance, a discant (counterpoint) or division (variation) that has been written down |
| Prie-dieu | (French m.) a type of prayer desk primarily intended for private use, but often found in churches of the European continent. It is a small ornamental wooden desk furnished with a sloping shelf for books, and a cushioned kneeling piece. It appears not to have received its present name until the early part of the seventeenth century. At that period in France a small room or oratory was sometimes known by the same name. A similar form of chair, in domestic furniture is called prie-dieu by analogy |
- Prie-dieu from which this extract has been taken
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| prier de | (French) to beg to |
| Prière | (French f.) prayer, supplication |
| Priest | a minister of the church empowered to administer the sacraments, most particularly that of the Eucharist or Holy Communion, as well as those of confession and extreme unction |
| Priestman | after Brian Priestman, the cataloguer of music by Jean-Baptiste Loeillet (1680-1730) and John Loeillet [of London] (1680-1730) |
| Prim | a small Croatian tamburitza also called prima or bisernica which, as the treble member of the tamburitza orchestra, normally carries the melody. It either doubles or harmonizes at a higher pitch the melody normally carried by the lead brac. Its place is roughly equivalent to that of the piccolo in the Western orchestra |
| (German) unison |
| Prima | (Italian f.) unison (interval), the tonic or keynote of any scale |
| (Italian f.) first, chief, principal |
| (Italian f. literally 'first') first night, opening night |
| (Italian f., Spanish f.) the top string on a string instrument, chanterelle (French) |
| see primo |
| Prima ballerina (s.), Prime ballerine (pl.) | (Italian f.) the danceuse who performs the chief classical rôles in a ballet company |
| Prima ballerina assoluta | (Italian f.) a title of exceptional honour given to a danceuse |
| Prima buffa | (Italian f.) leading female role in a comic opera |
| Prima donna (s.), Prime donne (pl.) | (Italian f., literally 'first lady') the female singer with the most important part in opera, particularly grand opera |
| legendarily, these prime donne (in English 'prima donnas') were often regarded as egotistical, unreasonable and irritable, with a rather high opinion of themselves not shared by others. Thus, although whether they are truly vainer or more hot-tempered than other singers (or than any other people in the opera houses) is highly debatable, nowadays the term often signifies a vain and temperamental person who, although irritating, cannot be done without |
- Prima donna from which the comment has been taken
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| Prima donna assoluta | (Italian f.) the title given to the reigning diva in an opera company (of which there will be no more than one!) |
| Prima edizione | (Italian f.) first edition |
| Prima esecuzione | (Italian f.) first performance |
| Prima esecuzione mondiale | (Italian f.) world première |
| Prima facie | (Latin, 'at first sight', 'on the face of it') in law, a case that requires no further evidential justification (although this does not preclude further investigation - indeed, it might justify it) |
| Prima incisione | (Italian f.) first performance (i.e. in a certain country, although not necessarily in the world) |
| Prima incisione assoluta | (Italian f.) first world performance (i.e. the very first public performance) |
| Prima parta | (Italian f.) first part |
| Prima pratica | (Italian f.) or prima prattica, a term used in early seventeenth-century Italy to distinguish Renaissance polyphony, prima prattica, with flowing strict counterpoint, prepared dissonance, and equality of voices, from the newer Baroque style, seconda prattica, using much freer counterpoint with an increasing heirarchy of voices, emphasising soprano and bass |
| see seconda pratica, seconda prattica |
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| Prima prattica | (Italian f.) see prima pratica |
| Primarus | (German m.) leader |
| Primary accent | the downbeat, thesis, the first beat following a barline |
| Primary beam | the beam that is furthest from the noteheads, and remains unbroken, and connects a group of notes is called a primary beam. Any beam other than than the primary beam is a secondary beam and may be broken, often dividing the grouping into smaller units for easier reading |
| Primary chords | the most important chords in a key, namely I, IV and V |
| Primary colours | sets of colours that can be combined to make a useful range of colours. For human applications, three are often used; for additive combination of colours, as in overlapping projected lights or in CRT displays, the primary colours normally used are red, green and blue. For subtractive combination of colours, as in mixing of pigments or dyes, such as in printing, the primary colours normally used are magenta, cyan and yellow. However, any choice of primary colours is essentially arbitrary |
- Primary colours from which this extract has been taken
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| Primary pentatonic scale | alternative name for the 'major pentatonic scale' |
- Pentatonic Scales for more information
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| Primary sources | pieces of evidence, the origin of which is contemporary with the period, place, event, person or people being researched. Primary Sources can take the form of first hand accounts (diaries, letters, memoirs, speeches, newspaper reports, interviews, photographs etc.); official records (government documents, census data, company records etc.); creative works (poetry, prose, music, painting, film etc.); and artifacts (clothing, tools, buildings, toys, vehicles etc.) |
| Primary triad | | type | description | | primary triad | a major triad built on the tonic (I), subdominant (IV) and dominant (V) degrees of a major scale | | secondary triad | a minor triad built on other degrees of a major scale | | note: | the triad on the seventh degree (VII) of the major scale when in root position is a discord. Its first inversion is, however, not. For this reason the VII triad is considered neither primary nor secondary | |
| Primate | the chief bishop of a single state or people |
| Prima vista | (Italian f.) at first sight |
| Prima vista singing | sight singing |
| Prima volta | (Italian f.) or Ima volta, first ending, first time (bar) |
| Prima volta senza accompagnamento | (Italian f.) the first time without accompaniment |
| Prime | (German f., English) unison (interval), as well as the singly or doubly augmented and singly and doubly diminished varieties of the perfect unison |
| the first note of a scale |
| the fundamental, or generator, of an harmonic series |
| the lower note of an interval, as in 'prime note' |
| the lowest note, or root, of a chord |
| original form of a row in twelve-tone music |
| the third service of the Divine Office, usually performed at 6:00 a.m., consisting of several responsories and psalms which are sung |
| Prime note | (in a bell) the fundamental note (or tone) of a tuned bell |
| the lower note of an interval |
| Primer | an elementary textbook for teaching children to read, a book that covers the basic elements of a subject |
| Primera | (Spanish f.) first (degree of the scale), prime, unison (interval) |
| Primera inversión | (Spanish f.) first inversion (referring to the arrangement of the notes of a chord) |
| Primera nota | (Spanish f.) first note |
| primero (m.), primera (f.) | (Spanish m.) first |
| when placed before a noun of masculine gender primero is contracted to primer, for example, primer movimiento (Spanish: first movement) |
| Primeros auxilios | (Spanish m.pl.) first aid |
| Primer violín | (Spanish m.) the leader of the orchestra, the first violin, the principal violinist |
| Prime tone | synonymous with 'prime note' |
| primeur | (French) anything new or early (for example, fruit or vegetables that become availabe before their normal season) |
| Primgeige | (German f.) the leader of the orchestra, the first violin, the principal violinist |
| Primipara | (Latin) (a woman or animal) giving birth for the first time |
| Primitive Baptists singing | see 'Old School Baptists singing' |
| Primitive bell | term used today to describe the earliest cast bronze bells of the Christian church, which superseded earlier bells made of iron plates hammered and riveted. With convex sides, the 'primitve bell' resembled an inverted bowl and has been called the 'beehive' bell. Its wall was of uniform thickness; in time, a ring of metal was added to the rim as a reinforcement |
| Primitive chord | a chord where the lowest note has the same note name as the key-note of the harmony |
| Primitivism | twentieth-century compositions that imitate rhythms, melodies, modes, and techniques of music of indigenous people, or music created or produced naturally in a particular region (typically non-Western) with its complex rhythms, harmonies, melodies and forms |
| primo (m.), prima (f.) | (Italian) first, firstly |
| the upper part in a duet |
| Primo amoroso | (Italian m.) male lead in an opera company |
| Primo buffo | (Italian m.) male lead in a comic opera |
| Primogeniture | the late medieval custom of allowing the first born legitimate male child to inherit all of his father's properties, estates, wealth, and titles upon the father's death. Primogeniture dictated that the younger sons had to leave home and seek their own employment |
| Primo leggio | (Italian m.) principal (for example 'principal flute') |
| Primo musico | (Italian m.) principal male singer |
| Primo soprano | (German m.) first soprano |
| Primo tempo | (Italian m.) the first or original time (tempo) |
| Primo uomo | (Italian m., literally 'leading man') principal male singer, usually the tenor |
| Primo violino | (Italian m.) principal of first violinist (in an orchestra) |
| prim.temp. | abbreviation of primo tempo (Italian: first time) |
| Prim-töne | (German) fundamental tones or notes |
| Primum mobile | (Latin) a primary source of motion, the original cause of activity |
| primus | (Latin) first |
| Primus inter pares | (Latin, literally 'first among equals') having precedence but no greater authority |
| Prin. | abbreviation of 'principal' |
| Princess Anne's Lutebook | Princess Anne was the daughter of George III of England and wife of William IV of Orange. The so-called Lutebook is actually a collection of pieces for 5 course guitar written in French tablature |
| Princesse | (French) a style of close-fitting woman's dress in which the bodice and skirt are not divided by a seam but are formed by continuous strips of cloth |
| Princesse lointaine | (French) a remote and unattainable mistress, a woman humbly adored from afar |
| Princess line | fitted dress where the skirt and bodice are seamed longwise in panels |
| Principal | the leader of the section of an orchestra, for example, principal cellist who leads the cello section |
| a leading dancer in a ballet company |
| in England, a principal is one family of organ pipes, a flue pipe that is rather narrow for its length and produces a bright, clear sound. There are many kinds of 'principal' but generally the 'Principal' (in this particular case sometimes called Octave or Oktave) is an 8 ft. stop on the pedals and a 4 ft. stop on the manual, that is, in each case, one octave above the diapasons |
| the definition above contrasts with that when the word in used in German where it refers to the diapasons themselves rather than pipes at the octave |
| in Germany, the foundation stops of an organ, generally called the 'open diapasons' in England |
| the definition above contrasts with the English use of the term, which refers to pipes that are pitched one octave above the 'diapasons' |
| in an ornament such as a trill or a mordent, the note over which the sign is written is called the 'principal'. The other note in a trill or mordent is called the 'repercussion' |
| Principal bass | an organ stop of the open diapason species on the pedals |
| Principal chords | the basic chords of a key, i.e. the primary triads, with the dominant seventh chord |
| Principal Chorus | in the organ, principal stops at 8 ft., 4 ft. and 2 ft., sometimes 16 ft. and 2 2/3 ft. with mixture(s) |
| Principale | (Italian m.) the principal part |
| (Italian m.) the lowest register of the natural trumpet as opposed to the highest, or clarino register, characterised by less melodic interest because, using only the lower partials (3rd to 9th), the player has fewer notes available. Later, these lower trumpet parts were associated with tympani parts |
| (Italian m.) the foundation stops of an organ, generally called the 'open diapasons' in England |
| this definition contrasts with the English use of the term, which refers to pipes that are pitched one octave above the 'diapasons' |
| (Italian m.) in Handel's music, and also into early church music, the term is applied to a third trumpet, written in the C clef |
| principale | (Italian) main |
| principalmente | (Italian) principally, chiefly |
| Principal octave | an organ stop which in English is also called 'Principal' |
| Principal subject, Principal theme | the chief theme in a movement, tema prinzipale (Italian), Hauptsatz (German), thème principal (French) |
| Principato | (Italian m.) principality |
| Principe | (Italian m.) prince |
| Principe azzurro | (Italian m.) Prince Charming (a character in pantomime) |
| Principe ereditario | (Italian m.) crown prince |
| principesco | (Italian) princely, chiefly |
| Principessa | (Italian f.) princess |
| Principiis obsta | (Latin) make a stand against the onset (of a disease or of some other misfortune or evil) |
| Principio | (Italian m., Spanish m.) beginning, first time, principle, cause |
| Principiante | (Italian m./f.) a beginner |
| principiare | (Italian) to begin, to start |
| Printanier | garnish of spring vegetables (for example, sprinkled on top of a soup) |
| Printed music, history of | though the history of the printed word is relatively commonly known, the history of printed music is less known. Of course, there are parallels that are shared by both printed text and music, there are also additional complexities that accompany the publication of music that make for a challenge in the printing industry that text printing does not present. Consider this; to print text (only), the producer must be prepared to have "type" set for 26 letters of the alphabet (with caps), numbers, italics and numerous punctuators. At best somewhere around 100 - 200 characters to be used. Of course, that excludes various type faces which are optional. The printing of music uses more complex symbols and many more of them. In the nineteenth century, the printer V.J. Figgins of London had already catalogued 460 separate symbols and elements, most of which are variable. The variability comes with, for example the length of a "hairpin" a trill or other performance and technique symbols. Just like text, different type faces and sizes can create an incredibly complex inventory of symbols to be used |
- A Short History & How it is Done from which this short extract has been taken
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| Printemps | (French m.) spring |
| Printing press | a mechanical device for making copies of identical text on multiple sheets of paper. Movable type, which allowed individual characters to be arranged to form words, was invented in China by Bi Sheng between 1041 to 1048. The use of movable type to mass produce printed works was popularized by a German goldsmith and eventual printer, Johannes Gutenberg (John of Gutenberg), in the 1440s. While there are several local claims for the invention of the printing press in other parts of Europe, including Laurens Janszoon Coster in the Netherlands and Panfilo Castaldi in Italy, Gutenberg is credited by most scholars with its initial invention |
| the printing press was a revolution comparable to the modern internet revolution. It made books for the first time cheap enough for mass production and mass purchasing, ensuring a rise in literacy, blurring dialectal vocabularies, spreading geographic and cultural knowledge, and fueling the flames of religious reformation |
- Printing press from which the first short extract has been taken
- Literary Terms and Definitions from which the second short extract has been taken
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| Prinzipal | (German m., literally 'principal') in the organ, originally, a name given to all the 'stops' connected to the Blockwerk. Later, Prinzipal came to mean a particular stop with a strong sound, suitable for a solo line |
| Prinzipal (m.), Prinzipalin (f.) | (German) principal, the head of a section (in an orchestra), the most important (person, thing, etc.) |
