| J | after Friedrich Wilhelm Jähns (1809-1888), the cataloguer of music by Carl Maria von Weber (1786 1826) |
| after Boris Jurgenson (1868-1935), the son of Tchaikovsky's publisher Petr Jurgenson, and the cataloguer of music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) |
| J | abbreviation for 'Joule(s)' |
| J, j | (French m., Italian f.) letter of the alphabet (however, in Italian, now used only in words of foreign origin, otherwise replaced by i) |
| j | in chord names, an abbreviation of 'major', for example, Cj7 is synonymous with Cmaj7 |
| Jaar | (Dutch) year |
| Jaarboek | (Dutch) yearbook |
| Jaargang | (Dutch) volume, year |
| Jaarlijks | (Dutch) annual |
| Jab | abrupt blow, thrust or stab |
| hypodermic injection (colloquial) |
| to poke roughly, to stab |
| Jaba | the pick or plectrum used on a sarod |
| Jabara | (Korean) see bara |
| Jabber | chatter, gabble |
| to chatter volubly, to utter words in this way |
| Jaberas | a song form which is an offshoot of fandango grande, is closely related to the malaguenas and is supposed to be a toque libre without compás and impossible to dance |
| Jab into | to thrust (a thing) hard or adruptly |
| Jabisen | (Japanese, literally 'snake-skin strings') the name given to the sanshin in mainland Japan, because the body of the instrument has a snakeskin covering. A bamboo bridge raises the strings off the skin |
| Jabo | (Spanish) old triple-time dance (original spelling xabo) |
| Jabón | (Spanish m.) soap |
| Jabonado | (Spanish m.) soaping, laudry, reprimand (familar), tell-off (familiar) |
| Jabonadura | (Spanish f.) soaping |
| Jabonaduras | (Spanish f. pl.) soapy water, soap suds |
| Jaboncillo | (Spanish m.) bar of toilet soap |
| Jabón de afeitar | (Spanish m.) shaving soap |
| Jabón de tocador | (Spanish m.) toilet soap |
| Jabonera | (Spanish f.) soapdish |
| jabonoso (m.), jabonosa (f.) | (Spanish) soapy |
| Jabot | (French m.) crop (of a bird) |
| (French m.) a frill, often of lace, worn at the throat of a woman's shirt or blouse (although the term was applied also to a kind of neck-ruffle worn by men) |
| Jácara | (Spanish f.) romance, picaresque ballad |
| (Spanish f.) old ballad-dance (original spelling xacara), the precursor to the tonadilla |
| (Spanish f.) nuisance (familar), irritation (familiar) |
| Jacaranda | tropical American tree with trumpet-shaped blue flowers or hard scented wood |
| jacarandoso (m.), jacarandosa (f.) | (Spanish) cheerful (familar), happy (familar) |
| Jacarero | (Spanish m.) merry-maker |
| Jacarista | (Spanish m./f.) merry-maker |
| Jacasse | (French f.) magpie (bird) |
| Jacassement | (French m.) jabbering (pejorative), chattering |
| jacassement | (French) chatter, jabber (pejorative), jabbering (pejorative), chattering |
| jacasser | (French) to chatter, to jabber (pejorative) |
| Jacasserie | (French f.) jabbering (pejorative), chattering |
| Jacasseur (m.), Jacasseuse (f.) | (French) a person who prattles, a person who jabbers (pejorative) |
| jacasseur (m.), jacasseuse (f.) | (French) prattling, jabbering (pejorative) |
| J'accepte avec plaisir. | (French) I'm glad to accept. |
| J'accuse | (French, literally 'I accuse') the title used for any pamphlet, etc. accusing someone in authority of injustice or intolerance |
| Émile Zola's famously incendiary open letter to President Félix Faure to which the French journalist and politician Georges Clemenceau affixed the headline J'accuse! (I accuse!), was published January 13, 1898 in the maiden issue of the newspaper L'Aurore (The Dawn) |
|
| Jachère | (French m.) fallow (as in leaving ground uncultivated for a period, i.e. letting the ground lie fallow) |
| Jachthoorn | (Dutch) hunting horn |
| Jacinth | reddish-orange zircon used as a gem |
| Jacinthe | (French f.) hyacinth (flower) |
| Jacinthe de bois | (French f.) bluebell (flower) |
| Jack | (English) a rectangular device, usually made of pearwood, that moves vertically (constrained by the slide and the jack guide) when driven upward by the depression of a key, that bears a small plectrum (usually made of leather, quill or delrin) that 'plucks' the string as it passes it, to produce the characteristic sound of harpsichords, virginals and spinets |
| (English, French m.) device using a single-pronged plug to connect an electrical circuit |
| (English) device for raising heavy objects, especially vehicles |
| (English) court card with a picture of a soldier, page, etc. (usually ranking beneath queen, and above 10) |
| (English) ship's flag, particularly one showing nationality |
| (English) small white target ball in bowls |
| (English) in the piano, the 'escapement lever' or 'hopper' |
| (English, French m.) canvas or leather coat or jacket, either of several layers or quilted, often reinforced with metal studs or small plates of metal or horn |
| (English) familiar alternative to the name John |
| Jackalope | a mythical animal of North American folklore (a so-called "fearsome critter") described as a jackrabbit with antelope horns or deer antlers |
| Jack and Jill | or J&J, one of the two formats of competition in partner dancing, where the competing couples are the result of random matching of leaders and followers |
| see 'showcase' |
| Jacking | a dance technique, popular in the late 1980s, most often associated with early house music, especially Chicago house. The dance itself consisted of standing firmly in one place and moving the arms above the head, with occasional knee-bends and knee-ups |
| Jackplate | on an electric or electro-acoustic guitar, a mounting plate for an output jack |
| Jack rail | on a member of the harpsichord family, a bar of wood, felted on the underside, which is mounted above the jacks and limits their upward motion |
| Jacob | (English, French m.) a boy's name |
| (Old Testament: in Arabic Yaqub) son of Isaac; brother of Esau; father of the twelve patriarchs of Israel |
| Jacobean | the period (1603-1625) of the reign of King James I |
| Jacobin | (English, French m.) a member of the radical movement, the Jacobin Club (1789-1794) in particular, that instituted the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution (c.1789-1799) |
| a Dominican friar, so named because, before the French Revolution, that order had a convent in the Rue St. Jacques, Paris, France |
