Drums
A double-headed cylindrical drum of Japan.
Da-Daiko
When you see a _____ mark in a piece of music, it means that you have to go back to the beginning and play from there again.
Da Capo
A kind of music scale made of five whole steps and two half steps (steps are the spaces between notes).
Diatonic Scale
The biggest instrument with strings. It plays very low notes and a person pulls a bow across its strings to make sound.
Double Bass
A note that lasts 1/8 the duration of a whole note.
8th Note
A single-head drum with a goblet shaped body used mostly in the Middle East and Northern Africa
Darbuka
Italian for “growing softer.”
Decrescendo
Play softer.
Diminuendo
Two singers or musicians.
Duo
French for “again.” The call for a performer to continue playing at the end of a concert.
Encore!
A rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa.
Djembe
A harsh or disagreeable combination of sounds, or a combination of sounds that creates a feeling of tension needing to be resolved.
Dissonance
A piece for instruments with several movements, much like a suite. This term was used in the second half of the 18th century.
Divertimento
Music that is felt in groups of two beats.
Duple
A woodwind instrument with a double reed that’s similar to an oboe, but longer, and with a pear-shaped bell. Its tone is lower and mellower than an oboe.
English Horn
Percussion instrument on which sound is made by hitting a skin pulled across a hollow space on a round frame with a stick. There are lots of kinds of ______, and they all sound different depending on their size and shape.
Drum drum, dumb dumb!
A song made up of pieces and arrangements of other well-known songs.
Divertissement
Italian for "Sweet"
Dolce
A composition for two performers.
Duet
A group of people singing or playing together.
Ensemble
An hourglass-shaped drum from West Africa, whose pitch can be regulated to mimic the tone and prosody of human speech. It has two drumheads connected by leather tension cords, which allow the player to change the pitch of the drum by squeezing the cords on the sides
DunDun
When the conductor moves his baton down to show which notes to accent.
Downbeat
How loudly or softly to play a piece of music.
Dynamics
a stringed musical instrument played by striking the strings with small hammers or by plucking them with the fingers or a plectrum
Dulcimer
French for “study.” A piece of music originally intended to help a practice an instrument.
Etude