Some lesser-known musical terms!

For beginners, one of the mysteries of reading music is all the Italian expressions that we find dotted across the page. With the years, most of us collect quite a vocabulary, but nevertheless, we still now and then come cross a new one. Here are a few lesser known terms you might come across, or might find useful to scribble in your score to impress the next user of your hire copy in some lesser choir.

A tempo con maestro	Watch the conductor!
Accelerando con maestro	For Pete’s sake, WATCH THE CONDUCTOR!
Accelerando senza maestro	This conductor is a wally. Either he goes or we go.
Rallentando senza maestro	Surely it must be time for the rehearsal break!
Poco a poco senza maestro	The conductor is losing patience with this choir.
Senza spirito	Surely it must be about time to go home!
Senza maestro	Rehearsal cancelled. The conductor has the ’flu / can’t face another week of the choir singing flat.
Volti subito	That should have been an E flat. Turn round suddenly and give your neighbour a deprecating look.
Con amore ma non troppo	Tenors, we know this is your favourite bit, but mf should be quite sufficient thank you.
Altissimo ma dolce	Tenors - be honest. If your top B flat sounds like a tortured pig, then just leave it out.
Espressivississimo	Ok tenors, which of the sopranos are you trying to impress?
Subito pianissimo	In case you hadn’t noticed, it said pp two bars ago.
Segno misterioso	No you idiot, it’s not a quadriplegic spider, it’s a double-sharp!
Segno molto misterioso	Probably a triple-sharp. A couple of enharmonic modulations, a diminished 5^th, and the harmonic equivalent of a handbrake turn, and we’ll be back in the home key in no time. B# major? What’s this sense of déjà vue? Where have all the accidentals gone?
Al cappuccino con tre zuccheri	A sickly sweet piece of music.
pppp sempre diminuendo e morendo al fine	Stop breathing. If you pass out, do so as quietly as you possibly can.

(I hasten to add that not all of the above will be useful to members of our esteemed choir.)

Philip Le Riche (Tenor - if you hadn’t guessed.)

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