| 'The Jacobin' (Jakobín in Czech), an opera in three acts by Antonín Dvorák to an original Czech libretto by Marie Cervinková-Riegrova |
| jacobin (m.), jacobine (f.) | (French) Jacobinic, Jacobinical |
| Jacobinism | the ideology of the most radical element of the French Revolution that instituted the Reign of Terror |
| Jacobinisme | (French m.) Jacobinism |
| Jacobite | (English, French m.) a supporter of James II of England (1633-1701) or of the Stuart pretenders after 1688 |
| Jacob sheep | a breed of primitive multihorned sheep, patterned with black and white spots. Jacobs are grown for their wool |
| Jacob's ladder | a hanging ladder of ropes or chains supporting wooden or metal rungs or steps |
| a folk toy consisting of blocks of wood held together by strings or ribbons. When the ladder is held at one end, blocks appear to cascade down the strings. However, this effect is a visual illusion which is the result of one block after another flipping over |
| in German Die Jakobsleiter, an oratorio by Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) |
| Jacquard | (English, French m.) a Jacquard loom (named for Joseph Marie Jacquard (1752-1834) who was the French inventor in 1801 of a loom, fitted with an attachment that used paste boards with appropriately punched holes, to automatically weave complicated patterns) |
| (English, French m.) a Jacquard weave (elaborate cloth weaves such as tapestries, brocades, and damask fabrics, that can be manufactured on a Jacquard loom) |
| jacquard | (French) Fair Isle (type of knitwear) |
| Jacqueline | (English, French f.) a female given name |
| Jacquerie | (French f.) a peasant's revolt (Jacques is the French nickname for a peasant) |
| Jacques | (French m.) James |
| Jacquet | (French m.) backgammon |
| Jacquot | (French m.) Jimmy, Polly (familiar name given to a parrot) |
| jacta est alea | (Latin) the die is cast, there is no going back |
| Jactance | (French f.) chat (talk), conceit (vanity) |
| Jactancia | (Spanish f.) boastfulness, boasting, bragging |
| Jactancioso (m.), Jactanciosa (f.) | (Spanish) braggart |
| jactancioso (m.), jactanciosa (f.) | (Spanish) boastful |
| jacter | (French) to jabber, to gas (talk), to come clean (confess to the police, etc.) |
| Jaculatoria | (Spanish f.) fervent speech, fervent prayer |
| jaculatorio (m.), jaculatoria (f.) | (Spanish) fervent |
| Jacuzzi | (English, French m.) a bathtub with underwater jets that massage the body (Jacuzzi is a company that produces whirlpool bathtubs) |
| Jade | (English, French m.) a semiprecious gemstone that takes a high polish, usually coloured green but sometimes whitish, or an object made of jade |
| jadeante | (Spanish) panting, breathless |
| jadear | (Spanish) to pant, to gasp |
| Jadeo | (Spanish m.) panting, gasping |
| jadis | (French) in time past, formerly, long ago, in olden days, of old |
| Jagd | (German f.) hunt, shoot, hunting, shooting, pursuit (figurative) |
| Jagdhief | (German n.) sound of the bugle, or hunting horn |
| Jagdhorn | (German n.) hunting horn, trompeta de caza (Spanish f.), corno da caccia (Italian m.), Signalhorn (German n.), cor de chasse (French m.), bugle (French m.) |
|
| Jagdmusik | (German f.) hunting music |
| Jagdstück | (German n.) hunting piece |
| Jagdzink | (German n.) hunting horn, bugle horn |
| Jäger | (German m.) a huntsman, a servant in huntsman's costume, a rifleman in certain German and Austrian regiments |
| Jägerchor | (German m.) a hunting chorus |
| Jägerhorn | (German n.) hunting horn, bugle horn |
| Jaguar | (English, French m.) a large spotted feline (Panthera onca) of tropical America similar to the leopard |
| a motor manufacturer |
| in myths, the jaguar represents speed, agility, and sleek power, and is often associated with mystical powers |
| Jâhiliyah, music of the | during the polytheistic, pre-Islamic tribal period that Arabs call the jâhiliyah, there were two kinds of music: nomadic, a rudimentary, rhythmic style called huda, sung by Bedouin camel drivers; and sedentary, a virtuosic style performed by female slaves called qiyân (singular: qayna) |
| Jahr | (German n.) year |
| Jahreszahl | (German f.) date, year |
| Jahreszeit | (German f.) season |
| Jahrg. | abbreviation of Jahrgang (German: volume, annual) |
| Jahrgang | (German m.) volume, annual |
| Jahrhundert | (German n.) century |
| jährlich | (German) yearly, annual, yearly, annually |
| Jahresring | (German m.) an annual ring (in botany) |
| grain, pattern of lines of fibre in wood, pore (de bois) (French m.), gli anelli annuali (Italian), venatura (Italian f.) |
| Jahrtausend | (German n.) millennium |
| Jahrzehnt | (German n.) decade |
| J'ai craqué. | (French) I couldn't resist. |
| j'ai le mot sur (le bout de) la langue | (French) the word is on the tip of my tongue |
| jaillir | (French) to spurt out, to gush forth (blood, liquid), to flow (tears), to spout up (geyser), to shoot up (flames), to fly out (sparks), to flash on (light), to burst out (crying, laughing, with an answer), to burst forth (with a remark), to spring up (idea), to spring forth (solution) |
| le train jaillit du tunnel (French: the train shot out of the tunnel, the train burst out of the tunnel) |
| des montagnes jaillissaient au-dessus de la plaine (French: mountains towered above the plain) |
| Jaillissement | (French m.) spurt, gush, springing up (ideas), outpouring |
| Jainism | ancient Indian religion, one of the cardinal principles of which is non-violence |
| Jains | followers of Jainism |
| Jais | (French m.) jet (hard black form of lignite that takes a brilliant polish and is used in jewelry or ornamentation) |
| Jakae | (Southern Issan, Thailand) alternatively jakhay or ja-khe, generally believed to have evolved from the Indian instrument the vina or bina, the name comes from the Thai word ja-ra-ke which means 'crocodile'. The instrument's body was originally made to resemble a crocodile body and the front end was carved in the shape of crocodile jaws. Three strings (two of gut and one of metal) are stretched across the body like a Japanese koto, although it is closer to the Korean komungo because it is fretted. The left hand frets while the right hand plucks the strings with a bone or ivory plectrum |
