A/N: Hello my lovelies ^_^ Sorry for your disappointment but this is not a chapter update. I didn't change the plot at all, but I'm planning on adding definitions to the musical terms in this box. I've realized that not all of you guys are familiar with classical music so I will provide definitions to any unfamiliar terms here and past chapters. I wouldn't want all of you to go through the trouble of having to look them up on the internet while you're reading my story. I'd like to thank one of my readers, chom_poo9, for making me self-aware about this and I promise to work hard to improve everyone's reading experiences. Let me know in the comments below about your thoughts or if you have any questions or if I need to add more definitions to make things clearer. This list will be updated constantly.

UPDATE: Terms pertaining to Deaf culture and medical conditions will be added by MitangMan and will be highlighted in this color.

A

Acoustic Neuroma — Acoustic neuroma is an uncommon, noncancerous (benign) and usually slow-growing tumor that develops on the main nerve leading from your inner ear to your brain. Because branches of this nerve directly influence your balance and hearing, pressure from an acoustic neuroma can cause hearing loss, ringing in your ear and unsteadiness.

ARD International Music Competition — The ARD International Music Competition (German: Internationaler Musikwettbewerb der ARD) is the largest international classical music competition in Germany. It is held once a year in Munich.

Adagietto — Rather slow, yet faster than an adagio.

Allegro — Cheerful or brisk, but commonly interpreted as lively or fast.

Arpeggio — An arpeggio is a type of "broken chord" where the notes comprising a chord are played or sung in a rising or descending order. An arpeggio may also span more than one octave. The word "arpeggio" comes from the Italian word "arpeggiare", which means "to play on a harp".

Articulation — In music, articulation refers to the direction or performance technique which affects the transition or continuity on a single note or between multiple notes or sounds.

American Sign Language (ASL) — A natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States. Many people believe that only Deaf people use ASL (or other sign languages), but many hard of hearing people also use sign language as well. ASL uses hand shapes, positions, movements, facial expressions, and body movements to convey meaning. ASL uses an alphabet (finger spelling), sign representing ideas, and gestures. ASL is an independent language that has its own grammar and syntax; it is not simply a manual version of English.

Important Note: The syntax for ASL (American Signed Language) and English are different, so therefore they are not the same language. Just because the words are italicized using the English syntax does not mean that ASL users utilize this sentence structure in signing (For example, you say "I am going home" in English. but in ASL it is formatted as "ME GO HOME"). Proper nouns (e.g. Mina, Chaeyoung, Beethoven, Oreos, etc.) and other words (e.g. Happy Hour) are finger-spelled, meaning that they spell out the words with the sign for each letter.

Audiologist — A health care professional who is trained to evaluate hearing loss and related disorders, including balance (vestibular) disorders and tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and to rehabilitate individuals with hearing loss and related disorders.

Aural Skills — Ear training or aural skills is a skill by which musicians learn to identify, solely by hearing, pitches, intervals, melody, chords, rhythms, and other basic elements of music.

B

Bassoon — Also known as a fagott, the bassoon is a tall, double-reed woodwind instrument and is one of the lowest-pitched instruments in the woodwind family. The bassoon is known for its warm, dark, reedy timbre. Bassoons can be extremely expressive as solo instruments and their warm vibrato enables them to sound human. Listeners often compare its sound to that of a male baritone voice. Folded upon itself, the bassoon stands 1.34 m (4 ft 5 in) tall, but the total sounding length is 2.54 m (8 ft 4 in). Known bassoonists in this story include Mina Myoui, Mina's father, Kim Mingyu, Joshua Hong, Hansol Vernon Choi, Jung Yerin, Park Jinyoung (Junior), Hwang Eunbi (SinB), Kim Jisoo, and Mina's private teacher, Mr. Kevin Cseszneky.

Bass Drum — A bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum. It is the largest drum of the orchestra.

Basso Continuo — Continuous bass, used especially during the Baroque Period

Baton — A baton is a stick that is used by conductors primarily to enlarge and enhance the manual and bodily movements associated with directing an ensemble of musicians.

Bell - the upper joint of a bassoon.

Bocal - In some double reed instruments, the bocal connects the reed to the rest of the instrument. Bocals can be made from a variety of metals, including nickel silver, brass, sterling silver, or even gold, and are covered at the lower end with a cork sleeve, allowing the bocal to fit tightly in the socket at the top of the instrument.

Bocca chiusa — Closed mouth i.e. wordless humming.

Boot Joint - the joint at the bottom of the bassoon and folding over on itself. The tenor and bass joints are joined here.

Bow — In music, a bow is moved across some part of a musical instrument, causing vibration which the instrument emits as sound. The vast majority of bows are used with string instruments, most notably the violin, viola, cello, and double bass.

Brillante - Brilliantly, with sparkle.

C

Cadenza — A virtuoso solo passage inserted into a movement in a concerto or another work, typically near the end.

Cambiare — To change.

Cantando - In a singing style. In instrumental music, a style of playing that imitates the way the human voice might express the music, with a measured tempo and flexible, legato.

Cello - The cello or violoncello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. The strings from low to high are generally tuned to C2, G2, D3 and A3, an octave lower than the viola. The cellos are a critical part of orchestral music; all symphonic works involve the cello section, and many pieces require cello soli or solos. Much of the time, cellos provide part of the harmony for the orchestra. Often, the cello section plays the melody for a brief period, before returning to the harmony. The only known cellists so far are Chou Tzuyu and Kim Sojung (Sowon).

