Flat - Furiance
F - (Italian, French) "Fa"; tone with a pitch frequency around 349.228 Hz
Facile - (French, Italian) "easy"; play easily; effortless
Fado - (Latin) "fate"; Portuguese musical form dating to the early 19th century characterized by sadness infused with a sense of fate resulting in resignation
Falsetto - (Italian) "false"; the vocal range just above modal voice register; false singing; singing above one's normal register by using only the upper vocal cords
Family - group of musical instruments similar in construction and use; consorts
Fanfare - a sounding of trumpets or other brass instruments often with percussion accompaniment which serves as an introduction into a composition often used for announcement of significant persons or events
Fantasia - (Old English) "fantasy"; a work in which the composer allows the imagination to run free with no regard for musical style or form
Feierlich - (German) "solemn"; play in a solemn or stately manner
Fermata 1 - (Italian) " pause"; notation placed above a note indicating an extension of it's normal duration; hold sign; Right: Fermata
Fermata 2 - (Italian) "pause, stop"; notation placed above a barline or double barline indicating the end of a musical section; starting point of the cadenza
Ferosi - (Italian) "ferociously"; play fiercely or in a ferocious manner
Festivamente - (Italian) "cheerful, celebratory"; play in a cheerful manner
Figure - the shortest musical phrase; a musical idea or motif often left open to further development or infinite repetition;
Figured Bass - a form of Baroque notation of numbers and accidentals which indicates a bass line relationship with chord progressions; also basso continuo
Filar il Suono - (Italian) "to spin sound"; an instruction to players to sustain a long note without taking a breath
Fill - instruction to improvise a fill of notes or riffs to fill a musical phrase
Film Score - a form of composition written for film, movies, and related visual recordings; music composed for film including soundtracks and voice
Finale - (French) ""; the final movement of an instrumental concerto, sonata, or symphony; closing section of an opera or theatrical work
Fine' - (French) "the end"; the ending announcement of completion; al fine'
Fingering - the proper method of finger placement and use necessary to play an instrument; written music which indicates where to place the fingers
Fioitura - (Italian) "flourish"; the use of embellishment to create a decorative effect of full sound
First chair - the lead performer of each instrumental section of an orchestra
Flam - a double beat on a drum of one short note followed by one long note so as to sound like a grace note before a long beat
Flat - diminished; a tone lowered by one semitone; a tone below its true pitch
Flautando - (Italian) "fluting"; deadening a string by touching to shorten its length of vibration
Flebile - (Italian) "weak"; to play in a mournful manner; play sadly
Florid - highly ornamented and embellished music from the 18th century
Fluttering (Italian, French) "Fa"; a method of wavering or sharp vibrato of the sound by rolling the tongue on wind instruments
Folk Music - common music; the traditional music, song, and dance of a region
Form - the structure of a musical composition
Forte - (Italian) "strong"; dynamic written above the staff instructing to play strong and loud; increase the volume and intensity of sound
Fortepiano 1 - (Italian) "loudly, strong"; term used for pianoforte of the early 18th to 19th centuries; a louder style of playing piano
Fortepiano 2 - (Italian) "loud soft"; any piano dating from its invention in the early 18th up to the early 19th century which became obsolete with its latter 18th and 19th century improved counterpart; also called pianoforte
Fortissimo - (Italian) "very loud"; instruction to play or sing very loudly; abrev: ff
Forzando - (Italian) "forced"; a sudden strong accent or loudness; sforzando
Freddo - cold, depressive, unemotional
Fresco - (Italian) "fresh"; 16th century Italian term instructing to play or sing freshly or brightly
Frequency - the number of cycles per unit of time; the unit of sound tone pitch measured in hertz
Frettuoso - (Italian) "rushed"; instruction to play or sing in a hurried manner
Frottola - (Italian) a popular form of secular or comic song from late 17th to early 18th century Italy of three or four voices; the predecessor of the madrigal;
Fugue - (French, Italian) "flee, flight"; a contrapuntal musical form of strict and concise counterpoint by two or more voices in which one voice begins the main musical idea, a second voice repeats that idea before completion of the first, then a third returns to the main idea or theme
Fughetta - (Italian) "small or little fugue"; a short fugue within a larger work
Full Orchestra - a full sized orchestra with complete instrumentation in all four sections including brass, percussion, strings, and woodwind
Fuoco - (Italian) "fire, focus"; to play in a fiery or energetic manner
Fundamental - the lowest pitched tone in a harmonic series; the lowest frequency
Furiance - rapid changes of rhythm and accent; a musical style parallel to the Bohemian dances of the 19th century