| Prior (m.), Prioress (f.) | the deputy of an abbot in a major Benedictine institution; or the head of a lesser Benedictine house; or the head of any house in some orders |
| Prior (m.), Priorin (f.) | (German) prior (m.), prioress (f.) |
| priore | (Italian) prior |
| priorisieren | (German) to prioritise |
| Priorisierung | (German f.) prioritisation |
| Priorità | (Italian f.) priority |
| Priorität | (German f.) priority |
| Prioritätsaktie | (German f.) preferential share |
| Priority | (state of) being more important, or of taking preference with respect to one's attention, effort, etc. |
| Prior provincial | the head of a province in the Dominican order |
| Priory | a monastery; in the Benedictine orders a house dependent upon an abbey; in certain orders such as the Augustinians or the mendicant orders, any religious house |
| Pris | see prys |
| prise (d'un enregistrement) | (French) take |
| Prisma | (Italian f.) prism |
| Prisme de pluie | (French m.) a percussion instruments that imitates the sound of rain |
| Prison chanson style | see 'Russian criminal music' |
| Pritam | Gujarati poet of the 16th century AD, who composed numerous devotional songs |
| privare | (Italian) to deprive |
| privarsi | (Italian) to deprive oneself |
| Privatdozent | (German) or Privatdocent, a lecturer recognized by a university but not a member of the salaried staff |
| Private Lives | composed between 1977 and 1983 by Robert Ashley (b. 1930), Private Lives (1983) is the first major video opera, combining recitation, keyboard performances, and multiple video images |
| Private symbol | in contrast with an archetype (universal symbol), a private symbol is one that an individual artist arbitrarily assigns a personal meaning to. Nearly all members of an ethnic, religious, or linguistic group might share a cultural symbol and agree upon its meaning with little discussion, but private symbols may only be discernable in the context of one specific story or poem |
- Literary Terms and Definitions from which this extract has been taken
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| Privativa | (Italian f.) a monopoly |
| Privatleben | (German n.) private life |
| Privatleher (m.), Privatleherin (f.) | (German m.) private tutor (m.), governess (f.) |
| Privato (m.), Privata (f.) | (Italian) a private citizen |
| privato | (Italian) private |
| Privazione | (Italian f.) deprivation |
| Privileged pattern | in music a privileged pattern is a motive, figure, or chord which is repeated and transposed so that the transpositions form a recognizable pattern. The pattern of transposition may be either by a repeated interval, an interval cycle, or a stepwise line of whole and semitones. The pattern is said to be privileged because it requires no context and is a precompositional technique |
- Privileged pattern from which this extract has been taken
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| Privileged tones | see 'false tones' |
| Privilegio | (Italian m.) privilege |
| privo di | (Italian) devoid of (meaning, etc.), lacking in |
| Prix d'ami | (French m.) a special price or rate for a friend |
| Prix de Rome, Grand | (French m.) prize awarded annually by the French government, through competitive examination, to students of the fine arts. It entitles them to four years' study at the Académie de France à Rome. The prize is open to all French painters, sculptors, architects, engravers, and musicians between the ages of 15 and 30 who have completed required work at the École des Beaux-Arts or elsewhere. It was instituted by Louis XIV in 1666 for the purpose of enabling talented artists to complete their education by study of classical art in Rome |
| Prix fixe | (French m.) (a meal, etc.) offered at an inclusive and set price |
| PRO | abbreviation of 'Public Record Office, London' |
| pro | (Latin) for, in favour of |
| pro and con (s.), pros and cons (pl.) | (mixed Latin and English) (argument or arguments) for and against (a proposition) |
| Proa | see prahu |
| probar | (Spanish) to prove (theory, innocence), to taste (wine, soup), to try (for the first time), to try out (equipment), to try on (dress, etc.), to test, to test out (equipment) |
| probar a hacer ... | (Spanish) to try doing ... |
| probarse | (Spanish) to try on (dress, shoes) |
| Probe | (German f.) rehearsal, proof, trial |
| proben | (German) to rehearse |
| Probezeit | (German f.) probationary period |
| probieren | (German) to try, to taste, to rehearse |
| Probità | (Italian f.) integrity |
| Problema | (Italian f.) problem |
| problematico | (Italian) problematic |
| problematisch | (German) problematic |
| Pro bono (publico) | (Latin) for (the public) good (usually a (public) service performed without charge) |
| procace | (Italian) impudent |
| Procatalepsis | (Greek, 'anticipation') a rhetorical strategy in which the writer raises an objection and then immediately answers it |
| procedendo | (Italian) to proceed |
| procedere | (Italian) to proceed, to start |
| Procedura | (Italian f.) procedure |
| Procella | (Italian) a storm, tempest-music |
| Procès | (French) a lawsuit, a trial (in a French court) |
| Procès-verbal | (French) a written statement of evidence in support of a criminal charge (in a French court) |
| Process camera | a camera with a special lens designed to photograph 2-dimensional objects and render them in high contrast. They come in vertical and horizontal models depending on the type of work to be done. They are most often employed in the production of halftones for printing plates. Before photographing an image a halftone filter is place in front of the camera's lens. Different types of filters can reproduce an image in dots of varying sizes or same size dots in different densities of area. If the image is to be printed in colour a series of photographs are taken with colour filters to create four negatives for each CYMK color. Digital scanners have now replaced much of the work done by process cameras |
| Processional | a book containing prayers, hymns and litany for use during processions around a church of feast days |
| Processional cross | the long staff surmounted by a cross carried by archbishops on ceremonial occasions |
| Processional music | a hymn sung in church during the entrance of the choir and clergy |
| Processional vestments | ceremonial clothing worn by the clergy for special occasions, excluding the celebration of the mass |
| Processione | (Italian f.) procession |
| Procession générale | (French f.) it provided an impressive display of sound, colour and texture. Trumpets pealed; horses' hoofs clattered over the cobblestones; a throng of dignitaries tramped by, some in boots, some in sandels, some under plumes and some in sackcloth. Different shades of red and blue stood out against the lace and fur trim of the magistrates and contrasted with the dull blacks and browns of the monks. Great sweeps of satin, silk, damask filled the streets - a vast stream of robes and uniforms bobbing up here and there and the flames of the candles dancing along its course[part of the Fête Dieu and Voeux du Roi festivals - this solemn procession was described in Montpelier in 1768] |
| Process music | process music, or systems music, is music which arises from a process, and more specifically, music which makes that process audible. The term pre-dates and is often used synonymously with minimalism |
- Process music from which this extract has been taken
|
| Process notation | synonymous for 'action notation' |
| Process print | originally a description of a print that had no supplemental retouching or additions made to it (for example, hand colouring), the term was applied later to those photomechanical prints that could give the illusion of natural colours without retouching work added, and created using only three printed colours |
| Process printing | or 'process colour', a printing process that produces the illusion of a full colour image through the use of only three printing plates inked with primary colours. This process was originally used with RGB colours according to additive colour theory. As colour theory evolved in the 20th century the method switched over to the subtractive primaries. Four plates are made to hold the three primary subtractive colours, cyan, magenta, yellow, plus black (CMYK) |
| Procès-verbaux | (French m.) minutes of proceedings, official records of meetings |
| Prochaine fois | (French f.) next time |
| Proclama | (Italian f.) proclamation |
| proclamare | (Italian) to proclaim |
| Proclamazione | (Italian f.) proclamation |
| Proclitic | see 'clitic' |
| procrastinare | (Italian) to postpone, to put off |
| Procrastinazione | (Italian f.) procrastination |
| Procter, Adelaide Ann (1825-1864) | daughter of Anne Benson Procter [née Skepper] (1799-1888), writer who married the British poet, Bryan W. Procter (1787-1874) ('Barry Cornwall'), Adelaide was a poet who contributed verses to the periodicals of Charles Dickens (1812-1870) under the name of Mary Berwick. Her poems were collected into a number of volumes published between 1858 and 1866. The Lost Chord, set to music by Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900), is well known, and many of her hymns are in common use. She took a particular interest in the social issues affecting women, and was appointed to a committee to consider fresh ways of providing employment for women |
|
| Procura | (Italian f.) power of attorney |
| Procuratore | (Italian m.) attorney |
| prode | (Italian) brave |
| prodere | (Latin) publish |
| Prodezza | (Italian f.) bravery |
| prodigare | (Italian) to lavish |
| prodigarsi | (Italian) to do one's best |
| Prodigio | (Spanish m., Italian m.) prodigy |
| prodigioso | (Italian) prodigious |
| prodigo | (Italian) prodigal |
| prodire | (Latin) come out (as with an issue of a magazine) |
| Prodotto | (Italian m.) a product |
| Prodotto derivato | (Italian m.) by-product |
| Producer | an individual tasked with bringing together all the elements of a play, opera or ballet to make a coherent whole of the eventual performance, a concept described by Wagner as Gesamtkunstwerk, and a role that was not seen on concert programmes before the First World War. The operatic producer, sometimes called a 'director', essentially a twentieth-century phenomenon, is in charge of the stage movement. In the seventeenth century, this task would have fallen to the ballet master, and in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries these matters were under the control of the composers |
| Producing house | a theatre which produces its own shows in-house. Theatres which do not produce their own material are known as receiving houses |
| Product | in the film and theatre industry, the process that involves building sets, designing costumes, measuring and fitting actors for costumes, and rehearsals |
| Production audio-visuelle | (French f.) AV-Production |
| Production du son | (French f.) sound production |
| Production music | see 'stock music' |
| Productos alimenticios | (Spanish m.pl.) foodstuffs, food products |
| Productos alimentarios | (Spanish m.pl.) foodstuffs, food products |
| Productos alimentos | (Spanish m.pl.) foodstuffs, food products |
| Productos artesanales | (Spanish m.pl.) handicrafts, craftwork |
| Productos de alta calidad | (Spanish m.pl.) high-quality products |
| Produktionsabteilung | (German f.) production department |
| produrre | (Italian) to produce |
| prodursi | (Italian) to play, to happen |
| produttivo | (Italian) productive |
| Produttore (m.), Produttrice (f.) | (Italian) a producer |
| Produzione | (Italian f.) production |
| Produzione del suono | (Italian f.) sound production |
| Proemio | preface, prelude, instruction |
| profan | (German) profane |
| Profane | (English, French) irreverent, blasphemous, obscene |
| (English, French) not sacred, not biblical |
| Profanity Act of 1606 | a law passed under King James I required that any profanity in a publicly performed play or in published material would result in a ten-pound fine for the performer or printer, a substantial sum |
- Literary Terms and Definitions from which this extract has been taken
|
| profano | (Italian) profane, secular |
| proferire | (Italian) to utter |
| Profesor | (Spanish m./f.) teacher |
| Profesor adjunto (m.), Profesor adjunta (f.) | (Spanish) associate professor (US), senior lecturer |
| Profesor agregado (m.), Profesor agregada (f.) | (Spanish) secondary school teacher |
| professare | (Italian) to profess, to practise (a profession) |
| Professeur | (French m./f.) teacher |
| Professeur de musique | (French m./f.) music teacher, professor of music |
| professionale | (Italian) professional |
| Professione | (Italian f.) profession |
| Professionista | (Italian m./f.) a professional man or woman |
| Professor | the highest ranking academic teaching position, although the term is also applied more generally (for example, in the U.S.) to other grades of university or college teacher (for example, assistant professor) and to those who teach in music conservatories |
| Professor (m.), Professorin (f.) | (German) professor |
| Professore (m.), Professoressa (f.) | (Italian) (school) teacher, (university) lecturer, professor |
| Professore di musica | (Italian m.) music teacher, professor of music |
| Professore d'orchestra | (Italian m.) male member of a professional orchestra |
| Professore d'orchestra | (Italian m.) male member of a professional orchestra |
| Professoressa di musica | (Italian f.) female music teacher, female professor of music |
| Professoressa d'orchestra | (Italian f.) female member of a professional orchestra |
| Profeta | (Italian m.) prophet |
| profetico | (Italian) prophetic |
| Profetizzare | (Italian) to prophesy |
| Profezia | (Italian f.) prophecy |
| proficuo | (Italian) profitable |
| Profil | (German n.) character, half face, profile, section, sideface, tread (of a tyre) |
| im Profil zeichnen (German: to profile) |
| mit Profil versehen (German: to profile) |
| profilare | (Italian) to profile, to border, to streamline (a vehicle) |
| profilarsi | (Italian) to stand out |
| Profilo | (Italian m.) profile, outline |
| Profil perdu | (French) in art, a portrait-pose in which the head of the sitter is turned nearly away from the viewer so that only the contour of the cheek is visible |
| Profit-à-prendre | (French) the right to the produce of soil belonging to another person including minerals, etc that might lie beneath the soil. Grazing rights are perhaps the most common type of profit-à-prendre |
| profiter à | (French) to benefit, be profitable to |
| profiter de | (French) to make the most of |
| Profiterole (s.), Profiteroles (pl.) | small, round choux paste case, typically filled with cream and covered with chocolate |
| profittare di | (Italian) to profit by, to take advantage of |
| Profitto | (Italian m.) profit, advantage |
| profondere | (Italian) to lavish (praise), to squander (money) |
| Profondeur | (French f.) depth |
| Profondeur de champs | (French f.) depth of field (photography) |
| Profondità | (Italian f.) depth |
| profondo | (Italian) low, deep, profound (figurative) |
| pro forma | (Latin) as a matter of form, as a 'gesture', as a formality in accordance with some legal requirement |
| in law, pro forma procedure is performed subject to and following an agreed manner |
| Prog | see 'progressive rock' |
| Profugo (m.), Profuga (f.) | (Italian) refugee (a person escaping persecution in their own country) |
| profumare | (Italian) to perfume |
| profumarsi | (Italian) to put on scent |
| Profumeria | (Italian f.) perfumery |
| Profumo | (Italian m.) perfume, scent |
| Profusione | (Italian f.) profusion |
| profuso | (Italian) profuse (in abundance) |
| Progenie | (Italian f.) progeny (offspring) |
| progettare | (Italian) to plan, to scheme, to design |
| Progettista | (Italian m.) planner, schemer |
| Progetto | (Italian m.) project, plan, scheme, lay-out (typesetting) |
| Progetto di legge | (Italian m.) bill (parliamentary) |
| Progetto parallelo | (Italian m.) side project |
| Prognosis (s.), Prognoses (pl.) | (Greek) a forecast of the probable course and duration of a disease, although the term is used more generally now to mean any kind of forecast |
| Program | see 'square dance program' |
| Programa | (Spanish m.) programme |
| Programa musical | (Spanish m.) musical programme |
| Program Change | in MIDI, synonymous with patch |
| Programm | (German n.) programme |
| Programma | (Italian m.) programme, syllabus, platform (political) |
| Programma della corse | (Italian m.) race-card |
| Programma di attualità | (Italian m.) current events programme |
| programmare | (Italian) to programme |
| Programma scolastico | (Italian m.) syllabus |