| Jakhay | see jakae |
| Ja-khe | see jakae |
| Jakobsleiter, Die | (German f.) see 'Jacob's ladder' |
| Jaleadas | (Spanish) a vigorous seguidillas (a dance) influenced by the cachucha |
| Jaleika | a wind instrument from Tver, Russia, made from reed-tipped cow horn |
|
| Jaleo | (Spanish m.) slow triple-time dance (original spelling xaleo) |
| Jaleos | (Spanish m. pl.) in flamenco performances, the shouts of encouragement by the audience to the performers |
| Jalhay | a municipality of Belgium, lying in the country's Walloon Region and the Province of Liege |
| Jali | see jeli |
| Jalousieschweller | (German) the organ swell pedal |
| Jaliscenses | (West Mexico) Jalisco's folk music from which ranchera springs |
| Jalon | (French m.) ranging pole, surveyor's staff, step (figurative), milestone (figurative) |
| Jalonnement | (French m.) marking out (of a road, path, etc.) |
| jalonner | (French) to mark out, to mark off (a route, etc.), to line, to stretch along |
| jalousement | (French) jealously |
| jalouser | (French) to be jealous of |
| Jalousie | (French f.) jealousy |
| des petites jalousies (French: petty jealousies) |
| (French f.) a blind or shutter made of sloping slats so as to exclude rain and sun while admitting air and diffused light |
| jaloux (m.), jalouse (f.) | (French) jealous |
| jaloux comme un tigre | (French) madly jealous |
| jaloux de | (French) intent upon, eager for, jealous of |
| jaloux de perfection | (French) eager for perfection |
| Jal tarang | a set of china bowls that are filled with water. Each bowl is struck with a light wooden mallet to cause it to ring. Jal tarang is not very common and is normally found accompanying kathak dancers |
| Jam | (jam, acronym for 'jazz after midnight') to participate in a jam session |
| Jamaica | an island nation of the Greater Antilles, 234 kilometres (146 miles) in length and as much as 80 kilometres (50 miles) in width situated in the Caribbean |
| Jamaican music | |
| Jamaïquain (m.), Jamaïquaine (f.) | (French) a native or inhabitant of Jamaica (an island nation in the Caribbean) |
| jamaïquain (m.), jamaïquaine (f.) | (French) of or pertaining to Jamaica (an island nation in the Caribbean) |
| Jamaïque | (French f.) Jamaica |
| jamais | (French) never, not ever, ever |
| il travaille comme jamais il n'a travaillé (French: he's working as he has never worked before) |
| Jambadon | or djambadon, a Mandinka rhythm from the Cassamance area in the southern part of Senegal, for weddings and for boys' and girls' circumcision ceremonies. It is usually played on the Serouba drums |
|
| Jam band | a term that describes bands, often psychedelic rock bands, whose concerts largely consist of improvisational music |
| Jambe | (French f.) leg |
| see djembe |
| Les jambes m'entraient dans le corps. (French: I was ready to drop) |
| Jambon | (French m.) ham |
| Jambonneau | (French m.) knuckle of ham |
| Jambus | (German m.) iambus, giambo (Italian m.), iambe (French m.), yambo (Spanish m.) |
| Jamisen | name used on the main islands of Japan to refer to the shamisen of Okinawa |
| jammen | (German) to jam |
| Jammerhaken | (German m.) tremolo bar, whammy bar |
| jämmerlich | (German) lamentable |
| jammernd | (German) lamenting |
| Jam rock | a term used to describe any variety of a rock band which includes notable improvisational passages within tunes or instrumental "rocking out" as a key element to musical performance |
- Jam rock from which this extract has been taken
|
| Jam session | (Engoish, German f.) jam is an acronym for 'jazz after midnight', an informal performance (now applied to any musical genre, not just jazz) |
| Janak | philosopher-king of Videha, foster-father of Sita, in the Ramayana |
| Jangdan | (Korean) a generic term that refers to various members of the Korean drum family |
| Jangle pop | an American musical genre that arose in the middle of the 1960s, combining angular, chiming guitars and power pop structures. The first and most famous jangle pop band was The Byrds |
|
| Janggoo | (Korean) also called seyogo which means 'hourglass shape', an hourglass shaped Korean drum |
|
| Jangles | see 'jingles' |
| ja nicht eilen | (German) don't rush |
| Janiculum | centre in Rome for the cult of the god Janus) |
| in Roman mythology, the name of an ancient town founded by the god Janus (the two-faced god of beginnings) |
| a hill in western Rome. Although the second-tallest hill (after Monte Mario), in the contemporary city of Rome, the Janiculum does not figure among the proverbial Seven Hills of Rome, being west of the Tiber and outside the boundaries of the ancient city |
| Janissary music | a style of military music associated with the Janissaries, the bodyguard of the Turkish Sultans |
|
| Janitscharenmusik | (German f., literally 'Janissary music') Turkish music |
| Janizary pedal | a pedal found on early pianos, used to imitate aspects of Turkish Janissary music, used to add all kinds of rattling noises to the normal piano performance including a drumstick to strike the underside of the soundboard, ring bells, shake a rattle and even create the effect of a cymbal crash by hitting several bass strings with a strip of brass foil |
| Jankò piano | a piano, patented in 1882, fitted with a keyboard by Paul von Jankò a Hungarian musician and engineer. The Janko piano is based on an idea, proposed in 1862, by Vincent, He suggested making a keyboard with six rows of keys to make possible the playing of any scale with the same fingering |
|
| Jankovic system | a tuning system used on tamburas in which six strings are tuned as three double courses tuned in fifths |
| Jante | (French f.) rim |
| januis clausis | (Latin) behind closed doors, in secret, in camera |
| Janvier | (French m.) January |
| Jap. | abbreviation of 'Japanese' |
| Japa | or Japam, a spiritual discipline in which a devotee repeats a mantra or the name of the God. The repetition can be aloud or just the movement of lips or in the mind. This spiritual practice is present in the major religions of world. This is considered as one of the most effective spiritual practices |
- Japa from which this extract has been taken
|
| Japanese fiddle | a single string instrument seen played by English street performers |
