Terminology

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• tacet – silent; do not play
• tempo – time; i.e., the overall speed of a piece of music
• tempo di marcia – march tempo
• tempo di sturb de neighbors – occasionally seen on jazz charts
• tempo di valse – waltz tempo
• tempo giusto – in strict time
• tempo primo, tempo uno, or tempo I (sometimes also written as tempo I°) – resume the original speed
• teneramente – tenderly
• tenerezza – tenderness
• tenor – the second lowest of the standard four voice ranges (bass, tenor, alto, soprano)
• tenuto – held; i.e., touch on a note slightly longer than usual, but without generally altering the note's value
• ternary – having three parts. In particular, referring to a three part musical form with the parts represented by letters - A:B:A
• tessitura
• tranquillo – calmly, peacefully
• tremolo – shaking; i.e., a rapid repetition of the same note, or an alternation between two or more notes. It can also be intended (inaccurately) to mean a rapid and repetitive variation in pitch for the duration of a note (see vibrato). It is notated by a strong diagonal bar across the note stem, or a detached bar for a set of notes (or stemless notes).
• tre corde or tc (or sometimes inaccurately tre corda) – three strings; i.e., release the soft pedal of the piano (see una corda)
• troppo – too much; usually seen as non troppo, meaning moderately or, when combined with other terms, not too much, such as allegro [ma] non troppo (fast but not too fast)
• tutti – all; i.e., all together, usually used in an orchestral or choral score when the orchestra or all of the voices come in at the same time, also seen in Baroque-era music where two instruments share the same copy of music, after one instrument has broken off to play a more advanced form: they both play together again at the point marked tutti. See also: ripieno.