| Programmatic chansons | a genre for which Clément Janequin (c.1485-1558), in particular, was famous, programmatic chansons were long, sectional pieces, that usually cleverly imitated natural or man-made sounds. Le chant des oiseaux imitates bird-calls; La chasse the sounds of a hunt; and La bataille, probably the most famous, and almost certainly written to celebrate the French victory over the Habsburgs at the Battle of Marignano in 1515, imitates battle noises, including trumpet calls, cannon fire and the cries of the wounded. Onomatopoeic effects such as these became a commonplace in later sixteenth-century music, and carried over into the Baroque era; indeed "battle music" was to become a cliché, but it first came into prominence with Janequin |
- Clément Janequin from which this information has been taken
|
| Programmatore (m.), Programmatrice (f.) | (Italian) a computer programmer |
| Programme | (English, French m.) a list of events, performers, etc. at a public function etc. |
| Programme music | descriptive music, music that interprets an object of contemplation or an emotional experience |
Marin Marais - Le Jeu du Volant ('shuttlecock' or 'badminton game') |
|
| Programme symphony | a symphonic work that follows an underlying narrative, for example Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) |
| Programmmusik | (German f.) programme music |
| Program music | (U.S.) programme music, descriptive music |
| Programmsinfonie | (German f.) programme symphony |
| progredire | (Italian) to make progress |
| Progrès | (French m.) progress |
| Progresión (s.), Progresiones (pl.) | (Spanish f.) progression |
| Progresión armónica | (Spanish f.) harmonic progression |
| Progresion de acordes | (Spanish f.) progression of chords |
| Progresión melódica | (Spanish f.) melodic progression |
| Progreso | (Spanish m.) progress |
| Progressão | (Portuguese) progression |
| Progressio harmonica | (Italian f.) a mixture stop in German organs, commencing with two ranks at the bottom, and increasing to 3, 4, or 5 ranks, in the upper part of the manual |
| Progression | (English, French f., German f.) the movement of one line in a melody (melodic progression) against others, or the movement of harmony as a sequence of chords (harmonic progression) |
| type | description | | melodic progression | movement from note to note in a single part | | harmonic progrssion | movement from chord to chord, of two or more parts moving together | |
| Progressione | (Italian) progression |
| Progressisme | (French) an optimistic belief that humanity is making and will continue to make progress towards (even) greater prosperity and happiness |
| Progressiste | (French m./f.) a person who is progressive, in his or her ideas, actions, etc. |
| progressivamente | (Italian) progressively |
| Progressive bluegrass | also known as 'newgrass', one of two major subgenres of bluegrass music |
- Progressive bluegrass from which this extract has been taken
|
| Progressive breaks | see 'progressive electronic music' |
| Progressive composition | a song that is 'through-composed', where each strophe is set to different music, the more to reflect the changing mood of the text |
| Progressive country | see 'alternative country' |
| Progressive Double Two | a type of country and western dance popularized in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of the USA |
|
| Progressive electronic music | progressive in the context of modern dance music (occasionally progressive electronic dance music or prog) is a term that includes a collection of electronic dance music genres which draw upon the use of progressive performing techniques and includes the styles of progressive trance, progressive house, progressive techno and progressive breaks |
- Progressive electronic music from which this extract has been taken
|
| progressivement | (French) progressively |
| Progressive metal | a genre that emerged in the 1980s with thrash bands who brought complicated guitar compositions, time changes, and longer songs to heavy metal |
- Progressive metal from which this extract has been taken
|
| Progressive music | the name given to a certain approach to musical composition that has been applied to several different music genres. One way the term has been applied is to subgenres that have evolved from their root genre by innovating, either through incorporating instruments from other genres or using new techniques within the framework provided by the instrumentation of the root genre to make a new or crossover style. Another is in reference to a gradual build-up of energy within progressive music track or throughout an album |
- Progressive music from which this extract has been taken
|
| progressiver Jazz | (German m.) progressive Jazz |
| Progressive rock | shortened to 'prog', or 'prog rock' when differentiating from other "progressive" genres, an ambitious, eclectic, and often grandiose style of rock music which arose in the late 1960s, reached the peak of its popularity in the early 1970s, and continues as a musical form to this day |
- Progressive rock from which this extract has been taken
|
| Progressive tonality | a sequence that moves a piece of music from one key to another |
| Progressive trance | a popular sub-genre in trance music and contains elements of house, techno and ambient music |
- Progressive trance from which this extract has been taken
|
| progressiver Jazz | (German) progressive Jazz |
| progressivo | (Italian) progressive |
| Progresso | (Italian m.) progress |
| Prog rock | see 'progressive rock' |
| pro hac vice | (Latin) for this occasion (only), as an exception |
| Proibidão | (Portuguese, literally 'highly prohibited') a sub-genre of Baile Funk, which funk fans say glorifies local drug dealers and favela drug lords, and is seen, in the eyes of the Brazilian government, as an especially volatile form of music |
- Baile Funk: Proibidão from which this extract has been taken
|
| proibire | (Italian) to forbid |
| Proibitivo | (Italian) prohibitive |
| proibito | (Italian) forbidden |
| Proibizione | (Italian f.) prohibition |
| proiettare | (Italian) to project |
| Proiettile | (Italian m.) bullet |
| Proiettore | (Italian m.) projector |
| Proiezione | (Italian f.) projection |
| Projected set | in music a projected set is a technique where a collection of pitches or pitch classes is extended in a texture through the emphasized simultaneous statement of the a set followed or preceded by a successive emphasized statement of each of its members |
- Projected set from which this extract has been taken
|
| Projecteur | (French m.) spotlight |
| Project Gutenberg | abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive and distribute cultural works. Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library.[1] Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books. The project tries to make these as free as possible, in long-lasting, open formats that can be used on almost any computer. As of December 2007, Project Gutenberg claimed over 24,000 items in its collection. Project Gutenberg is affiliated with many projects that are independent organizations which share the same ideals, and have been given permission to use the Project Gutenberg trademark. Wherever possible, the releases are available in plain text, but other formats are included, such as HTML. The majority of releases are in English language, but many non-English works are also available. There are multiple affiliated projects that are providing additional content, including regional-based or language-specific works. Project Gutenberg is also closely affiliated with Distributed Proofreaders, an internet-based community for proof-reading scanned texts |
- Project Gutenberg from which this extract has been taken
|
| Projektabschluß | (German m.) completion of the project |
| prol(s) | abbreviation of 'prologue(s)' |
| Polabian | West Slavic language, extinct in eighteenth century |
| Prolatio | (Latin) adding a dot to increase or lengthen the duration of a note |
| (Latin) a medieval method of determining of the proportionate duration of semibreves and minims |
|
| Prolatio major | the ternary division of semibreves into minims (i.e. a ratio of 3) |
| Prolatio minor | the binary division of semibreves into minims (i.e. a ratio of 2) |
| Prolation | a term used in the theory of medieval music to describe its rhythmic structure on a small scale. The term is derived from the Latin prolatio, first used by Philippe de Vitry in describing Ars Nova, a musical style that came about in fourteenth-century France. Prolation, together with tempus, corresponds roughly to the concept of time signature in modern music. Prolation describes whether a semibreve is equal in length to two minims (minor prolation or imperfect prolation) or three minims (major prolation or perfect prolation) |
- Prolation from which this extract has been taken
|
| Prolation canon | a type of musical canon, sometimes also called a mensuration canon. In a prolation canon, each voice not only sings or plays the same music, but at different speeds (or prolations, a metrical term which dates to the medieval and Renaissance eras). Voices may either enter successively or simultaneously. Prolation canons are among the most difficult to write, and are relatively rare in the repertory, though they are most common in the early Renaissance and from the twentieth century to the present |
- Prolation canon from which this extract has been taken
|
| Prole | (Italian f.) offspring |
| Prolegomenon (s.), Prolegomena (pl.) | (Greek) a preliminary treatise, a prefatory discourse |
| more often used in the plural with the meaning 'introductory remarks' |
| Prolepsis (s.), Prolepses (pl.) | (Greek) an anticipation, the assignment of an event to too early a date, an anachronism, the anticipation of objections by an opponent in an argument |
| in linguistics, the use of an adjective describing a condition which has not yet come into existence |
- Prolepsis
- Proleptic syllogism
|
| Proletario | (Italian m.) proletarian |
| proletario | (Italian) proletarian |
| proliferare | (Italian) to proliferate |
| prolifico | (Italian) prolific |
| prolisso | (Italian) verbose |
| Prolog | (German m.) prologue |
| Prologo | (Italian m.) prologue |
| Prólogo | (Spanish m.) prologue |
| Prologue | In original Greek tragedy, the prologue was either the action or a set of introductory speeches before the first entry (parados) of the chorus. Here, a single actor's monologue or a dialogue between two actors would establish the play's background events |
| an introduction or preface to a dramatic or prose work that was used to set the background to a story about to be presented, most common in the Renaissance and Baroque eras, although some are still to be found today |
| an introduction or preface before the first stanza of a poetic work |
| Prolongación | (Spanish f.) prolongation, continuation (in the sense of extension) |
| prolongar | (Spanish) to prolong, to lengthen |
| Prolongation | (English, French f.) extension in time or space |
| Prolunga | (Italian f.) (electrical) extension |
| Prolungamento | (Italian f.) prolongation |
| prolungando | (Italian) prolonging, verlängernd |
| prolungare | (Italian) to prolong, to lengthen |
| prolungarsi | (Italian) to continue |
| prolungarsi su | (Italian) to dwell upon |
| Prolusione | (Italian f.) opening lecture |
| Promemoria | (Italian f.) memorandum |
| Promenade | (French) a leisurely walk, a constitutional, a public place designed for leisurely walking, for example, along the sea-front |
| passeio (Portuguese), in contradance and ballet, a basic figure where as a couple, with the lady on the right, the couple walks where the caller directs. There are several different handholds. In one method, the gent holds hands with the lady, left hands (his arm across his body by) low, and his right arm across her back with right hands above the lady's right shoulder. In another method right hands are joined, and left hands are joined, and both are kept in front of the dancer's body, with the right hands on top. The gent may choose to spin the lady under his arm at the end as a flourish. Promenades are frequently used to bring dancers back to place (often useful when dancers get lost mid-dance) |
- Promenade from which this information has been taken
|
| in the theatre, a performance of a play in which the actors and audience occupy the same space, with no distinction between acting area and audience area. The audience is given the freedom to explore the space together with the performance, and there is generally an element of audience interaction in the play |
- Theater terms from which this information has been taken
|
| Promenade en attitude (s.), Promenades en attitude (pl.) | (French) in ballet, a slow turn on one foot with the other leg extended backwards, one arm raised and the other horizontal |
| Promenadenkonzert | (German n.) promenade concert |
| Promenade the Outside Round | one of the figures unique to, or traditionally associated with, square dancing |
|
| Promenade, tour de | (French, literally 'turn in a walk') in dance, a term of the French School used to indicate that the dancer turns slowly in place on one foot by a series of slight movements of the heel to the required side while maintaining a definite pose such as an arabesque or attitude. The turn may be performed either en dedans or en dehors. In a pas de deux, the ballerina on point holds her pose and is slowly turned by her partner who walks around her holding her hand |
- Promenade, tour de from which this information has been taken
|
| Promessa | (Italian f.) promise |
| Promesse | (German f.) promissory note |
| Prometeo | (Italian m.) Prometheus |
| Prometheus scale (five note) |  |
| there is also a six-note Prometheus scale and a related six-note Prometheus Neapolitan scale |
| promettre à | (French) to promise |
| promettre de | (French) to promise to |
| promettente | (Italian) promising |
| promettere | (Italian) to promise |
| prominente | (Italian) prominent |
| Prominently | conspicuously, pronunziato (Italian), hervorragend (German), en dehors (French) |
| Prominenza | (Italian f.) prominence |
| promiscuo | (Italian) promiscuous |
| Promiscuità | (Italian f.) promiscuity |
| Promise ring | a ring given to express friendship, romantic commitment, etc. |
| Promo | sales promotion (colloquial) |
| Promoter | a person who promotes, for example, a theatrical production, a concert, etc. |
| Promoteur | (French m.) a promoter |
| Promotion | a campaign whose aim is to promote something, an event that is promoted |
| a move to a more senior post (with the expectation of greater responsibility, more money, and so on) |
| Promotore | (Italian m.) a promoter |
| Promozione | (Italian f.) a promotion |
| Prompt | to tell an actor his next line when he as forgotten it |
| the person whose job it is to do this (also called the 'prompter') |
| the term used to mean the side of the stage where the prompter sat, the other side of the stage being called 'Opposite Prompt' or OP |
| prompt | (French, German) promptly, pronto |
| Promptbook | a manuscript of a play adapted for performance by a theatrical company - usually with extra stage directions, notes on special effects or props, and last minute revisions or corrections. In some promptbooks, the characters' names and speech prefixes are scribbled out and replaced with the names of the actors playing those roles |
| promptement | (French) readily, quickly, promptly |
| Prompter | the person tasked with giving the words of a phrase or a line of text to a stage performer; in opera houses, the conductor's beat may also be relayed to the singer via the prompter |
| Prompter's box | where the prompter sits during the performance |
| promulgare | (Italian) to promulgate |
| Promulgate | to make known to the public, to disseminate, to promote, to proclaim (a decree, news, etc.). |
| promuovere | (Italian) to promote |
| Promythium | a summary of the moral of a fable appearing before the main narrative. If the summary is found at the beginning of the narrative, it is called an epimythium |
| Pronation | rotation of the hands and forearms so that the palms face downward |
| Pronipote | (Italian m./f.) great-grandson, great-granddaughter, great-nephew, great-niece |
| Pronombre | (Spanish m.) pronoun |
| Pronome | (Italian m.) prnoun |
| Pronomen | (German n.) pronoun |
| prononcé | (French) emphatic, conspicuous, strongly marked, exaggerated |
| Prononciation | (French f.) pronunciation |
| pronosticare | (Italian) to predict |
| prontamente | (Italian) promptly, quickly |
| Prontezza | (Italian f.) readiness, quickness, aptitude, promptness (readiness), preparedness (immediacy), facility (aptitude) |
| Prontezza di comprensione | (Italian f.) perspicacity (eagerness) |
| Prontezza di riflessi | (Italian f.) quick reflexes (pl.) |
| Prontezza meccanica | (Italian f.) mechanical aptitude |
