Words to describe music

1. Dynamics
Soft: quiet, whispering, hushed, piano, muted, subdued, ghostly, delicate
Loud: intense, powerful, forte, thundering, strong, booming
Getting louder: crescendo, increase in volume, intensification of sound,
rise/swell/surge of sound.
Getting softer: decrescendo, decrease in volume, diminuendo, dying away, wane,
recede, taper off.
Timbre (Tone colour)
Dark: mellow, warm, resonant, rich, velvety, muddy, lush
Light: pure, clean, ringing, bright, vibrant, ethereal, clear, breathy
Unpleasant: harsh, coarse, rough, brassy, shrill, thin, heavy, piercing, grating,
aggressive, abrasive, raspy, scratchy, dry, dull
Melody
Small intervals between the notes: Stepwise motion, scalic, smooth line
Big intervals between the notes: Leaps, angular, jagged
Lyrical, singable, tuneful, lilting, melodious, diatonic, repetitive
Disjointed, fragmented, chromatic, constantly changing
Duration
Fast tempo: quick, lively, spirited, hurried, rapid, speedy, frantic, animated, busy,
active.
Moderate tempo: ambling, relaxed, laid-back, steady.
Slow: dignified, stately, drawn-out, leisurly, sluggish
Get faster: accelerate, speed up, gather momentum, hasten
Get slower: decelerate, slacken, reduce speed, loose momentum
Separated notes notes: staccato, choppy, percussive, sharp, abrupt, disconnected,
fragmented

2. Joined notes: long, smooth, flowing, blended, sustained, legato, flowing, connected
Pitch- descriptive words
High pitched: soaring, soprano, shrill, treble, piping
Low pitched: deep, bass, boomy, sonorous
Harmony
Clashing, dissonance, discordant, harmonic tension/resolution.
Tonal, harmonious, consonant, harmonious
Block chords, running/flowing passages, arpeggiated passages
Terms: Major, minor, modal, key changes, modulation, transposition, chord
progression, cadences,
Rhythm
Strong beats/weak beats, on the beat/ off the beat, syncopated, steady pulse/free
rhythm, fragmented, polyrhythms, swung rhythm/straight rhythm
Texture
Thick: Dense, rich, heavy, thick, full, weighty, fat
Thin: Light, thin, sparse, spare, delicate, transparent
Terms: Monophonic, homophonic, melody-dominated homophony, polyphonic,
counterpoint
Structure
Terms for Melodic Structure: Phrase, question and answer, theme,
ostinato/loop/motif/hook/riff, sequence, imitation, solo, climax point.
Terms for larger segments: Introduction, verse, pre-chorus, chorus/refrain,
bridge/development section, transition, coda/outro.
Classical forms: binary, ternary, rondo, sonata form, theme and variations, canon.
Modern forms: verse-chorus, 32 bar form, AABA, call-and-response, round, 12-bar
blues, free-form