| Japanese hip hop | |
| Japanese rock | a form of popular music, often abbreviated to "J-Rock (jrock)" in much the same way that "J-Pop (jpop)" is used as an abbreviation of Japanese Pop. J-Rock is one of the most popular forms of music in Japan |
- J-rock from which this extract has been taken
|
| Japanese techno | see 'Jtek' |
| Japanese tissue | a thin, strong paper made from vegetable fibres. Japanese tissue may be made from one of three plants, the kozo plant (Paper Mulberry tree), the mitsumata shrub and the gampi tree |
| Japanese traditional music | around the world, the koto and shakuhachi are known as typical Japanese instruments. And the theatrical forms of classical Noh, Kabuki and the Bunraku puppet theatre, all forms where music plays a very important part, have international fame as well. Ancient court music or Gagaku came to Japan from the Asian continent along with religion and a system of government with the establishment of a state centered on the imperial house. It is still preserved in Japan long after it has disappeared in the countries of its origin. In the middle ages, Noh emerged as a masked drama with recitations of dense poetic texts accompanied by a very spare percussion and flute ensemble. Then, in the early modern period, a vibrant commoner culture seething with energy underneath the dominant warrior class found its expression in the exuberant Kabuki theatre and the intense, sophisticated drama of the puppet theater. For contemporary Japanese, even though all of these traditional forms of music are overshadowed by more popular western style, they continue to be performed and appreciated as a living bond to Japan's past |
|
| Japanese vocal music |
| there are two types in traditional Japanese music: art music and folk music. Art music has several different styles, each of which was established separately in different periods of Japanese history. Kogaku (Old music) refers to that originating before the T'ang Dynasty (618-906) or compositions of Indian or Chinese origin, while Shingaku (New music) is that from after the T'ang Dynasty or compositions of Korean or Manchurian origin. The Japanese have maintained those time-honored styles, modifying them as time has passed. In general, vocal music plays a more important role than instrumental music in the history of Japanese music. Besides, traditional Japanese music often developed as a part of drama such as Noh (or Yokyoku), Kabuki and Bunraku (puppet theatre) |
| uta | song or poem | from the earliest stages of Japanese history, poetry and song have been very important and the distinction between the two is not clear. The word uta can mean either 'song' or 'poem'. What is clear is that poetry is almost always imagined as being recited aloud. For example, heike-biwa (which comes from the 12th-13th centuries) included battle narrative (accompanied by biwa, a type of lute) and poetry chanted to standard melody patterns with instrumental interludes |
| shomyo (or shohmyo) | Buddhist chanting | in the sixth century, Chinese Buddhism joined Shintoism as Japan's official religion. From the Heian Period (794-1192 AD), as Japan changed from a court to a military-dominated culture, genres of theatrical music started to develop. From this time Buddhist evangelists and chanters reciting long historical tales (notably the heike monogatari) went around the country singing or chanting, accompanying themselves on the biwa lute, while Noh became the official entertainment of the new warrior class. Its music was provided by hayashi (an ensemble of drums and flutes) plus chanters |
| utai | the vocal music that accompanies Noh drama | the music of Noh plays is called yokyaku. The vocal part which is derived from shomyo (Buddhist chanting) and includes singing and stylized intoned speech, is not always accompanied by instruments. It is performed by both actors and a chorus of eight male singers and recounts the story. Instrumental accompaniment and interludes can be supplied by an ensemble with cross-flute (yokobue) and 3 drums: kotsuzumi (small hand beaten shoulder drum), otsuzumi (large hand-beaten side drum) and taiko. The drum patterns are crucial in defining the nature of a song and its dramatic significance |
| jiuta | a genre of vocal music accompanied by the shamisen |
| narrative singing | gidayu-bushi | mainly used for telling the story in the Bunraku puppet theatre and often accompanied by the largest shamisen. Bunraku is the name commonly used for ningyo-joruri, literally puppets and storytelling. This simple name not only describes a puppet performance, but also alludes to its predecessors. There was a long tradition of travelling storytellers who used the biwa (lute) as their accompaniment. There were also travelling puppeteers. When these two art forms were joined is not exactly clear, but the beginning of what is now called Bunraku was 1684, when Takemoto Gidayu set up his own theatre in Osaka
[reference: A Brief Introduction to the History of Bunraku] |
| kiyomoto, tokiwaxu and shin'ai | musical styles often used to accompany dancing in kabuki, although they are also performed independently of dance. In kabuki, instrumental accompaniment is provided by on-stage and off-stage groups. Those who are 'on-stage' (debayashi) usually include 3 drums and flute (takebue) with the addition of a shamisen. The off-stage group (geza) include various singers and instrumentalists including the shamisen used to set the general mood of a particular scene and to provide 'musical clues' to dramatic situations |
| Japanese folk songs, the great majority of which sung today were formed in or after the Edo Period (1603-1868) (Edo = old Tokyo), may be classified into: |
| religious songs | Shinto sato kagura | the earliest extant description of Shinto music, or kagura (music of the gods), is preserved in the myth of the sun goddess Amaterasu, who, having been offended by her brother, has hidden her light in the Rock-Cave of Heaven. She is lured out by a dance set to music, performed on a zither by the goddess Ama no Uzume no Mikoto. The myth echoes the convention that the gods are invoked to witness a performance and, by so doing, revitalize the community. Mikagura, or court kagura, is distinguished from sato kagura, or village kagura, which comprises a range of local music associated with particular regions or shrines. Village kagura may be heard on the occasion of festivals, when musicians accompany their songs on transverse flutes and a variety of drums |