| pronto | (Italian) prompt, quick, ready |
| pronto per la stampa | (Italian) ready for printing |
| Prontuario | (Italian m.) handbook |
| Pronuncia | (Italian f.) pronunciation |
| Pronuncia blesa | (Italian f.) lisp |
| Pronunciación | (Spanish f.) pronounciation |
| Pronunciamento | (Spanish) a proclamation, a published manifesto |
| Pronunciation spelling | a new spelling of an old word that more accurately reflects the current pronunciation than the original spelling does |
| Pronunzia | (Italian f.) pronunciation |
| pronunziare | (Italian) to pronounce, to enunciate, to utter |
| pronunziato | (Italian) pronounced, clear, distinct, well-marked, prominent |
| prony | (French m.) named for the French mathematician Gaspard Clair François Marie Riche de Prony (1755-1839), the prony is a unit defined as the 12th root of the ratio of two frequencies. The interval of an octave would then be equal to 12 pronys. The cent is one hundreth of a prony. |
| Prooemium | (Latin, from Greek) preface, introduction, the prefatory part of a speech |
| in the sixteenth century, synonymous with anabole, fantasia, ricercar, prelude and preambulum |
| Proof | a version of a document or colour illustration produced specifically for the purpose of review prior to reproduction |
| Proof before letters | an impression taken before title, publisher's line, etc. have been added |
| pro organo | (Italian) a term that is used to indicate that a musical composition is intended to by played 'on the organ'. The phrase pro organo pleno inscribed under the title of a musical work by J. S. Bach indicates that the work was intended to be played on "full organ" |
| Prop (s.), Props (pl.) | (from the Middle English proppe, 'a support') or '(stage) property', handheld objects, furniture and similar items used on the stage. The term does not include the scenery itself or the costumes |
| Propaganda | (English, Italian f. from the Latin) any organized movement or systematic scheme for the propagation of a specific doctrine or theory |
- Literary Terms and Definitions
- Propaganda
|
| propagare | (Italian) to propagate |
| propagarsi | (Italian) to spread |
| Propagation | the movement of a sound wave through a medium, for example, air, water, etc. |
| Propagazione | (Italian f.) propagation |
| Proparalepsis (s.), Proparalepses (pl.) | a type of neologism that occurs by adding an extra syllable or letters to the end of a word |
| propendere per | (Italian) to be in favour of |
| Propensione | (Italian f.) inclination |
| Proper | a liturgical genre with text that changes from day to day |
| in the Mass, the musical items of the Proper are introit, gradual, alleluia, offertory and communion |
| Properties of sound | those aspects of a sound, such as pitch, timbre, volume and duration, that give it a recognizable and definable tonal character |
| Prophylaxis | (Latin, from Greek) the prevention of disease by medical intervention |
| propinare | (Italian) to administer |
| propizio | (Italian) favourable |
| Proponimento | (Italian m.) a resolution |
| Proporcion | (Spanish f.) proportion |
| Proporciones armónicas | (Spanish f. pl.) harmonic proportions (for example, those described by Pythagoras) |
| proporre | (Italian) to propose, to suggest |
| proporre un quesito | (Italian) to put a question |
| proporsi di | (Italian) to intend to |
| Proportio | (Latin) the relation of intervals |
| the relation of time values to the metrical pulse (tactus) in the rhythmical theory of mensurable music |
| Proportion | (English, French f.) comparative part, share or ratio |
| a pleasing relation of parts of something to the whole |
| Proportion | (Latin proportio, literally 'evenness') in painting, sculpture and architecture, the ratio between the respective parts and the whole work |
| the following types of proportion are important: | | the Canon of Proportion | a mathematical formula establishing ideal proportions of the various parts of the human body. The unit of measurement is usually the relationship of the head to the torso ((1:7) or (1:10)) | | the golden section | a line C divided into a small section A and a larger section B, so that (A:B) are in the same relationship as (B:C) | | the quadrature | which uses the square as a unit of measurement | | triangulation | which uses an equilateral triangle in order to determine important points in the construction | | harmonic proportions | an analogy with the way sounds are produced on stringed instruments, for example an octave = (2:1) (the difference in pitch between two strings, one half the length of the other), a fifth = (3:2), a fourth = (4:3) | |
| Proportion | in music, the relationship of one note's duration to one another |
| in music theory, the ratio of the frequencies of two notes, an important element in Pythagorean music theory |
| Proportion | (French f.) ratio |
| Proportional notation | see 'mensural notation' |
| also called 'time-space notation, a system of notation developed by the American composer Earle Brown (1926-2002) in which the duration of notes is shown relative only to one another and independent of any strict metric system |
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| Proportz | see Nachtanz[entry suggested by Jogn Comber] |
| Proporzione | (Italian f.) proportion |
| proposer de | (French) to suggest |
| Proposition | statement, assertion, proposal |
| Propositionality | the extent to which a word conveys information |
| Proposito | (Italian m.) purpose |
| Proposizione | (Italian f.) clause, sentence |
| Proposta | (Italian f.) a proposal |
| (Italian f.) the subject of a fugue, the antecedent of a canon |
| propre | (French) neat, appropriate |
| "Is also said about something that is appropriate: "You must try on this suit to see if it is propre." ... It also said about something that is neat, appropriate, decorated: "This apartment is very propre [neat], the furniture is very propre [appropriate], the clothes are very propre [appropriately ornamented]." - Furetière (1702) |
- Ranums' Panat Times from which this quotation has been taken
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| proprement | (French) appropriately, decorously, cleanly, properly |
| "The performance of French singing with the appropriate ornaments, which are called the agréments du chant. ... Singing or playing proprement means executing a French melody with the appropriate ornaments. This melody does not in the least depend upon the sheer strength of the sound; and, having no character of its own, it only assumes one through the expressive turns one gives it during performance. These turns [agréments du chant] are taught by singing masters." - Rousseau (1768) |
| "Employed in several totally different ways. It sometimes means the same thing as "precisely." ... When one says that a man speaks proprement, that he expresses himself proprement, it means that he speaks with exactness and precision, that the words he uses express exactly what he means. ... When one says that a person dances, sings, plays an instrument or works proprement, it simply means that he does not do it perfectly, but accurately, de bonne grâce, and in an agréable and appropriate way." - Trévoux (1771) |
- Ranums' Panat Times from which these quotations have been taken
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| Proprietà | (Italian f.) property, ownership, propriety |
| Proprieta letteraria | (Italian f.) copyright |
| Proprietario (m.), Proprietaria (f.) | (Italian) owner |
| Proprietary name | registered name of a product usually, but not always, registered as a trade mark |
| Proprieté | (French f.) appropriateness, ornament |
| "A great number of trills, balancements, ports de voix, slurs, martellements, passage-work and other propretés [ornaments] should only be used in airs, and even then with moderation. They render the goût [effect] effeminate, prevent accurate intonation, distort the mesure, throw the harmony off, and always leave the pupil confused." - Montéclair (1709) |
- Ranums' Panat Times from which this quotation has been taken
|
| Propriété littéraire | (French f.) copyright |
| proprio | (Italian) one's (own), typical, proper, just, really, not ... at all |
| Proprioception | sensory information from movements of parts of the body |
| Props | see 'prop' |
| Propstick | the stick that holds up the lid of a harpsichord |
| Propylaeum (s.), Propylaea | (Latin, from Greek) in architecture, a gateway or entrance into a sacred enclosure |
| Pro rata | (Latin, 'in proportion', 'proportionally') a term applied to charges made by the hour, day, etc. |
| dividends distributed on a pro rata basis would be according to the amount of investment |
| Pro re nata | (Latin, 'for a thing born') for some unexpected contingency not previously accounted for |
| Prosa | (Latin) typically, text added to the sequence of a Mass, originally those that were written in prose rather than poetic meter |
| (Latin) the medieval term used for the text of a 'sequence' although sometimes applied to the combination of melody and text |
| see prosula |
| Prosa | (Italian f., German f.) prose |
| Prosae sequentiae | (Latin pl.) hymns sung at Easter and and the feast of Pentecost |
| Proscenio | (Italian m.) stage front |
| Proscenium | or 'proscenium arch', the boundary between the stage and the audience in a conventional theatre, that from the audience's point of view appears to form or really does form an arch over the stage |
| that portion of the stage that lies between the footlights and the curtain |
| Prosciutto | (Italian) a cured Parma ham |
| Prose | (English, French f.) any material that is not written in a regular meter like poetry, prosa (Italian f., German f.) |
| Prosecuzione | (Italian f.) continuation |
| Prose rythmée | (French f.) rhythmical prose, free verse |
| Prosimian | of or belonging to the Prosimii, a sub-order of primates that includes the lemurs, lorises and tarsiers |
| Prosit! | (Latin, 'may it prosper') 'your health!', a toast used in parts of Germany |
| Proske, Karl(1794-1861) | a German Catholic cleric, also known as Carolus Proske and Carl Proske, Proske devoted all his energies and spent his entire private income on the restoration of what he called vere musica ecclesiae, the "true music of the Church". This he considered to be the ancient Gregorian chant and especially the polyphonic works of the Renaissance masters (such as Palestrina, Nanini, Marenzio, Lassus, etc.). He searched all throughout Germany and Italy, making many trips to Rome, in order to collect ancient manuscripts for his library, which grew to contain thousands of samples (Karl Weinmann, a late 1800s music researcher, claimed there were over 30,000 pages of manuscripts before Proske died). Proske was a pioneer in the field, and the fact that his editions reflected only the German, Flemish, and Italian repertoires - excluding Spaniards for the most part, though he did include Victoria - does not diminish his amazing contributions to Sacred music |
- Karl Proske from which this extract has been taken
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| Proskenion | a raised stage constructed before the skene in classical Greek drama. The proskenion sharply divided the actors from the chorus, and the elevated height made the actors more visible to the audience |
| Proslambanomenos | (Greek) the 'acquired tone', the lowest note in the ancient Greek system. When translated into the system based on the Guidonian hand, and in order to accommodate the sequence of hexachords as understood by the mind of the medieval musical theorist, an additional string had to be added one tone below the Proslambanomenos. The new lowest note was called Gamma, G Gamut or Γ. In this way, and under this system, we see that the Proslambanomenos is the note A |
| Prosodia | (Latin, Italian) prosody, correct accentuation in setting words to music which distinguishes short or long syllables |
| Prosodic signal | pitch, stress, or rhythm as grammatical signals |
| Prosodie | (German, French) prosody, correct accentuation in setting words to music which distinguishes short or long syllables |
| Prosody | | the term prosody may refer to one of the following: | | in linguistics | the rhythm, stress or intonation of speech, thought to be regulated by areas in the right hemisphere. Prosody may reflect various features of the speaker or the utterance: the emotional state of a speaker; whether an utterance is a statement, a question, or a command; whether the speaker is being ironic or sarcastic; emphasis, contrast, and focus; or other elements of language that may not be encoded by grammar or choice of vocabulary | | in poetry | or versification, its sounds, rhythms, scansion and meter, stanzaic form, alliteration, assonance, euphony, onomatopoeia, and rhyme | | related to poetry, prosody or versification can also mean the writing of verse | | in music | refers to the way the composer sets the text of a vocal composition in the assignment of syllables to notes in the melody to which the text is sung; this is particularly a function of rhythm and pitch, and is not to be confused with musical form | |
| Prosomoiarion | a codex, or part of an heirmologion, which contains the prosomoia stichera (troparia (sing. troparion) modelled on already existing melodies) arranged by mode |
| Prosopopoeia | (from Greek prosopon, 'face') a form of personification in which an inanimate object gains the ability to speak |
| Prospectus | a pamphlet issued by an opera house detailing the forthcoming season of works and artists |
| Prospekt | (German m.) brochure, prospectus |
| (German m.) the main visual display of the organ. The wooden sections of the Prospekt are crafted with great skill, and on the more ornate instruments, valuable materials such as brass, pewter (pure tin) and ivory can be used for the pipes section |
| Prospettiva | (Italian f.) perspective |
| Prossima volta | (Italian f.) next time |
| prossimo | (Italian) near, next, close |
| prostare | (Latin) be on sale |
| Prosthesis | adding an extra syllable or letters to the beginning of a word for poetic effect |
| Prosula | (Latin, diminutive of prosa) also called prosa, a text created to fit an existing melisma of Gregorian chant |
| additional words to a pre-existing composition |
| Proszenium | (German n.) proscenium (arch) |
| Protagonist | in a drama, the main character, the hero or heroine |
| Protagonista | (Italian m./f.) protagonist |
| Pro tanto | (Latin) so much, to such an extent |
| Protectory | an institution providing for the welfare of homeless, destitute, or delinquent children |
| Protégé (m.), Protégée (f.) | (French) one who is under the protection of another, one who receives benefits from a person of superior status |
| Protein | one of the three main group of nutrients in food (the other two are fats and carbohydrates). Foods that provide protein include meat, poultry, fish, cheese, milk, dairy products, eggs, and dried beans. Proteins are used in the body to build and repair cells and to create insulin and other hormones |
| pro. tem. | abbreviation of pro tempore (Latin: for the time being, temporarily) |
| Pro tempore | (Latin) for the time being, temporarily |
| Protesta | (Italian, literally 'declaration') a declaration printed in Italian opera libretti stating that the 'pagan' references that might appear in the text should not be taken to mean that author was not a faithful adherent of the Roman Catholic faith, necessary in order to receive the Church's Imprimatur |
| Protestantism | one of three main groups currently within Christianity. The term "Protestant" represents a diverse range of perspectives, denominations, individuals, and related organizations. While no particular belief or practice can be said to define this branch of Christianity (indeed, its most commonly given definition is merely "any Christian denomination which is not Roman Catholic or Orthodox Christian"), those denominations considered to be well within the realm of Protestantism all have firm roots in the Protestant Reformation in Europe during the sixteenth century |
- Protestantism from which this extract has been taken
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| Protestant Reformation | a movement in which a large number of Christians broke from the Catholic church and founded their own denominations. While they remained Christians, they tried to right what they saw as wrong with the Catholic Church. In the case of Martin Luther, he found 95 elements which needed fixing or correcting in the Roman Catholic Church and posted those on a cathedral door. The Lutheran movement was the most famous and probably the largest of the Reformation Churches to form, although it was not the first. Jan Hus, founder of the Unitas Fratrum, or Moravian Church, actually broke from the Roman Catholic Church almost 100 years before Luther, but he was killed and his followers persecuted, so they remained a secret sect until the larger Reformation came to pass |
