Techniques
| Altissimo | very high | Very high |
| Arpeggio | harp-like | A chord with the notes spread out in time |
| Acciaccatura | crushing | An extra, very fast grace note |
| Appoggiatura | leaning | A type of ornament |
| Basso continuo | continuous bass | Continuous bass accompaniment (see figured bass.) |
| A bocca chiusa | mouth closed | Wordless humming in a choral piece |
| Chiuso | closed | Calls for a horn to be muted by hand |
| Coll'arco | with the bow | Cancels col legno and pizzicato (in a string passage, arco is usually expected and is not written except at the end of col legno or pizzicato passages.) |
| Colla voce | with the voice | A note to accompanists to play with (in time with) the singer, especially when slowing for textual effect |
| Col legno | with the wood | Calls for a bowed instrument to be struck with the wood rather than the hair of the bow |
| Coloratura | coloration | Elaborate ornamentation of a vocal line |
| Con sordino | with mute | Calls for mute to be applied, esp. to string instruments. |
| Senza sordino | without mute | Calls for mute to be removed, esp. from string instruments. |
| Pizzicato | plucked | Calls for a bowed instrument to be plucked with the fingers |
| Coperti | covered | Of a drum, muted with a cloth |
| Una corda | one string | With the soft pedal, on a piano |
| Due corde | two strings | With the soft pedal, on a piano. For why both terms exist, see piano. |
| Tre corde or tutte le corde | Three strings or all the strings | Cancels an una corda |
| Scordatura | mistuning | Alternate tuning (of strings) |
Read more about this topic: Italian Musical Terms Used In English
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