Terminology

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Listing by Name { F }

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  • facile – easily, without fuss
  • fall – jazz term describing a note of definite pitch sliding downwards to another note of definite pitch.
  • fermata – finished, closed; i.e., a rest or note is to be held for a duration that is at the discretion of the performer or conductor (sometimes called bird's eye); a fermata at the end of a first or intermediate movement or section is usually moderately prolonged, but the final fermata of a symphony may be prolonged for twice its printed length or more for dramatic effect.
  • feroce – ferociously
  • feurig (Ger) – fiery
  • festivamente – cheerfully, celebratory
  • fieramente – proudly
  • fill (English) – a jazz or rock term which instructs performers to improvise a scalar passage or riff to "fill in" the brief time between lyrical phrases, the lines of melody, or between two sections
  • fine – the end, often in phrases like al fine (to the end)
  • flebile – mournfully
  • focoso or fuocoso – fiery; i.e., passionately
  • forte or f (usually) – strong; i.e., to be played or sung loudly
  • fortepiano or fp (usually) – strong-gentle; i.e., 1. loud, then immediately soft (see dynamics), or 2. an early pianoforte
  • fortissimo – as loudly as possible (see note at pianissimo, in this list)
  • forzando or fz – see sforzando in this list
  • freddo – cold(ly); hence depressive, unemotional
  • fresco – freshly
  • fröhlich - lively, joyfully
  • fugue (Fr), fuga (Latin and Italian) – literally "flight"; hence a complex and highly regimented contrapuntal form in music. A short theme (the subject) is introduced in one voice (or part) alone, then in others, with imitation and characteristic development as the piece progresses.
  • fuoco – fire; con fuoco means with fire
  • furioso – furiously