| Protestnote | (German f.) a note of protest |
| Protest song | (English, Protestsong (German m.)) a song intended to protest perceived problems in society such as injustice, racial discrimination, war, globalization, inflation, social inequalities. Protest songs are generally associated with folk music, but in recent times they have come from all genres of music. Such songs become popular during times of social disruption and among social groups |
- Protest Song from which this extract has been taken
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| Prothalamion | (pseudo-Greek) a song or poem celebrating as coming marriage (a word invented by Edmund Spenser (c.1552-1599) at the title of a poem published in 1597) |
| protocolaire | (French) (a person) much addicted to insisting on the niceties of diplomatic etiquette |
| Protocole de transfert de fichier | (French m.) file transfer protocol, FTP |
| Proto-Indo-European | the reconstructed ancestor of all Indo-European languages. Many scholars use this term interchangeably with Indo-European |
| Protokoll | (German n.) record, minutes |
| Prototipo | (Italian m.) prototype |
| Prototyp | (German m.) prototype |
| Protozeugma | see zeugma |
| Protracted | drawn out or lengthened (for example, in time) |
| Protraction | drawing out or lengthening, extension or protrusion |
| Protus | the system of dividing the chant repertory into eight modes had its origins in the eight echoi of the Byzantine chant of the Eastern Church. Various terminologies have been used associated with this 'eight-mode system'. While the most widely used is that employed in the modern official chant books of the Catholic Church, in which the modes are simply numbered 1-8 in Roman numerals, other nomenclature, based upon different mediæval theorists, is also encountered. One of these, familiar to Hucbald (c. 840-930), to the ninth-century authors of the treatises Musica Enchiriadis and Scolica Enchiriadis, and to the author of the ninth- or tenth-century Commemoratio Brevis de Tonis et Psalmis Modulandis, is first found in a late eighth- early ninth-century tonary from S. Riquier (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, lat. 13159) |
| the late eighth- early ninth-century tonary from S. Riquier (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, lat. 13159) lists four modes: protus, deuterus, tritus and tetrardus, respectively, the Greek words for first (D is the finalis), second (E is the finalis), third (F is the finalis) and fourth (G is the finalis), and subdivides each of the four into two, the first of each pair being designated authentus (authentic) and the second plagis (plagal): | | number | Greek name | Boethian name | as in Alia musica | the notes of the modereciting tone in redfinalis in blue | | 1. | protus authentus | phrygian | dorian | D E F G a b c d | | 2. | protus plagis | hypodorian | hypodorian | A B C D E F G a | | 3. | deuterus authentus | dorian | phrygian | E F G a b c d e | | 4. | deuterus plagis | mixolydian | hypophrygian | B C D E F G a b | | 5. | tritus authentus | hypolydian | lydian | F G a b c d e f | | 6. | tritus plagis | lydian | hypolydian | C D E F G a b c | | 7. | tetrardus authentus | hypophyrigian | mixolydian | G a b c d e f g | | 8. | tetrardus plagis | hypomixolydian | D E F G a b c d | | hypermixolydian | the compass of a plagal mode is generally a fourth lower than the corresponding authentic mode. Today we identify the hypomixolydian as the eighth mode, whose finalis is D, a fourth lower than that of the mixolydian. However, originally the eighth mode was the hypermixolydian, whose pitch duplicates that of the hypodorian but in a higher octave, as specified by Ramis de Pareja (1482) and other commentators of the period | |
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| Prov | (Swedish) sample |
| Prov. | abbreviation of provincia (Spanish f.: province) |
| Prova | (Italian f., literally 'trial') a rehearsal, a trial, a proof |
| Prova all'Italian | (Italian f.) the term used to describe the first complete rehearsal of an opera production in which the soloists and chorus join the orchestra |
| Prova generale | (Italian f., literally 'public trial') final rehearsal, often a rehearsal to which the public is admitted |
| Prove | to allow yeast dough to rest in a warm place so that it can rise and expand |
| Proveeksemplar | (Danish, Norwegian) sample, sample copy |
| Provenance | the origins of an art work, musical instrument, etc. including the history of a work's ownership since its creation. The study of a work's provenance is important in establishing authenticity |
| Provençale | a dance from Provence |
| provenzialische Trommel | (German f.) tabor |
| Proverbio | (Italian m.) proverb |
| Providence | the theological doctrine stating God's sovereignty - especially his omniscience - allows complete divine control over the universe in the past, present, and future |
| Province | unit of ecclesiastical administration comprising a group of territorially contiguous dioceses |
| in relation to later developments of monastic orders, geographic units of administration within the order |
| special area of responsibility or knowledge (colloquial) |
| Provino | (Italian m.) screen-test |
| Provisions de bouche | (Frech pl.) provisions (food) |
| provisional | (English, Spanish) temporary |
| Proviso | (Latin) a clause inserted into a formal document making some stipulation or limitation |
| provisoire | (French) provisional |
| provisorisch | (German) provisional |
| provvisorio | (Italian) provisional |
| Proximas publicaciones | (Spanish f.) forthcoming publication |
| Proxime accessit (s.), Proxime accesserunt (pl.) | (Latin) he/she came close (often a term applied to the candidate who just misses the highest mark or a prize) |
| prox. | abbreviation of proximo (Latin: of the next month, in the next month) |
| proximo | (Latin) of the next month, in the next month |
| Próximo tiempo | (Spanish m.) next time |
| Proxy wedding | or proxy wedding, a wedding where the bride or groom (or both) is not physically present, usually being represented instead by another person. One or both (double proxy) of the partners may be absent. Where one person is absent it may be called a 'one glove wedding'. It was common for European monarchs and nobility to marry by proxy. A famous example of this is the marriage of Napoleon I of France to Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma. Catherine of Aragon wed Prince Arthur by proxy. A famous 17th-century painting by Peter Paul Rubens depicts the proxy marriage of Marie de Medici |
| Proyecto paralelo | (Spanish m.) side project |
| Prozession | (German f.) procession |
| Prozeugma | see zeugma |
| PRS | abbreviation for the 'Performing Right Society', the collecting society for UK songwriters, composers and music publishers. Its role is to act as an agent for its members in order to collect performing royalties whenever their musical works are performed in public, broadcast or transmitted. They formed an alliance with their sister company the MCPS, who collect mechanical royalties, to form the 'MCPS-PRS Alliance' |
- Performing Rights Society
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| Prueba (s.), Pruebas (pl.) | (Spanish f.) test (examination), proof, trial, event (competition), piece of evidence (in a court case) |
| Prueba de acceso | (Spanish f.) entrance examination |
| Prueba de admisión | (Spanish) entrance examination, entrance test |
| Prueba de alcoholemia | (Spanish f.) breath test (for alcohol level) |
| Prueba de fuego | (Spanish f.) acid test |
| Prueba del embarazo | (Spanish f.) pregnancy test |
| Pruebas convincentes | (Spanish f.pl.) conclusive evidence |
| Prüfer | (German m.) examiner |
| Prüfung | (German f.) examination, test |
| sich einer Prüfung unterziehen (German: to take a test) |
| Prüfungsabteilung | (German f.) quality assurance department, QA department |
| Prunella | a worsted stuff, formerly used for clergymen's gowns and for the uppers of ladies' boots, named for its plum colour - i.e. prune (French: plum) |
| Pruritus | (Latin) an itch, especially the itching of the skin without visible eruption |
| Prymer | a book of hours in the English language, used for learning to read |
| Prys | (French, 'worthiness') a cognate with the English word 'price'. Prys was rich in connotations, appearing frequently in French chansons de geste and medieval romances. It embodies knightly worthiness on a number of levels. A knight who has prys is loyal, brave, polite, courtly, proud, refined in taste, and perhaps a bit foolhardy and arrogant, quick to take anger at an insult and fast to accept a challenge or dual |
- Literary Terms and Definitions from which this extract has been taken
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| Ps(s), ps(s) | abbreviation of 'Psalm(s)', 'psalm(s)' |
| Ps. | abbreviation of Posaune, 'Psalm' |
| P.S. | abbreviation of post scriptum (Latin: after what has been written) |
| Psallette | (French f.) singing place, choir |
| Psallo | (Greek) to play on, or sing to, a stringed instrument |
| Psalm | (English, German m., from the Greek, psalmos) salmo (Italian), psaume (French), a general term for a hymn or sacred song |
| originally, one of 150 songs attributed to King David in the Book of Psalms |
|
| Psalmbuch | (German) psalm-book, psalter |
| Psalmbuchgsang | (German) psalmody |
| Psalmellus | the counterpart in the Milanese rite of the Gradual in the standard Roman rite |
| Psalmist | a person who composes religious songs, a writer or composer of psalms |
| Psalmiste | (French m./f.) a psalmist, salmista (Spanish) |
| Psalmlied | (German) psalm, hymn |
| Psalmmelodicon | an earlier form, invented by Weinrich, of an instrument that later would be called the Apollo-lyre |
| Psalm notes | in Gregorian chant, repeated musical notes (reciting tones) around which the other notes of the chant gravitate are used in a number of contexts, including the chanting of psalm tones. Each mode has its own associated psalm tone, whose primary pitch is variously called the 'dominant', 'tenor', or 'tuba'. Medieval monastic commentators assigned each note (Latin, tonus) with a particular Latin name, characterizing their very different moods, appropriate to different genres, styles and subjects contained within the Psalter itself |
| tonus (note) | Latin name | mood | | the first note | gravis | grave, sublime or majestic | | the second note | tristis | mournful, sorrowful or serious | | the third note | mysticus | mystical, exulting, also described as rather aggressive and passionate | | the fourth note | harmonicus | harmonious, at first seeming to be rather harsh and severe but actually applicable to a wide variety of moods | | the fifth note | laetus, delectabilis, or jubilans | gladdening, delightful or jubilant | | the sixth note | devotus | devout, tender and quiet, as well as penitential | | the seventh note | angelicus | angelical, primarily due to its high pitch, fit for tenors | | the eighth note | perfectus | perfect, because it accommodates itself to almost all moods or subjects | | the wandering note | tonus peregrinus (Latin, literally 'wanderer') | an "irregular" psalm tone. a psalm in which the tenor changes in pitch | |
| psalm tone formula: | | 1 | initium | | 2 | tenor | | 3 | mediatio (semicadence in the middle of the verse) | | 4 | termination (final cadence) | | 5 | final verse that is followed by the Lesser Doxology ('Gloria Patri...') | |
| this can be illustrated by outlining the Office psalmody: | | 1 | antiphon | incipit sung by the cantor, followed by choir | | 2 | psalm | initium sung by the cantor, after which the choir follows, then the semicadence (mediatio), after which the cantor begins second half of verse, then the choir joins, and finally the termination | | 3 | each psalm verse | sung through in a similar fashion. At its conclusion, and in order that there is a smooth transition back to the antiphon, each psalm note (psalm tone) is provided with several cadences or differentiae | | 4 | antiphon | repeated as at beginning | |
| Psalmodie | (German f., French f.) psalmody, the study of and arrangement for voices of psalms |
| psalmodier | (French) to study, to compose psalms, to arrange psalms, to chant |
| Psalmody | the practice of singing psalms, particularly, in Protestant churches in England and in the United States of America between the 17th- and early 19th-centuries, although more generally within the Jewish and Christian liturgical traditions, and whether or not for worship |
| Psalm paraphrase | a hymn based on a psalm or part of a psalm (different degrees of paraphrase), as, for example, Joy to the World, the Lord Is Come (Psalm 98, Isaac Watts), Our God, Our Help in Ages Past (Psalm 90, Isaac Watts) or Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven (Psalm 103, Henry F. Lyte) |
| Psalmsänger | (German) psalmodist, psalm-singer |
| Psalms chord | in music, "the famous opening chord," of Igor Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms |
- Psalms chord from which this information and image have been taken
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| Psalmsingen | (German) psalmody |
| Psalmton | (German m.) psalm tone, psalm note |
| Psalm tone | synonymous with 'psalm note' |
| Psalter | (English, German) a vernacular translation of the Book of Psalms, the Greek version of which contains 151 psalms, most of which have been ascribed to King David. The great popularity and copious illustration of the psalter make it the most important illuminated book from the 11th to the 14th centuries. Thereafter the Book of Hours became the most important channel for illuminations |
| Psalterion | (Greek) similar to the trigonon, a general name for harps commonly used later in Byzantium |
| (Greek) psalter |
| Psaltérion | (French m.) psalterion, psaltery, salterio (Spanish, Italian), Psalterium (German) |
| Psalterium | (Latin) psalterion, psaltery, Psalterium (German), psaltérion (French), salterio (Spanish, Italian) |
| Psalterium | (German n.) psaltery, psalterion, psaltérion (French), salterio (Spanish, Italian) |
| Psalterspiel | (German) playing on the psaltery |
| Psaltery | psalterion, Psalterium (German), psaltérion (French), salterio (Spanish, Italian) |
| or psaltry, a stringed instrument played with a plectrum; other names include saltere, sauterie, psalterium, psalter and salterio |
| scholars have tried to distinguish between psaltery and dulcimer, proposing that a 'psaltery' is plucked while a 'dulcimer' is hit, and that both belong to a generic 'zither' family (distinct from specific instruments called 'zither' by their players); but this usage is an abstraction and has no basis in the traditional use of these names: there are plenty of illustrations where psalteries are hit and traditions where dulcimers are plucked |
- Psaltery
- Psaltery, Germany, 19th century
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| Psaltes | (Greek) a player on, or singer to, a stringed instrument |
| Psaltriae | (Latin) female singers, and players on the psalterium, who entertained ancient Romans at their banquets |
| Psaltry | see 'psaltery' |
| Psaume | (French m.) psalm |
| le livre des Psaumes (French: the Book of Psalms) |
| Psautier | (French m.) psalter |
| Pseudepigrapha | (Greek) spurious writings, books bearing false titles or ascribed to the wrong authors |
| pseudo- | (Greek) (as the first element of a compound word, meaning) spurious, counterfeit, bogus |
| Pseudomonologue | in the theatre, when only one half of a dialogue is portrayed, especially either just the questions or the answers, wherein the performer is not directly addressing the audience |
| Pseudonimo | (Italian m.) pseudonym, pen-name |
| Pseudonym | (English, German m.) or pen-name, nom de plume, nom de guerre (French m.), a fictitious name, especially of an author |
| Pseudonyme | (French m.) fictitious name, assumed name, pen-name, pseudonym, nom de plume, nom de guerre (French m.), alias |
| (French m.) stage name (the name by which an actor, comedian, dancer, etc. is known in their professional capacity but which differs from their legal or non-professional name or the name they were known by before they appeared on the stage, concert-hall, etc.) |
| Pseudonyme de guerre | (French m.) nom de guerre (French m.) |