| Buddhist Bon | the Buddhist dance festival, Bon-Odori, is derived from a primitive dance held between the 13th and the 16th of July. The genre has been developed as an entertainment for people at the end of the Muromachi era (1338-1575). People dance in a circle or a line accompanied by rhythmic drumming and songs to welcome and sooth astral spirits |
| work songs | boatmen's songs | for example, funa uta |
| rice planting songs | the songs of the saotome (rice-planting girls) which may be accompanied by a Tahayashi consisting of drums, hand bells and flutes |
| mago-uta | horseman songs, that featured in kabuki to suggest the mood when travelling by road |
| kiyari | song for working with logs and lumber |
| owara | song that was sung by the women as they raised silk, picking mulberry leaves and pulling the thread from the cocoons of the silkworms |
| tanko-bushi | song for people working in the coal mines |
| soran-bushi | sung while transferring the herring from large drift-nets into small taxi-boats with giant hand-nets. The abundant lyrics are often improvised, erotic or comical - helping to keep workers awake during several days without sleep
[reference: So-ran Bushi Japanese Traditional Dance] |
| old popular songs | naniwa-bushi | the narration of a romance usually accompanied by a single shamisen (Naniwa = old Osaka) |
| prostitute's songs | shinnai-bushi | prostitute's songs from the Edo period, sung by a very high male voice accompanied by two shamisens |
| occasional songs | for parties, weddings and funerals |
| children's songs | warabe uta | traditional pieces passed down through the ages |
| doyo | songs written in the twentieth century by noted poets and composers as part of a movement to create quality children's songs in Japan |
| Japanese court music gagaku (literally 'elegant music') also has a vocal dimension |
| kokufu kabu | Japanese song-dance | vocal music with instrumental accompaniment. It is based on very ancient music performed at shrine rites as well as Court ceremonies |
| saibara | regional Japanese folk songs | included in gagaku (ancient court music that came to Japan from the Asian continent along with religion and a system of government with the establishment of a state centered on the imperial house) but set in an elegant court style |
| roei | vocal music used for chanting Chinese poems which is accompanied by instrumental music |
| other Japanese songs forms include: |
| enka | popular ballads | (Japanese, en means 'act') in 1874 Japan's first political party was founded, and the call for direct election of a national parliament gained strength. Leaders, who were often prohibited from speaking in public, had songs written to air their message and singers walked the streets selling copies of the songs. This was the beginning of enka. The performers themselves gradually developed from street-corner political agitators into purveyors of sheet music and paid professional singers. Before the spread of radio and phonographs the enka singers were an important medium for the publication of music. Modern enka, the majority of which deals with lost love, has grown to become a major tradition in twentieth-century Japanese popular music. The sad strains of its melodies and the quaver affected by singers are distinctive features of enka, which is considered a subgenre of kayokyoku |
| gasshokyoku | choral works | generally works with strong European influences |
| karaoke | singing to a recorded accompaniment | Japan is the birthplace of karaoke which is enjoyed in bars, at parties, at home and even at the beach. The most elaborate systems display lyrics on a video monitor. Popular tunes include pop numbers and sentimental enka ballads |
| kayokyoku | popular Japanese songs | the Meiji government, with the intention of modernizing Japanese music, introduced Western music instruction in schools, and in 1879, Izawa Shuji, a government bureaucrat who had studied in the United States, commissioned songs which were written using a pentatonic melody derived by exclusion of a major fourth and seventh. He compiled these songs, along with Western airs of a similar tonal structure, such as Auld Lang Syne, in a textbook which was used in schools throughout the country. With the gradual entrenchment of this pentatonic scale, it became the basis for a genre of commercial music. The first true kayokyoku was Kachusha no uta (Katyusha's song), composed in the major pentatonic scale by Nakayama Shimpei. It was sung by Matsui Sumako in a dramatization of Tolstoy's Resurrection, put on in 1914 |
| kakyoku | classical Japanese songs | Kojo no Tsuki (Moon over Castle Ruins), composed in 1900 by Rentaro Taki(1879-1903), is considered the first Japanese "kakyoku" (classical song) although Kosaku Yamada (1886-1965) was to be the most significant composer in this genre bringing to it German influences. Kunihiko Hashimoto (1904-49) introduced a fresh sensibility and technique that came from France |
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| Japanese wood block | a circular block of hard wood with a conical resonating chamber carved out from the under side - the block resting on three small feet. The sound is higher and sharper than the conventional wood block, rather closer to the sound of the claves |
| Japcore | Japanese hardcore |
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| Japon | (French m.) Japan |
| Japonais | (French) Japanese (language) |
| japonais (m.), japonaise (f.) | (French) Japanese |
| Japanische Tonleitern | (German pl.) Japanese (musical) scales |
| Japonisme | a term coined by the French critic Philippe Burty in 1876 for the influence of Japanese artistic styles on Western art after Japan was opened to trade in 1854 |
| japper | (French) to yelp |
| Jaquette | (French f.) dust jacket, dust-cover (paper cover on a hardback book), sopraccoperta (Italian f.), Schutzumschlag (German m.), sobrecubierta (Spanish f.) |
| (French f.) jacket (clothing) |
