| Tempo | |||
| adagio | slowly | largamente | broadly |
| andante | at an easy walking pace | larghetto | rather broadly |
| moderato | at a moderate speed | prestissimo | extremely fast, or as fast as possible |
| allegro | cheerful and fast | con moto | with movement |
| presto | very fast | tempo commodo | at a comfortable speed |
| lento | slowly | tempo giusto | at a precise speed |
| largo | broadly | l'istesso tempo | at the same speed |
| allegretto | moderately fast | non troppo | not too much |
| vivace | lively, fast | grave | very slow and solemn |
| vivo | alive, lively | ||
| Modifications of Tempo | |||
| accelerando (accel.) | gradually becoming faster | allargando | becoming broader |
| rallentando (rall.) | gradually becoming slower | piu mosso | quicker |
| ritardando (rit.) | gradually becoming slower | meno mosso | slower |
| ritenuto (riten.) (rit.) | held back | rubato | with some freedom in the tempo |
| a tempo | return to former speed | ||
| stringendo | pressing on faster | ||
| Dynamics | |||
| crescendo (cres.) (cresc.) | gradually becoming louder | calando | getting softer and slower |
| decrescendo (decres.) | gradually becoming softer | morendo | dying away |
| diminuendo (dim.) | gradually becoming softer | forte-piano (fp) | loud then immediately soft |
| forte (f) | loud | sforzando (sf) (sfz) | a strong accent |
| piano (p) | soft | perdendosi | fading away |
| pianissimo (pp) | very soft | smorzando | dying away |
| fortissimo (ff) | very loud | rinforzando (rfz) (rf) | reinforcing the tone |
| mezzo forte (mf) | moderately loud | pesante | heavily |
| mezzo piano (mp) | moderately soft | ||
| Other Terms | |||
| legato | smoothly, well connected | con anima | with feeling |
| staccato | detached, short | con brio | with spirit |
| maestoso | majestic | con grazia | with grace |
| sostenuto | sustained | con forza | with force |
| sempre | always | dolce | sweetly |
| poco | a little | risoluto | with resolution |
| molto | very | ben marcato | well marked |
| senza | without | main droite (m.d.) | right hand |
| cantabile | in a singing style | main gauche (m.g.) | left hand |
| leggiero | lightly | una corda | with the soft pedal |
| fine | the end | tre corde | release the soft pedal |
| dal segno | from the sign | ad libitum | at pleasure, quite freely |
| da capo al fine | from the beginning to the word fine | opus | a work or group of works |
| mezzo staccato | moderately short and detached | loco | at normal pitch (after an 8ve sign) |
| agitato | with agitation | cantando | in a singing style |
| attacca | to go on at once | piacevole | pleasant, agreeable |
| animato | with animation | dolente | sadly, plaintively |
| tranquillo | calmly | doloroso | sadly, plaintively |
| tenuto (ten) | held | giocoso | gay, merry |
| portamento | a smooth gliding from one note to another (as in singing or string playing) | assai | much, sufficient |
| sotto voce | softly, in an undertone | scherzando | playfully |
| grazioso | gracefully | ||
| quasi | as if, as it were | ||
| subito (sub) | suddenly | ||
| Terms referring to String Playing | sul tasto | bow on or near the finger board | |
| sul ponticello (sul pont) | bow on or near the bridge | pizzicato (pizz) | pluck the string with the finger (instead of bowing it) |
| tremolo | bowing very rapidly (usually on one note at a time) to produce a shimmering or wavering effect | arco | with the bow (used after a pizz. sign) |