| Pseudo-octave | an interval whose frequency ratio is not (2:1), the definition of an octave, but is treated in some way or ways equivalent to this ratio. One example being the stretched octave (2.01:1), which sounds out of tune played with harmonic overtones, but in tune when played with tones whose overtones are stretched equivalently, while the (2:1) octave then sounds out of tune. Stretched octaves are most commonly encountered in piano tuning, where the inharmonicity caused by string thickness and tension makes it necessary to widen every interval very slightly. The octaves of Balinese gamelans are never tuned (2:1), but instead are stretched or compressed in a consistent manner throughout the range of each individual gamelan. Another example is the tritave of the Bohlen-Pierce scale. Other common names for the pseudo-octave are the Interval of Equivalence (IoE), the Repeat Ratio, and the nonoctave |
- Pseudo-octave from which this extract has been taken
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| Pseudo-partition | (French f.) a score without vertical coincidence of voices, i.e. pseudo-score |
| Pseudo-Partitur | (German f.) a score without vertical coincidence of voices, i.e. pseudo-score |
| Pseudopartitura | (Italian f., Spanish f.) a score without vertical coincidence of voices, i.e. pseudo-score |
| Pseudo-polyphony | the phenomenon of creating two or more concurrent lines of sound (or streams) using a sequence of single-sounding tones. Pseudo-polyphony is produced by rapid alternations of pitches separated by comparatively large musical intervals. The best known example of pseudo-polyphony is yodelling where a single voice is able to give the impression of multiple concurrent parts. Pseudo-polyphonic textures are also commonly found in Baroque music, such as in the solo violin partitas by J.S. Bach |
| Pseudoscience | a belief or process which masquerades as science in an attempt to claim a legitimacy which it would not otherwise be able to achieve on its own terms; it is often known as fringe- or alternative science. The most important of its defects is usually the lack of the carefully controlled and thoughtfully interpreted experiments which provide the foundation of the natural sciences and which contribute to their advancement |
- Pseudoscience from which this extract has been taken
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| Pseudo-score | a score without vertical coincidence of voices |
| psicoacústico (m.), psicoacústica (f.) | (Spanish) psychoacoustic |
| pst | (German) shush! |
| Psybient | also known as 'ambient psy', 'ambient Goa' and more commonly within the Goa/psytrance scene as 'chill psy', 'psybient' a genre of electronic music that combines elements of psychedelic trance, ambient, world music, new age and even ethereal wave |
- Psybient from which this extract has been taken
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| Psyche | (Latin, from Greek) the spirit, the mind |
| Psychedelia | a term describing a category of music, visual art, fashion, and culture that is associated originally with the high 1960s, hippies, and the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, California. It generally began in 1966, but truly took off in 1967 with the Summer of Love. Its beginnings are associated with San Francisco but the style soon spread across the U.S.A., and worldwide |
- Psychedelia from which this extract has been taken
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| Psychedelic folk | or 'psych folk', a music genre which began through the blending of folk music and psychedelic music in the 1960s. It is generally acoustic or mixes acoustic instrumentation with other influences. Chanting, early music and world music influences are sometimes apparent |
- Psychedelic folk from which this extract has been taken
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| Psychedelic music | a musical genre inspired by or attempting to replicate the mind-altering experience of drugs such as cannabis, psilocybin, mescaline, and especially LSD. It is not rigorously defined, and is sometimes interpreted to include everything from 'acid rock' and 'flower power' music to 'hard rock' |
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| Psychedelic soul | a blending of psychedelic rock and soul music in the late-1960s that paved the way for the mainstream emergence of funk music a few years later |
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| Psychoacoustics | the study of subjective human perception of sounds. Alternatively it can be described as the study of psychology of acoustical perception |
- Psychoacoustics from which this extract has been taken
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| Psychobilly | a genre of music generally described as a mix between the British punk rock of the 1970s and the American rockabilly of the 1950s |
- Psychobilly from which this extract has been taken
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| Psychogenic | caused by psychological factors, particularly psychological stress, trauma, or and anxiety |
| Psychological realism | the sense that characters in fictional narratives have realistic "interiority" or complex emotional and intellectual depth, including perhaps subconscious urges and fears they are not aware of |
- Literary Terms and Definitions from which this extract has been taken
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| Psychopompos | (Greek, 'soul carrier') a spirit-guide who leads or escorts a soul into the realm of the dead |
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| Psychosis (s.), Psychoses (pl.) | (Latin, from Greek) any mental afflication or derangement which cannot be ascribed to an organic lesion |
| Psytrance | also called 'psychedelic trance' and 'Goa trance', a blend of psychedelic and trance music, essentially electronic in nature with a thumping beat and highly repetitive style |
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| Pta. | abbreviation of puerta (Spanish f.: door) |
| pt(s) | abbreviation of 'part(s)' |
| ptbk(s) | abbreviation of 'partbook(s)' |
| Ptilosis | loss of the eyelashes, falling out of the eyelashes |
| the feather coat, total feather covering, of birds |
| Ptl. | abbreviation of portal (Spanish m.: main entrance) |
| Ptolemaic comma | an alternative name for the 'syntonic comma' or 'comma of Didymus', an interval with a frequency ratio of (81:80) |
| Ptolemy | see Harmonics |
| PTT | abbreviation of Poste, Télécommunications et Télédiffusion (French: post office and telephone service) |
| Pu | a Tahitian conch-shell |
| Púa | (Spanish f.) plectrum, plectre (French) |
| pubblicare | (Italian) to publish |
| pubblicazione | (Italian f.) publication |
| Pubblicista | (Italian m./f.) correspondent (journalist) |
| Pubblicita | (Italian f.) publicity, advertising |
| pubblicitario | (Italian) advertising |
| Pubblico | (Italian m.) audience |
| pubblico | (Italian) public (as opposed to private) |
| Pubcaster | government-owned broadcaster (US) (colloquial) |
| Publicación | (Spanish f.) publication |
| Public address system | the venue auditorium sound system, usually shortened to 'PA'. Most theatres will have a separate sound system for emergency announcements in all public areas of the theatre. This system may also be used for Front of House calls. The Rear of House calls system often also acts as a 'show relay', conveying the sound of the performance to remote parts of the theatre building |
| publicar | (Spanish) publish, announce |
| Public domain | a range of abstract materials - commonly referred to as intellectual property - which are not owned or controlled by anyone. The term indicates that these materials are therefore "public property", and available for anyone to use for any purpose. The laws of various countries define the scope of the public domain differently, making it necessary to specify which jurisdiction's public domain is being discussed. Furthermore, the public domain can be defined in contrast to several forms of intellectual property; the public domain in contrast to copyrighted works is different from the public domain in contrast to trademarks or patented works |
- Public Domain - a more general article
|
| this information should not be relied on in law, although we believe it to be accurate |
| Public domain work | a public domain work is a creative work that is not protected by copyright and which may be freely used by everyone |
| in the U.S. the reasons that the work is not protected include: | | the term of copyright for the work has expired (see see here for further information) | | the author failed to satisfy statutory formalities to perfect the copyright | | in the United States, the work is a work of the U.S. Government | |
- Public Domain - a more general article
|
| this information should not be relied on in law, although we believe it to be accurate |
| Publicidad | (Spanish f.) publicity, advertising |
| publicitario | (Spanish) advertising |
| Público | (Spanish m.) public, audience (for example, in a theatre) |
| público | (Spanish) public |
| Public Organ | an interactive networked sound installation, composed in 1995 by Carla Scaletti, that takes its title from Lewis Thomas' Lives of a Cell: "The human brain is the most public organ on the face of the earth, open to everything ..." |
- Public Organ from which this extract has been taken
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| Public Works Art Project | or PWAP, a program designed to employ artists under the New Deal program. It was the first of such programs (1933-34), headed by Edward Bruce under the U.S. Treasury Department and paid for by the CWA Civil Works Administration |
| Publiek | (Dutch) audience |
| Publikum | (German n.) audience |
| publique | (French) public (as opposed to private) |
| Publishing paper | see 'book paper' |
| publiziert | (German) published |
| Pub rock | - Pub Rock (UK)
- Pub Rock (Australian)
- Pub Rock
|
| Pudeur | (French) (excessive) sexual modesty |
| Pueblerino | (Spanish m.) villager, countrified person, bumpkin |
| pueblerino (m.), pueblarina (f.) | (Spanish) village, countrified, provincial |
| Pueblo | (Spanish m.) people, village, (small) town |
| Pueblo de español, el | (Spanish m.) Spanish people, the |
| Pueblo music | a genre that includes the music of the Hopi, Zuni, Taos Pueblo, San Ildefonso, Santo Domingo, and many other Puebloan peoples, and according to Bruno Nettl features one of the most complex Native American musical styles on the continent |
- Pueblo music from which this extract has been taken
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| puede alargarle la vida | (Spanish) it could prolong her life |
| ¿puedes ayudarme a mover la mesa? | (Spanish) can you help me to move the table? |
| ¿puedo ayudar en algo? | (Spanish) can I do anything to help? can I do something to help? |
| Puente | (Spanish m.) bridge (of a violin, etc.), bridge or bridgework (dentistry), bridge (structure), chevalet (French) |
| Puentecillo | (Spanish f.) also cejuela or puente de clavijero, a second bridge found in some traditional instruments |
| Puente de clavijero | see puentecillo |
| Pueri choriales | (Latin pl.) choristers, child-singers, cantorcicos, petits chanteurs |
| Puerta | (Spanish f.) door (house, etc.), gate (garden) |
| Puerta corredera | (Spanish f.) sliding door |
| Puerta de embarque | (Spanish f.) boarding gate (airport) |
| Puerta de la calle | (Spanish f.) front door, main door or entrance |
| Puerta del colegio | (Spanish f.) entrance to the school |
| Puerta del teatro | (Spanish f.) theatre entrance |
| Puerta principal (de edificio) | (Spanish f.) front door, main door or entrance |
| Puerta trasera | (Spanish f.) back door |
| Puesta | (Spanish f.) setting |
| Puesta en escena | (Spanish f.) staging |
| Puffball | a popular style of skirt in the 1980s, the 'puffball' is a double layered skirt that stands out from the body and has a padded look to it |
| pugno, con | see 'col pugno' |
| Puhdas intervalli | (Finnish) perfect interval |
| Puhdas viritys | (Finnish) just intonation |
| Pui | see Puy |
| Pu'ili | double bamboo sticks, 35-60 cms long (18-26 inches), from Hawaii, USA |
| Puirt-a-beul | (Gaelic, literally 'mouth music') Scottish rhythmic form of unaccompanied singing that can be danced to |
- Article on Gaelic puirt-a-beul
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| Puissance | (French f.) power, strength (in a horse) |
| Puitas | (Sao Tome and Principe) a friction drum, played by rubbing a stick attached to the head; used in matcumbi |
| Puk | Klezmer bass drum |
| Pukar | from Hindustani classical music, a musical tuning using the higher notes |
| Pukka | (from the Hindi) substantial, permanent, certain, reliable, real, genuine |
| Pulangoil | alternative name for the kuzhal |
| Pulcinella | in Pulcinella (1922, rev. 1947; suite based on music of the 1919 ballet), Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) draws on material composed by a number of composers including Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736). The Pulcinella source materials are housed at the Paul Sacher Stiftung in Basel, Switzerland. Elements once falsely attributed to Pergolesi are movements from ten trio sonatas by Domenico Gallo (c.1700-c.1750), an air and a gavotte for keyboard by Carlo Monza (c.1735-1801), and a concerto attributed to Count Unico Wilhelm von Wassenaer (1692-1766). Verifiable Pergolesi sources are a movement from a cello sonata, eleven pieces from his operas Il flaminio and Lo Frate 'nnamorato, and one from his cantata Luce degli occhi miei. An intermediary score of Pulcinella lies in the Stefan Zweig Collection of the British Library together with the fair copy piano score |
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| Pulgar | (Spanish m.) thumb, pouce (French) |
| (Spanish) a technique for playing the guitar using the thumb, most often a feature of flamenco |
| Pulimento | (Spanish m.) polishing, polish (material used to polish) |
| pulir | (Spanish) to polish |
| Pull down pedal | a pedal operated on an organ or pedal clavichord using the feet to bring into play particular stops or effects. A detailed picture of the mechancis on the pedal board of an organ by the Italian organ-builder Serassi in Buenos Aires (year of construction 1868) shows a number of pull downs stops each used to engage Tremolo, Campanelli Soprano, Tromba Soprano, Corno Inglese Soprano, Ottavino 2' Soprano, Fagotti Bassi 8', Espressione, Timpano, Banda Militare, Tiratutto Preparabile and Ripieno (see link below) |
- Pull down pedal - illustrated article
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| Pull off | (English, Pull-Off (German m.)) slurs on the guitar are known as 'hammer on' and 'pull off'. Another type of slur is known as the 'slide' |
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| Pull-push rule | a flexible steel rule which coils into a case when not in use |
| Pulmón | (Spanish m.) lung |
| Pulmonic egressive | in phonetics, the airstream mechanism is the method by which airflow is created in the vocal tract. Along with phonation, it is one of two mandatory aspects of sound production; without these, there can be no speech. Pulmonic egressive is the airstream mechanism where the air is pushed out of the lungs by the ribs and diaphragm. All human languages employ such sounds (such as vowels), and many, such as English, use them exclusively |
| Punch out toy | a paper toy punched out of a sheet of stout card that has been printed and then die cut to produce perforated edges. These were often dolls or images of animals |
| Pulp | cellulose fibre suspended in water from which paper is made. The cellulose can come from wood, bamboo, cotton, esparto, hemp, flax, straw and various other organic materials that is extracted by beating, mechanical grinding or through the application of chemicals |
| Pulp fiction | mass market novels printed cheaply and intended for a general audience |
| Pulpit | a stone or wooden stand from which sermons or readings were given |
| Pulpitum | a stone screen separating the choir from the nave of a major church |
| Pulque | a thick fermented alcoholic beverage made in Mexico from various species of agave |
| Puls | (German m.) pulse |
| Pulsa | (Spanish m.) button |
| Pulsação ritmica | (Portuguese) time feel, the way the beat is felt which may be different from the way it is notated |
| Pulsación | (Spanish f.) beat, pulse, pulsation |
| pulsar | (Spanish f.) to play (music) |
| Pulsatile | striking, pertaining to percussion |
| Pulsatile instruments | percussion instruments |
| Pulsation | the act of pulsating, a single beat (throb or vibration) |
| (French f.) beat, pulse |
| Pulsation rythmique | (French f.) time feel, the way the beat is felt which may be different from the way it is notated |
| Pulsation stable | (French f.) steady beat, steady pulse, steady time |
| Pulse | beat, accent |
| in music, a pulse is an unbroken series of distinct yet identical periodically occurring short stimuli perceived as points in time |
| although 'beat' and 'pulse' are generally used as though they are synonymous, some writers make a distinction between them. For example, in 9/8 time, compound triple time, there are 9 'pulses' but only 3 'beats' |