| Jaquette d'homme | (French f.) morning coat |
| Jarábe | (Spanish m., literally 'syrup') traditional Mexican courtship dance form with multiple sections in contrasting meters and tempos, often performed by mariachi ensembles. In comes from the state of Jalisco that lies west of México City |
| Jarábe tapatio | or 'Mexican Hat Dance', from Guadalajara in the state of Jalisco, has become the national dance of Mexico. It is highly stylized, with prescribed movements and costumes. The male wears the classic outfit of the Jalisco horsemen (or charro), while the female wears a hand-woven shawl and a bright sequined skirt |
| Jarana | a 5 to 8 string Mexican guitar from the Jarocho region, used to perform son jarocho |
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| (literally 'merry chatter') folk dance of Yucatán, Mexico, the verses of which are often in the Mayan language |
| Jardin | (French m.) garden |
| Jardinage | (French m.) gardening |
| Jardin d'enfants | (French m.) nursery (school) |
| jardiner | (French) to garden |
| Jardinier (m.), Jardinière (f.) | (French) gardener |
| Jardinière | (French f.) an ornamental flower pot, plant-stand (stand for the display of cut flowers or flowers in pots) |
| (French f.) a vegetable soup, vegetables cut into fine strips |
| Jardinière de légumes | (French f.) mixed vegetables |
| Jardin public | (French m.) public park |
| Jargon | (English, French m.) slang, a characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves, engineers, and so on) |
| Jarrete | see arque |
| jäsentäminen | (Finnish) phrasing |
| jaspé | (French) mottled, marbled so as to resemble jasper |
| Jass | before 1917, a common spelling of the word jazz |
| Jati | in Indian music, a rhythmic unit which maybe a single rhythmic syllable (ta) or a rhythmic syllable grouping (such as taka or takita) |
| Java | (India) a finger pick made from a coconut shell |
| a style of fast waltz that appeared in France during the early part of the 20th century, probably derived from the mazurka. It was one of the characteristic dances of bal-musette |
| Javalina | see requinto jarocho |
| Java-valse | (French f.) or Java-valse musette, a fast waltz that appeared in France during the early part of the 20th century, part of the genere known as bal-musette |
| Jawbone | jaw-bone, vibraslap, quyada (French), Schlagrassel (German), mascella (Italian), guyada or quijada (Spanish) |
| an instrument that the end-men of a minstrel show shook like a tambourine, that was made originally from the actual jaw-bone of a horse or ass. When the bone was thoroughly dried the teeth became so loose that they rattled and produced a sound as loud as that of a pair of castanets |
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| Jaw harp | see 'Jew's harp' |
| Jaw's harp | see 'Jew's harp' |
| Jazz | (English, French m., Italian m., German m.) as music, it originated in New Orleans, characterised by syncopations and reiterated rhythms. From the outset, jazz was dance music, performed by swinging big bands. Soon, the dance elements faded into the background and improvisation became the key element of the music. As the genre evolved, jazz music split into a number of different styles, from the speedy, hard-hitting rhythms of 'be-bop' and the laid-back, mellow harmonies of 'cool jazz' to the jittery, atonal forays of 'free jazz' and the earthy grooves of 'soul jazz'. What tied it all together was a foundation in the blues, a reliance on group interplay and unpredictable improvisation. Throughout the years, and in all the different styles, those are the qualities that define jazz |
| Jazz not only refers to a musical style. It is a term used to describe a style of dance, literature, dress, attitude and a way of speaking - 'jazz talk' or 'jive'. Jazz music is a language, and the rules of its grammar are not dissimilar from the language of cinema. The style that the term "jazz" encompasses is a style that can also be expressed in a filmic form, as it has been in literature. 'Jazz' covers a broad range of musical styles including ragtime, blues, swing and be bop, but an essential element in all jazz is improvisation |
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| Jazz band | (or jazz ensemble) is a musical ensemble that plays jazz music usually without a conductor. Jazz bands usually consist of a rhythm section and a horn section. During the jazz and swing eras in the mid-twentieth century, the most successful jazz orchestras also employed strings and harp in expanded arrangements, but their presence on the bandstand was more for visual impact and not as a key component of the ensemble, although the unique timbres of the strings and harp combined with the band as a whole provided an extra layer of ear-pleasing sonorities |
- Jazz band from which this extract has been taken
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| Jazzband | (German f.) jazz band |
| Jazzbesen | (German m.) wire or rhythm brush |
| Jazz blues | a musical style that combines jazz and blues |
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| Jazz-box | see 'archtop guitar' |
| Jazzcombo | (German f.) jazz combo, a group of musician playing jazz |
| Jazzcore | a musical genre combining elements of jazz and hardcore punk |
- Jazzcore from which this extract has been taken
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| Jazz dance |
| jazz dance has two meanings, depending on the era, both dance forms related by evolution: |
| until the middle of 1950s | jazz dance meant mostly tap dance, because jazz was the music and tap was the main performance dance of the era |
| since the 1950s | with the growing domination of other forms of entertainment music jazz dance evolved into a new, smooth, modern Broadway style that is taught today, while tap dance continued to evolve on its own |
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| Jazzensemble | (German n.) a jazz ensemble, a group of musicians playing jazz |
| Jazzercize | see 'exercise music' |
| Jazz flute | see 'slide whistle' |
