Hi there, and welcome to another late blog post! What else is new? I did a video on French terms in music, and it can be found below. However, in lieu of a script, I’m going to include definitions of those words below…because if you don’t want to watch the video for the pronunciations and occasional humor, you’ll probably be better served by a handy list for reference.

Tempo
Lent – Slow
Modéré – Moderate
Animé – Animated
Vif – Lively
Vite – Fast
Au mouvement – In tempo/A tempo
Animez – Accelerating
Cédez – Giving in/Yielding (Giving a little slack to the tempo.)
Ralentir – To slow down
Retenu – Held back

Modifiers
Assez – Quite/pretty (e.g. assez vif = quite lively/pretty lively.)
Presque – Almost
Trés – Very

Character/Miscellaneous Words
Sec – Dry
Légèrement – Light
Lourd – Heavy
Joyeux – Joyful
Triste – Sad
Flottant – Floating
Lointain – Distant
En dehors – Prominent
Doux – Sweet (dolce)

String-Specific Words
Sur le chevalet – At/on the bridge (Like sul ponticello.)
Sur la touche – At/on the fingerboard (Like sul tasto.)
Sourdine – Mute
Mettez sourdine – Put on the mute.
Ôtez sourdine – Remove the mute.
Du talon – From the frog
De la pointe – From the tip

Instrument Names
Violon – Violin
Alto – Viola
Violoncelle – Cello
Contrebasse – Bass
Flûte – Flute
Hautbois – Oboe
Cor anglais – English horn
Clarinette – Clarinet
Clarinette basse – Bass clarinet
Basson – Bassoon
Cor – Horn
Trompette – Trumpet
Trombone – Trombone
Tuba – Tuba
Grosse caise – Bass drum
Caisse claire – Snare drum
Timbales – Timpani
Cymbales – Cymbals
Charleston – Hi-hat
Piano – Piano
Orgue – Organ
Clavecin – Harpsichord