- Pulse (music) from which the second entry has been taken
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| Pulses | dried vegetables that grow in a pod (beans, peas, lentils, etc.) |
| Pulso | (Spanish m.) pulse, wrist, steady hand |
| Pult | (German) orchestral music stand for two players, also called a 'desk' |
| Pulte (s.), Pulte (pl.) | (German n.) desk (as in the orchestra) |
| Pumice | a volcanic rock that is a solidified foam composed of highly microvesicular glass pyroclastic with very thin, translucent bubble walls of extrusive igneous rock |
| pumice is widely used to make lightweight concrete or insulative low-density 'breeze-block' type bricks. When used as an additive for cement, a fine-grained version of pumice called pozzolan is mixed with lime to form a light-weight, smooth, plaster-like concrete. This form of concrete was used as far back as Roman times. It is also used as an abrasive, especially in polishes, cosmetics exfoliants, and for stone-washed jeans. "Pumice stones" are often used in salons during the pedicure process to remove dry and excess skin from the bottom of the foot as well as calluses. Finely ground pumice is added to some toothpastes and heavy-duty hand cleaners as a mild abrasive. Perhaps the most famous product advertised to contain pumice is Lava soap. It is a heavy-duty hand soap, sold in both bar and liquid form, for mechanics and others who get very dirty hands |
- Pumice from which both entries has been taken
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| Pumpin' house | a subgenre of House music. Developed in the late 90's and related to French house, it also often samples disco, rock, jazz, and/or funk loops (sometimes creating dense layered textures) and usually makes extensive use of filters, but gains its appellation from its heavy use of audio level compression, which makes tracks surge and pulse - important to create physicality in dance music. It is characterized by intense, up-front drum programming, heavy funk influence, and very emphasized basslines, often sampled from live players |
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| Pump organ | see 'reed organ' |
| Pumpventil | (German n.) piston (valve), rotary values (on French horns), pistone (Italian m., Spanish m.), Ventil (German n.), cylindre (French m.), piston (French m.), pistón (Spanish m.) |
| Pun | also called paranomasia, a play on two words similar in sound but different in meaning |
| a pun known as the equivoque involves a single phrase or word with differing meanings |
| a pun where one speaker uses a word one way, but a second speaker responds using the word in a different sense, is termed an asteismus |
| a pun in which the wordplay involves altering one or more letters in a word is termed a paragram |
| Punaise | (French f.) drawing-pin, thumbtack |
| Puncta | sections three to seven in the estampie dance form, each section being repeated immediately with first and second endings |
| Punctis Augmentionis | used in music of the Renaissance, this dot is identical in function to the modern dot, making a binary note value into a trinary note value, ie, increasing a note's duration by half of it's normal value. It should be noted that the Punctis Augmentionis occurs exclusively in imperfect mensurations, and the Punctis Divisionis occurs exclusively in perfect mensurations |
- Renaissance Music Notation from the mid-16th century - Glossary from which this information has been taken
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| Punctis Divisionis | used in music of the Renaissance and also called punctus alterationis, punctis perfectionis, punctionis imperfectionis, a dot of separation used to prevent or ensure imperfection or alteration. It should be noted that the Punctis Augmentionis occurs exclusively in imperfect mensurations, while the Punctis Divisionis occurs exclusively in perfect mensurations |
- Renaissance Music Notation from the mid-16th century - Glossary from which this information has been taken
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| Punctuering | (Dutch) punctuation |
| Punctum (s.), Punctus (s.), Puncta (pl.) | see 'neumatic notation' |
| Punctum caecum | (Latin) in medicine, the 'blind spot', that point in the retina from which the optic nerves radiate |
| the term is used used more generally for an obstinate refusal to see something obvious |
| Punctum contra punctum | (Latin, literally 'point against point) counterpoint |
| Punctum delens | (Latin) a dot written under a leter in a mediaeval manuscript to indicate deletion |
| Punctus | a note, as in counterpoint |
| a dot after a note that adds one half the original duration to the note, specificially dots found in Medieval mensural notation, although the dot serves the same function in modern notation |
| Pundit | (Hindi) a Hindu learned in Sanskrit, religion and jurisprudence |
| a person deemed capable of speaking authoritatively on a wide range of subjects |
| Pung | Indian barrel drum |
| Pung cholak | an Indian dance from the state of Manipur in which the dancers execute sequences of slow and quick movements of the body while playing intricate rhythms on the pung (classical barrel drum) |
| Pungi | also called bin and makuti, an Indian reed instrument used by snake charmers in India |
- Pungi
- Pungi
- Double clarinet (pungi), India, 19th century
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| P'ungmul | (Korean) the music of the farmer's band in Pungmullori |
| Pungmulbuk | (Korean) a barrel drums which is used in nong-ak, percussion performances given by farmers in Pungmullori |
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| Punica fides | (Latin, literally 'the good faith of the Carthaginians') treachery |
| Punkah | (Hindi) a large swinging fan worked by a cord, any mechanical ventilating device or system |
| Punk blues | a Post-punk interpretation of Blues and Swamp rock |
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| Punkcore | an anarchistic hardcore mixed with punk rock samples |
| Punk mod | see 'mod revival' |
| Punk rock | (English, Punkrock (German m.)) a sub-genre of rock music, although the term 'punk music' can only rarely be applied without any controversy. Perhaps the only bands always considered 'punk' are the first wave of punk bands, such as the Clash, The Sex Pistols and the Ramones |
- Punk Rock
- Contemporary Punk - mp3s
|
| Punkt | (German m., Swedish, Danish) augmentation dot, dot |
| Punkterad not | (Swedish) dotted note |
| Punkteret node | (Danish) dotted note |
| punktieren | (German) to dot |
| punktiert | (German) dotted |
| punktierte Note (s.), punktierte Noten (pl.) | (German f.) dotted note |
| punktierter Schleifer | (German m.) dotted slide, a musical ornament described by C. P. E. Bach. Written as a pair of grace notes slurred to a principal note, the duration of each of the grace notes being shown in the ratio (3:1), in performance, the first grace note is held for most of the duration of the principal, the duration of the second grace note and what time remains for the principal being equal and short |
| Punktierungen | (German) dotting |
| punktiren | (German, archaic spelling) to dot |
| punktirt | (German, archaic spelling) dotted |
| punktirte Note (s.), punktirte Noten (pl.) | (German f., archaic spelling) dotted note |
| Punktlinie | (German f.) dotted line |
| punktuelle Musik | (German f.) originally invented by Eimert (1952) it means a serial composition where the notes should be regarded as being isolated phenomena, for example, works by Anton Webern |
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| Punt | (Dutch, Catalan) dot (after a note) |
| Punta | (Spanish f.) also ponta, the toe of the foot or of a shoe. It also refers to striking the floor behind or in front of the standing leg with the tip of the toe, immediately rebounding to approximately the ankle of the standing leg, so that the point of the toe makes an audible sound on the floor |
| (Italian f.) punte (Italian pl.), Ecke (German f. s.), Ecken (German f. pl.), coin (French s.), corner(s) - on a stringed instrument (for example, a violin), the place where blocks (called corner blocks) are glued (above and below the bouts) on better quality instruments for strength |
| abbreviation of punta del dedo (Spanish f.: fingertip) |
| or 'punta rock', a type of music found primarily in Honduras, El Salvador, and Belize which, according to certain scholars, is the contemporary electronic offshoot of an ancestral rhythm and dance of the Garifuna people of Central America, performed during celebrations or festive occasions, with links to West Africa and an ancient rhythm called bunda, or "buttocks" in the Mandé language |
- Punta from which the last entry has been taken
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| Punta | (Italian f.) point, tip, end, top peak, headland, promontory, nib (pen), sharp pain (figurative), stab, stitch (in the side), small amount, slight tinnge or trace, touch, flying visit |
| Punta (d'arco) | (Italian f.) tip of the bow, Spitze (German f.), pointe (French f.) |
| punta d'arco, a | (Italian f.) with tip of the bow |
| Punta del dedo | (Spanish f.) fingertip |
| Puntaires | (Spain) Catalan Easter songs |
| Puntale | (Italian m.) metal point, Stachel (German m.), pique (French f.), pied (French m.), spike (on a cello), endpin (on a cello) |
| Italian m.) ferrule |
| puntare | (Italian) to point, to level (gun), to fix, to direct (eyes, gaze), to lay, to put, to bet, to wager, to prick (chark), to push , to press |
| (Italian) to place dots above or after a note, i.e. to dot a note |
| Punta rock | see 'punta' |
| Puntata | (Italian f.) a thrust, a part, an instalment (of a serial work), a stake, a bet |
| Puntato | (Italian m.) an indication that notes are to be played staccato (i.e. pointed, detached, marked), signified by dots above or below the note heads |
| dotted notes |
| Puntatore | (Italian m.) punter, gambler, a person who lays guns |
| Punteado | (Spanish m.) dotting |
| (Spanish m., literally 'plucking') a style of guitar playing in which the individual strings are plucked, as distinct from rasgueado or strumming, pincé (French) |
| puntear | (Spanish) to mark |
| (Spanish) to pluck (a guitar, etc.), pincer (French) |
| Punteggiamento | (Italian m.) dotting |
| punteggiare | (Italian) to dot, to punctuate |
| Punteggiatura | (Italian f.) dotting, punctuation |
| Punteiro | (Spanish) the chanter or melody pipe on a bagpipe, chalumeau (French) |
| puntellare | (Italian) to prop, to buttress, to shore up, to support |
| Puntello | (Italian m.) a prop, a support |
| Punteo | (Spanish m.) plucking (a guitar, etc.) |
| Puntera | (Spanish f.) toe |
| (Spanish f.) steel cap |
| hence, zapatos con punteras (Spanish: steel-capped shoes) |
| Puntero | (Spanish m.) pointer |
| puntero (m.), puntera (f.) | (Spanish) outstanding |
| Punterolo | (Italian m.) a punch (for making holes), an awl, a bodkin, a weevil (insect) |
| puntiagudo (m.), puntiaguda (f.) | (Spanish) pointed, sharp |
| Puntiglio | (Italian m.) obstinacy |
| Puntilla | (Spanish f.) lace (embroidery on a costume) |
| Puntillas, de | see de puntillas |
| Puntillismo | (Spanish m.) pointillism (in art) |
| puntillista | (Spanish) pointillist |
| Puntillo | (Spanish m.) dot placed immediately after a note, (in English, called also an 'augmentation dot' or 'dot of prolongation'), a dot that indicates that a note should be extended by half as much again as its principal time value. A second dot placed to the right of the first indicates that the note should be extended a further quarter of the duration of the principal note. Thus a minim (half-note) plus one dot indicates a note with a duration totalling 3 crotchets (three quarter-notes) while a minim (half-note) plus two dots indicates a note with a duration totalling 7 quavers (seven eighth-notes) |
| puntilloso (m.), puntillosa (f.) | (Spanish) punctilious, touchy |
| Puntina | (Italian f.) needle (on a record player), a drawing pin |
| Puntino | (Italian m.) a dot |
| Puntiscrito | (Italian m.) a laundry mark |
| Punto | (Italian m., Spanish m.) point, spot, mark, moment, detail |
| (Italian m., Spanish m.) dot (punctuation), full stop . |
| Punto coronato | (Italian m.) fermata, calderón (Spanish), corona (Italian), point d'orgue (French), point d'arrêt (French), Fermate (German) |
 | (Italian f.) a musical symbol placed over a note or rest to be extended beyond its normal duration, and occasionally printed above rests or barlines, indicating a pause of indefinite duration |
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| Punto cubano | (Spanish m.) or punto guajiro, this campesino rhythm is the oldest traditional Cuban music of Spanish origin, and is the country music of the Western and Central provinces of Cuba. The punto is based on the lyric, always in decima form, and not on the music, unlike the son and other styles from the Eastern Provinces of Cuba. Originally used mostly in social gatherings, like rumba (in Havana and Matanzas) and changui (in the East), it also has become a genre. The singers of punto guajiro are known as poets rather than singers and often improvise the lyrics. It began to become popular around the end of the eighteenth century. Instrumentation varies, but guitar and lute are always present |
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| Punto culminante | (Spanish m.) climax |
| Punto de admiración | (Spanish m.) exclamation point |
| Punto de alargamiento | (Spanish m.) augmentation dot |
| Punto de apoyo | (Spanish m.) backup |
| Punto de arranque | (Spanish m.) starting point |
| Punto débil | (Spanish m.) weak point |
| Punto de congelación | (Spanish m.) freezing point |
| Punto de contacto | (Spanish m.) point of contact |
| Punto de ebullición | (Spanish m.) boiling point |
| Punto de interrogación | (Spanish m.) question mark |
| Punto de intersección | (Spanish m.) point of intersection |
| Punto de encuentro | (Spanish f.) meeting point |
| Punto de observación | (Spanish f.) lookout |
| Punto de partida | (Spanish m.) starting point |
| Punto de referencia | (Spanish m.) reference point |
| Punto de reunión | (Spanish f.) meeting point |
| Punto de vista | (Spanish m.) viewpoint, opinion |
| Punto di congelamento | (Italian m.) freezing point |
| Punto di ebollizione | (Italian m.) boiling point |
| Punto di valore | (Italian m.) augmentation dot (increasing the formal length of a note by one-half of its undotted length - i.e. 150%) |
| Punto di valore doppio | (Italian m.) double augmentation dot (increasing the formal length of a single dotted note by a further one-quarter of its undotted length - i.e. 175%) |
| Punto di valore triplo | (Italian m.) triple augmentation dot (increasing the formal length of a double dotted note by a further one-eighth of its undotted length - i.e. 187.5%) |
| Punto d'organo | (Italian m.) fermata sign |
| Punto esclamativo | (Italian m.) exclamation mark (!) |
| Punto e virgola | (Italian m.) semicolon (;) |
| Punto fermo | (Italian m.) full stop (.) |
| Punto final | (Spanish m.) full stop (in the US, a period) (.) |
| Punto guajiro | (Spanish m.) see punto cubano |
| Punto Guanacasteco | (Spanish m.) a couples dance from Costa Rica which has been made the official national dance |
| Punto in croce | (Italian m.) cross-stitch |
| Punto interrogativo | (Italian m.) question mark (?) |
| Puntolino | (Italian m.) dot |
| Punto medio | (Spanish m.) middle dot · |
| Punto muerto | (Spanish m.) deadlock (figurative), neutral (gear in a vehicle) |
| Puntone | (Italian m.) rafter, strut |
| Puntos del orden del día | (Spanish f. pl.) points on the agenda (for a discussion, meeting, etc.) |
| Puntos suspensivos | (Spanish m. pl.) dots, suspension points (US) |
| Punto y aparte | (Spanish m.) full stop, new paragraph (in the US: period, new paragraph) |
| Punto y coma | (Spanish m.) semicolon (;) |
| Punto y seguido | (Spanish m.) full stop (.) |
| puntuable | (Spanish) valid |
| Puntuación | (Spanish m.) punctuation |
| puntuale | (Italian) punctual |
| Puntualità | (Italian f.) punctuality |
| Puntuazione | (Italian f.) punctuation |
| Puntura | (Italian f.) puncture, sting, (insect) bite, prick, hypodermic injection, shooting pain |
| Punze | (German f.) counter (print), punch (tools), drift (tools), hallmark (stamp) |
| punzecchiare | (Italian) to prick (lightly and repeatedly), to sting, to bite, to goad, to tease (figurative) |
| punzonare | (Italian) to punch, to punch out |
| Punzone | (Italian m.) a punch, a die-stamp, a tool for stamping ornament on the back or cover of leather-bound books |
| (Italian m.) punch (with the fist) |
| può darsi | (Italian) maybe |
| Puolinuotti |  | (Finnish) a minim (half note), a note half the value of a semibreve (whole note) |