| Jazz fusion | sometimes referred to simply as fusion, a musical genre that loosely encompasses the merging of jazz with other styles, particularly rock, funk, R&B, and world music. It basically involved jazz musicians mixing the forms and techniques of jazz with the electric instruments of rock, and rhythmic structure from African-American popular music, both "soul" and "rhythm and blues" |
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| Jazzgitarre | (German f.) or Schlaggitarre, jazz guitar, chitarra jazz (Italian), chitarra battente (Italian), guitare de jazz (French) |
| Jazz guitar | chitarra jazz (Italian), chitarra battente (Italian), Jazzgitarre (German), Schlaggitarre (German), guitare de jazz (French) |
| the term jazz guitar refers to several aspects of the guitar as it is used in jazz and jazz fusion music. The term may refer to a type of guitar or to the variety of jazz playing styles (e.g. chords, melodies, and improvised solo lines) performed by guitarists in different jazz genres |
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| Jazz harmony | the harmonic idiom or harmonies used in jazz. Similarities between jazz harmony and traditional or common practice harmony or tonality include, notational techniques, (e.g. the musical staff, clefs, accidentals etc.) many chord progressions, and many musical scales. In jazz harmony, however, additional tensions are added to harmonic progressions and jazz scales are also used. In jazz, chord construction is similar to traditional harmony but includes the wider use of 7th chords as well as chords containing compound intervals. Also, the principles of voice leading, the practice of smoothly moving individual notes of one chord to another, are considerably different from traditional harmony |
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| Jazz jive | see 'modern jive' |
| Jazzkapelle | (German f.) a jazz band |
| Jazz keyboard | the piano has been essential as a composer's tool and miniature orchestra in jazz. At first, the piano delivered the raw excitement of the unschooled blues and boogie players and the elegant prance of ragtime. Jazz turned ragtime piano into the pumping stride style of the 1920s, reaching a dazzling peak with Art Tatum, his left and right hands in storming union. Then bebop made all instruments horn-like, and the frontline harmonic adventurers induced pianists to echo them with fast right hands while the left sketched sparse, fragmentary chords. Both funk and free jazz brought thicker, more percussive piano styles, and although electronics broadened the range after the 1960s, brilliant acoustic players have continued to appear. Many play bebop, but a renewed sense of the past has recovered many of the orchestral, two handed keyboard techniques of earlier decades |
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| Jazz manouche | (French m.) also called 'Gypsy jazz' or 'Gypsy Swing', an idiom sometimes said to have started by the Ferré brothers in the late 1920s. That said it became popular due to the work of guitarist Django Reinhardt in the 1930s |
| Jazz-mugam | see mugam-jazz |
| Jazz piano |
| Jazz piano styles from 1900 to today: |
| description/period | rhythmic
unit | harmonic
unit | melodic
unit | examplars |
| ragtime/stride piano (1900-1920) | swing bass octaves | combination of minim (half note) swing bass and crotchet (quarter note) "walk" bars | crotchet (quarter notes) and quavers (eighth notes) | "Jelly Roll" Morton
James P. Johnson
Willie "The Lion" Smith
"Fats" Waller (early)
Tom Turpin
James Scott
Scott Joplin |
| swing piano (1920-1940) | swing bass tenths | combination of minim (half note) swing bass and crotchet (quarter note) "walk" bars | (crotchets) quarter notes, quavers (eighth notes), triplets, and semiquavers (sixteenth notes) | "Fats" Waller (middle, late periods)
Earl Hines
Art Tatum
Teddy Wilson
Count Basie |
| bop piano (1940-1955) | foot beat | left hand "shells" | quavers (eighth notes), triplets, and semiquavers (sixteenth notes) | Earl "Bud" Powell
Thelonious Monk
Horace Silver
Hampton Hawes |
| Powell's style, which accommodated the new "bop": avoided swing bass, used left hand shells (chord fragments), used a right hand "horn line" |
| early contemporary jazz piano (1955-1965) | foot beat | left hand voicings | quavers (eighth notes), triplets, semiquavers (sixteenth notes), demisemiquavers (thirty-second notes) | "Red" Garland
Wynton Kelly |
| contemporary jazz piano (1965-Present) | foot beat | left hand voicings/modal fourth fragments | quavers (eighth notes), triplets, semiquavers (sixteenth notes), demisemiquavers (thirty-second notes) | Bill Evans
Herbie Hancock
Chick Corea
McCoy Tyner
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| Jazz-pop | a fusion of jazz with rock, blues, and soul (the last two characterized by syncopated rhythm and a heavy, repetitive bass line) |
| Jazzposaune | (German f.) jazz trombone, trombone da jazz (Italian m.), trombone de jazz (French m.), trombón de jazz (Spanish m.) |
| Jazz rap | a fusion of alternative hip hop music and jazz, developed in the very late 1980s and early 1990s. Known for intellectual, often socio-political or Afrocentric lyrics and jazz beats (sometimes performed by a live band, instead of sampled), jazz rap has not become a huge mainstream success; it instead sells primarily to a small specialized fan base |
- Jazz rap from which this information has been taken
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| Jazz-rock | (English, Jazzrock (German m.)) Jazz-rock may refer to the loudest, wildest, most electrified fusion bands from the jazz camp, but most often it describes performers coming from the rock side of the equation. Jazz-rock first emerged during the late 1960s as an attempt to fuse the visceral power of rock with the musical complexity and improvisational fireworks of jazz. Since rock often emphasized directness and simplicity over virtuosity, jazz-rock generally grew out of the most artistically ambitious rock subgenres of the late 1960s and early 1970s: psychedelia, progressive rock, and the singer/songwriter movement. The latter drew from the mellower, more cerebral side of jazz, often employing vocal as well as instrumental improvisation |