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| Puolisävel | (Finnish) a semitone, a half note, the interval of a minor second |
| Puolisävelaskeleen sadasosa tasavireisessä viritysjärjestelmässä | (Finnish) cent (musical interval) |
| Puolitauko |  | (Finnish) a minim rest (half rest), a rest half the value of a semibreve rest (whole rest) |
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| Pupari | (Sicilian/Italian) Sicilian puppeteers |
| Pupattola | (Italian f.) or pupazzola (Italian f.), doll, tiny child |
| Pupazzetto | (Italian m.) a caricature |
| Pupazzo | (Italian m.) puppet |
| Pupazzola | see pupattola |
| Pupilla | (Italian f.) pupil (of the eye) |
| Pupitre | (French m.) orchestral stand for two players, music desk, music stand, Notenständer (German m.) |
| Pupitre à musique | (French f.) music stand |
| Pupitre d'espace | (French m.) a device utilizing induction coils, built by Jacques Poullin in 1951 at Pierre Schaeffer's suggestion |
- Pupitre d'espace from which this extract has been taken
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| Pupitre portatif | (French m.) music lyre, a stand used by marching woodwind and brass players to hold their band parts |
| Puppengesicht | (German n.) doll's face |
| Puppenhaus | (German n.) doll's house |
| Puppenoper | (German f.) puppet opera |
| Puppenspiel | (German n.) puppet show |
| Puppenspieler | (German m.) puppeteer |
| Puppentheater | (German n.) puppet theatre |
| Puppenwagen | (German m.) doll's pram |
| Puppet opera | the performance of opera by puppets (Haydn wrote a number of these) or involving puppets, for example, El Retablo de Maese Pedro by Falla |
| Puput | a Minangkabau wind instrument |
| Purab ang | characteristics of a style of music prevalent in the eastern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh |
| Purana | (Sanskrit) one of a group of Sanskrit religious poems containing the mythology of the Hindus |
| Purdah | (Hindi) the seclusion of Indian women of superior rank |
| Pure Data | or Pd, a graphical programming language developed by Miller Puckette in the 1990s for the creation of interactive computer music and multimedia works. Though Puckette is the primary author of the software, Pd is an open source project and has a large developer base working on new extensions to the program. It is released under a license similar to the BSD license |
- Pure Data from which this extract has been taken
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| Purée | (French) in cooking, anything reduced to the consistency of thick cream by passing it through a sieve |
| Pure harmony | music performed using an untempered intonation |
| Pureihua | (Maori) a bull roarer, a traditional Maori instrument associated with funerals |
| Pure minor | natural minor |
| Pure minor scale | natural minor scale |
| Pure music | see 'absolute music' |
| Purfling | Einlage (German f.), filets (French pl.), filetti (Italian pl.), an inlay of wood placed along or just inside the border of the belly and back of instruments of the violin family, both to protect the edges of the instrument and to decorate it |
| Purgation | another term for catharsis |
| Purgatory | a place or state where those who have died in the grace of God must spend time expiating their venial faults and forgiven mortal sins before being admitted to the Beatific Vision, or presence of God |
- Literary Terms and Definitions
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| Purista | (Spanish m./f.) purist |
| Purist grammar | also called 'grammatical purism', the belief in an absolute or unchanging standard of correct grammar |
| Puritan | a Protestant sect particularly active during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, many of whose members emigrated to the North American continent on the Mayflower. In its negative sense, the word Puritan often evokes the idea of dour, grim, religious conformity, since Puritans stereotypically wore only black and white; they frowned upon drinking, dancing, and displays of sexuality; burned aging misfits as witches; censored literature, and closed Shakespeare's playhouses in England because of acting's "immorality" |
- Literary Terms and Definitions from which this extract has been taken
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| Puritan interregnum | the term refers to both the Puritan government established under Oliver Cromwell after the civil war against the British monarch and those years in which that government lasted (1649-1658). This interregnum marks the end of the English Renaissance |
- Literary Terms and Definitions from which this extract has been taken
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| Purleigh Colony[1896-1899] | a Tolstoyan Anarchist colony that grew out of the Croydon Brotherhood Church. Some members had lived in, or visited Russia and were personally acquainted with Tolstoy. Initially based on a 10-acre plot, as the group grew the colony rented local cottages with land attached. They worked the poor land using intensive methods which impressed visitors: "Various buildings have been put up - a tool shed, a 100-foot green house (thirty feet fitted with heating apparatus), a workshop with carpenter's bench, a stable to accommodate a horse and pony, some fowl houses, a cow shed large enough to hold six cows, a coal shed and a six-roomed brick cottage. The cottage is occupied by the family and one of the single men, and most of the colonists come in to dinner every day.". The colony ran a printing press, publishing translations of Tolstoy and for a while The New Order magazine. For a time the colony sheltered some of the Russian Doukhobors, members of the sect forced to leave Russia to avoid political persecution. Some of the colonists went with the Doukhobors to Canada, and a small group went to form the colony at Whiteway after a disagreement with others over membership policy. This exodus seems to have resulted in the closure of the colony |
| puro | (Italian) pure |
| puro | (Spanish, literally 'pure' or 'unadulterated') when applied to a song, dance or guitar-playing, it means that the performance must be genuine and come from within, lacking any conscious effort to make an impression, signifying a complete and total committment to the 'art' |
| Purple patch | a section of purple prose or writing that is too ornate or florid for the surrounding plain material, which in turn looks too tranquil or dull by the incongruity of the startling purple patch |
- Literary Terms and Definitions from which this extract has been taken
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| Purple prose | writing that seems overdone or which makes excessive use of imagery, figures of speech, poetic diction, and polysyllabication. These artifices become so overblown that they accidentally become silly or pompous |
- Literary Terms and Definitions from which this extract has been taken
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| Purpureus pannus | (Latin, literally 'purple patch') a passage in a work of literature consciously designed to display splendour of style |
| Pur sang | (French) thoroughbred |
| Purslane | a plant with a pinkish fleshy stem and small, round leaves; the leaves were used as a potherb or in salads |
| pur troppo | (Italian) unfortunately, only too well |
| puse toda mi alma en ello | (Spanish) I put all my heart into it, I put my whole heart into it |
| Pussy bow | in dress design, a large bow detail that is more commonly tied around the neck, can also be added as a detail to the waist and wrist |
| Pustua | drum from Mozambique |
| Putney, The | see 'VCS-3' |
| Putonghua | also called guoyu (national language), the official spoken language of China, used in its various forms by more than 70 percent of the population. The People's Republic government started promoting putonghua in 1956 for use in schools, the cultural arena, and daily life as a means of bringing about the standardization of the language used by the Han nationality. Putonghua is based on the northern dialect, and uses Beijing pronunciations as its standard |
| Put pilot | a TV deal to produce a pilot that includes substantial penalties if the pilot is not aired, thus, a virtual guarantee that a pilot will be picked up |
| Putsch | (Swiss German) a violent elimination of political opponents |
| Putti | (Italian m. pl.) boys, choir boys |
| Putto (s.), Putti (pl.) | (Italian m.) in art, a naked infant (usually chubby) used as a decorative element in baroque art |
| Pututu | South-American shell trumpet |
- Shell trumpet (pututu), Unknown culture, Peru, A.D. 1500-1800
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| Puupuhaltimet | (Finnish) woodwind |
| Puxador | (Portuguese) the vocalist who leads the singing of a Brazilian samba school when taking part in the Carnaval parade |
| Puy | aside from their performances in courts, troubadours might perform for important public meetings or at fairs. In Northern France, pui (song contests) were held starting about the thirteenth century. Some of the manuscripts note that a song had been 'crowned' the winner in one of these contests. A puy combined both sacred and secular themes and eventually grew to include wordplay. Eventually, plays and poetry eclipsed the music and the puy became a kind of guild |
| (French) in geography, a small volcanic cone, especially one of these found in Auvergne |
| Puzon | (Polish) trombone |
| Puzzle canon | enigmatical canon, enigmatic canon, riddle canon |
| P.-V. | abbreviation of procès-verbal (French: meeting minutes) |
| PWM | acronym for Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne (a leading Polish publishing house) |
| Pyeonjong | see p'yon'gyong, pyonjong |
| Pygmy music | the Pygmies are a broad group of people who live in Central Africa, especially in Congo, Central African Republic and Cameroon. Music is an important part of Pygmy life, and casual performances take place during many of the day's events. Music comes in many forms, including the spiritual likanos stories, vocable singing and music played from a variety of instruments. The African Pygmies are particularly known for their usually vocal music, usually characterised by dense contrapuntal communal improvisation. Simha Arom (2003) says that the level of polyphonic complexity of Pygmy music was reached in Europe in the fourteenth century, yet Pygmy culture is unwritten and ancient, some Pygmy groups being the first known cultures in some areas of Africa. Music permeates daily life and there are songs for entertainment as well as specific events and activities |
- Pygmy music from which this extract has been taken
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| Pylon | the wide entrance gateway of an Egyptian temple, characterized by its sloping walls |
| Pyongjo-danso | a Korean flute played vertically, a large form of danso tuned to the pyongjo or major mode |
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| P'yon'gyong | (Korean) or pyonjong, a fixed pitch percussion instrument formed of sixteen brass bells which are suspended on a wooden frame |
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| Pyonjong | see p'yon'gyong |
| Pyonkyung | (Korean) formed of two layers of resonant stones, called kyong-sok set on a frame, it is played by striking the stones with a beater called a kakt'oe |
- Korean Musical Instruments
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| Pyramid | see 'bell effect' |
| Pyramidial flute | an organ stop, of 8 ft. scale, and made of wood |
| Pyramidon | (Greek) an organ stop of 16 ft. or 32 ft. scale, on the pedals, invented by Rev. Sir F.A.G. Ouseley, the pipes being of an unusual shape, in that they are four times larger at the top than at the mouth, abd, for the size, have a tone of remarkable gravity, similar to the tone of a stopped pipe |
| Pyrography | the art of burning designs or pictures into wood or leather. Pyrography is more commonly referred to as woodburning or pokerwork |
| Pyrophone | in 1875 Georges Fredric Eugene Kastner published, Les Flammes Chantantes, a description of his pyrophone, or "fire organ", a musical instrument in which the notes are produced by the burning of hydrogen gas within glass tubes of varying lengths and sizes |
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| Pyrrhic | a metrical foot consisting of two short syllables, the opposite of a spondee |
| pytagoreiskt Komma | (Swedish) Pythagorean comma |
| pytagorinen Komma | (Finnish) Pythagorean comma |
| pythagoræisk Komma | (Danish) Pythagorean comma |
| Pythagoräisches Komma | (German n.) Pythagorean comma |
| Pythagoras | reputedly, the father of music theory who is said to have discovered the link between numbers and music by analyzing the vibrations of strings of various lengths. According to legend he discovered the mathematical rationale of musical consonance from the weights of hammers used by smiths. He found that the interval of an octave is rooted in the ratio (2:1), that of the fifth in (3:2), that of the fourth in (4:3), and that of the whole tone in (9:8). The Pythagoreans applied these ratios to lengths of a string on an instrument called a canon, or monochord, and thereby were able to determine mathematically the intonation of an entire musical system |
| Weisheit und Wissenschaft: Studien zu Pythagoras, Philolaus und Platon (1962) by Walter Burkert |
| Pythagorean chromatic semitone | or apotome, an interval having the frequency ratio (2187:2048) |
| Pythagorean comma | or ditonic comma, the difference between twelve justly tuned perfect fifths and seven octaves. Pythagorean comma (3^12/2^19 = 531441/524288) arises through the incommensurabilty of the "2-limit" (i.e. octaves) and the "3-limit" (i.e. Pythagorean series). It is equal to 23.46 cents (about 1/8 of a tone). It is also the difference between a Pythagorean chromatic semitone and a Pythagorean diatonic semitone |
| Pythagorean diatonic semitone | an interval having the frequency ratio (256:243) |
| Pythagorean intervals | the standard intervals of Pythagorean tuning except the pure unison (1:1) and octave (2:1) are derived primarily from superimposed fifths (3:2), thus having ratios which are powers of (3:2), or secondarily from the differences between these primary intervals and the octave. The table below shows the 13 usual intervals of medieval music from unison to octave as listed by Anonymous I c.1290, and by Jacobus of Liege c.1325 |
| interval | ratio | derivation | cents | | unison | (1:1) | unison (1:1) | 0.00 | | minor second | (256:243) | octave - major 7th | 90.22 | | major second | (9:8) | (3:2)2 / 2 | 203.91 | | minor third | (32:27) | octave - major 6th | 294.13 | | major third | (81:64) | (3:2)4 / 4 | 407.82 | | fourth | (4:3) | octave - 5th | 498.04 | | augmented fourth | (729:512) | (3:2)6 /8 | 611.73 | | fifth | (3:2) | (3:2)1 | 701.96 | | minor sixth | (128:81) | octave - major 3rd | 792.18 | | major sixth | (27:16) | (3:2)3 / 2 | 905.87 | | minor seventh | (16:9) | octave - major 2nd | 996.09 | | major seventh | (243:128) | (3:2)5 / 4 | 1109.78 | | octave | (2:1) | octave (2:1) | 1200.00 | |
- Pythagorean Tuning from which this table has been taken
|
| Pythagorean major third | a wide third formed by taking four pure fifths and subtracting two octaves, the resulting interval (81:64) is about 408 cents, about 22 cents larger than a harmonic major third (5:4). The difference between the Pythagorean major third and the pure third is called the syntonic comma |
| Pythagorean minor third | the difference between three ascending perfect fourths and an octave (2:1), the Pythagorean minor third thus formed (32:27) is about 294 cents, 22 cents flatter than a harmonic minor third (6:5) |
| Pythagorean scale | |
| Pythagorean tuning | the tuning also called by Ptolemy Diatonic ditoniaion. where the tetrachord or modular fourth is composed of two tones and a semitone in the ratios (9:8), (9:8), (256:243). The fifth and fourth, favoured by this tuning, were the most prominent consonances in written polyphony from the 9th- through the 13th-centuries, particularly at points of rhythmic or structural emphasis. The major 2nds and 3rds are larger, and the minor 2nds and 3rds smaller, than those of other tunings. As a result, the thirds and sixths, which were not recognized as consonances by Greek or orthodox medieval theory, were harsh-sounding in the Pythagorean tuning |
- Pythagorean tuning
- Music and Science from which this extract has been taken
- Pythagorean series
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| pythagoreisch | (German) pythagorean |
| Pythagoreische Skala | (German f.) Pythagorean scale |
| Pythagoreische Stimmung | (German f.) Pythagorean tuning |
| Pythagoreische Terz | (German f.) Pythagorean third also known as Ditonus or Ditonos, an interval with the frequency ratio 64:81 |