| Jazz scales | a musical scale used in jazz. Many jazz scales are common scales drawn from Western European classical music, possibly with an additional note inserted to add a jazz sound coloring, such as a particular chromatic passing tone as in the "bebop scales", or a blue note. One important aspect of jazz is its use of many complementary scales associated with the various chord types. In addition to the diatonic scales of the common practice period, diminished, pentatonic and altered scales are also important. |
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| Jazz schools |
| schools or eras of jazz arranged in chronological order: |
| Dixie, Dixieland, New Orleans | a type of jazz originating in New Orleans in the late 1910s and early 1920s with strong 2/4 or 4/4 rhythms (see time signature) and several horns, each playing a common melody but with individual variations; famous Dixie musicians include trumpeter Louis Armstrong and clarinetist Sidney Bechet |
| swing, big band | a type of jazz originating in the late 1920s with a smoother rhythm than Dixieland, played by a large band of at least 10 musicians (and sometimes the size of an orchestra) with a leader and sidemen who played improvised solos; famous big band leaders include Duke Ellington and Count Basie |
| bebop or bop | a type of jazz originating in the early 1940s by more intellectual jazz musicians in reaction to what they saw as the mindless dance rhythms of swing, played by smaller bands, often quartets or quintets, and featuring sophisticated harmonic structures and extended improvised solos; famous bebop musicians include saxophonist Charlie Parker and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie |
| cool jazz, West Coast jazz | a type of jazz originating in the late 1940s in reaction to bebop, emphasizing a restrained, laid-back soloing style and played particularly by bands in California; famous cool jazz musicians include trumpeters Miles Davis and Chet Baker, and pianist Dave Brubeck |
| hard bop | a type of jazz originating in the mid-1950s by black jazz musicians in reaction to what they saw as the take over of jazz by white, West Coast cool jazz musicians, featuring a harder, more intense soloing style and a heavy blues influence; famous hard bop musicians include trumpeter Miles Davis, saxophonist John Coltrane, and drummer Art Blakey |
| modal | a type of jazz originating in the late 1950s featuring songs based on playing in a certain mode rather than on chord changes; famous modal musicians include trumpeter Miles Davis and pianist Herbie Hancock |
| free jazz | a type of jazz originating in the early 1960s featuring songs played with freer rhythms and solos that broke traditional rules of melody, often played chromatically; famous free jazz musicians include saxophonists Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane and cornettist Don Cherry |
| fusion, jazz-rock | a style of jazz originating in the late 1960s in which the musicians incorporated the electrified instruments and more aggressive sounds of rock music (hence the name: a fusion of jazz and rock); famous fusion musicians and bands include Miles Davis, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, and Weather Report |
| neo-bop, Young Lions | a style of jazz originating in the early 1980s in reaction to free jazz and fusion by a group of young jazz musicians (the so-called Young Lions) who wanted to return to the style of playing of what they saw as the classic jazz period of hard bop; famous Young Lions include trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and saxophonist Branford Marsalis |
| Latin | a type of jazz featuring instruments and song styles from the Caribbean and South America, especially Brazil; Latin cannot really be placed in one time period as it has been played along with other types of jazz since the 1940s; famous Latin jazz musicians include drummer Tito Puente, saxophonist Stan Getz, and pianist Chucho Valdés |
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| Jazz standards | musical compositions which are widely known, performed, and recorded among jazz musicians as part of the jazz musical repertoire. There is no definitive list of jazz standards, and the list of songs deemed to be standards changes over time. Songs included in major fake book publications and jazz reference works offer a rough guide to which songs are considered standards |
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| Jazzstil | (German m., Swedish) jazz style, for example 'bebop' |
| Jazz trombone | trombone da jazz (Italian m.), Jazzposaune (German f.), trombone de jazz (French m.), trombón de jazz (Spanish m.) |
| Jazztrompete | (German f.) jazz trumpet, tromba da jazz (Italian f.), trompette de jazz (French f.), trompeta de jazz (Spanish f.) |
| Jazz violin | for the fiddle player, jazz has several challenging aspects which set it apart from most folk styles. Each number in a jazz performance starts and ends with a melody which is played more or less "straight" (as written), but the bulk of the number is made up of improvised solos which, whilst following the basic chord sequence, will have little if anything to do with the original tune. This is the opportunity for the soloist to state and develop his own ideas and to inter-react with the rest of the band. Each solo may run several times round the sequence, and occasionally the band will do "fours", where four bar solos are alternated between musicians. Hopefully the excitement will mount as each soloist tries to copy and elaborate on the other's previous effort. If the audience start leaving, it's clearly time to get back to the "head" and on with the next number! The jazz violinist needs to be able to play in the higher positions, to be relaxed in almost any key (particularly the flat keys, beloved of wind players), and to play with a rich tone, particularly on slow numbers. Pentatonic and blues scales are invaluable but shouldn't be overused, and a good knowledge of chord structures and sequences is essential, though this can be instinctive rather than conscious. Most important, and perhaps most elusive of all, the fiddler must be able to swing. This comes mainly from the bowing patterns; notes are typically grouped in dotted pairs but with a subtle and constantly changing emphasis |
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| Jb | abbreviation of Jahrbuch (German: yearbook) |