Chromatic - often refers to structures derived from the chromatic scale, which consists of all semitones.

Chord - In music, a chord is three or more notes that combine harmoniously.

Circular breathing - a wind instrument technique that allows the player to sustain a tone for an extended period of time. This is accomplished by storing air in the mouth (inflating the cheeks) and using this reservoir of air to inhale through the nose while air is still coming out the mouth.

Clarinet — A family of woodwind instruments. The clarinet has a wide range and is versatile in the sense that it could be used in a wide variety of ensembles such as in an orchestra, concert bands, military bands, jazz bands, etc. Many beginners start off with the most common type of clarinet, which is pitched in B-Flat or Bb, before branching out to other instruments if they wish. Other common clarinets include the Eb and the Bass. Known clarinetists include Im Nayeon, Mina's mother, Shori Satou, Jeon Somi, Jennie Kim, Kwon Yuri, and (formerly) Mina, Sana, and SinB.

Clef — A clef is a musical symbol used to indicate the pitch of written notes. Placed on one of the lines at the beginning of the stave, it indicates the name and pitch of the notes on that line. This line serves as a reference point by which the names of the notes on any other line or space of the stave may be determined. Only one clef that references a note in a space rather than on a line has ever been used. There are three types of clef used in modern music notation: F, C, and G. In modern music, only four clefs are used regularly: the treble clef, the bass clef, the alto clef, and the tenor clef. Of these, the treble and bass clefs are by far the most common.

Cochlear Implant (CI) — A Cochlear Implant is a device that can be surgically implanted into a person's cochlea to stimulate it to cause hearing. It consists of a tiny receiver which is placed under the skin in the bony part behind the ear. (Note that CIs are not merely miracle devices that magically cure deafness. A cochlear implant does not cure deafness or hearing impairment). There is also widespread controversy about the implementation of CIs (mainly within children) within the Deaf community, as some believe that CIs are an offense to the Deaf culture in that the hearing majority is threatening the minority and forcing the Deaf to assimilate to hearing culture.

Coda — A term used in music primarily to designate a passage that brings a piece (or a movement) to an end.

Colorguard — Color guard uses various equipment, such as flags, rifles, and sabres, along with dance, to express dynamic passages in the music accompanying the marching band show or winterguard show. Usually marching bands and color guards perform during football games at halftime, out of tradition. During marching band competitions, the guard adds to the overall score of the band and is also judged in a category usually called auxiliary. Winterguard competitions are very similar to marching band competitions. SinB has been a color guard before.

Composition — Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, either a song or an instrumental music piece, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating or writing a new song or piece of music. People who create new compositions are called composers in classical music.

Concerto — A musical composition for a solo instrument or instruments accompanied by an orchestra, especially of one conceived on a relatively large scale.

Con fuoco - with fire, in a fiery manner.

Cor Anglais — The cor anglais or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe. The only known cor anglais player in the story are Shuuka and Karen Fujii's mother.

Corrente — Running

Concert Band — Also called symphonic band, wind ensemble, wind orchestra, etc. Concert bands are performing ensembles consisting of members of the woodwind, brass, and percussion families of instruments, along with the double bass. Many schools have these types of bands at varying levels. School bands vary in size and instrumentation, depending on the number of students, and the versatility and virtuosity of the players.

Concertmaster — The Concertmaster or Concertmistress is the second-most significant person in an orchestra, symphonic band or other musical ensemble after the conductor or director. In many concert bands, the principal clarinetist is the equivalent of the concertmaster/concertmistress in a symphony orchestra. They are second in-command in an orchestra after the conductor, and are typically ranked highest out of all the section principals in terms of group pecking order. The concertmaster is recognized with a separate stage entrance, during which they bow to the audience and shake the conductor's hand. Kai (Kim Jongin) and Reina Washio are the concertmaster and assistant concertmistress of the Juilliard Orchestra respectively. Jackson Wang and Jung Eunbi (Eunha) are the concertmaster and assistant concertmistress of the Juilliard Pops Orchestra respectively.

Concerto — A musical composition for a solo instrument or instruments accompanied by an orchestra, especially one conceived on a large scale.

Contrabassoon - The contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon, is a larger version of the bassoon, sounding an octave lower. Its technique is similar to its smaller cousin, with a few notable differences. Wen Junhui (Jun) and Mark Tuan play the contrabassoon.

Crescendo - A crescendo is a way for composers to indicate that a passage of music should gradually increase in loudness over time (opposite of a decrease in volume which is described as a 'decrescendo'). It is also used in non-musical context to describe any situation in which volume is increasing.

Crotales — Crotales, sometimes called antique cymbals, are percussion instruments consisting of small, tuned bronze or brass disks. However, they may also be played by striking two disks together in the same manner as finger cymbals, or by bowing. Their sound is rather like a small tuned bell, only with a much brighter sound, and a much longer resonance. Like tuned finger cymbals, crotales are thicker and larger; they also have slight grooves in them which give their sound more sparkle.

Cuivré — Brassy. Used almost exclusively as a French Horn technique to indicate a forced, rough tone. A note marked both stopped and loud will be cuivré automatically.

Cymbals — A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Cymbals are used in many ensembles ranging from the orchestra, percussion ensembles, jazz bands, heavy metal bands, and marching groups. Orchestral crash cymbals are traditionally used in pairs, each one having a strap set in the bell of the cymbal by which they are held. Such a pair is always known as crash cymbals or plates. Another use of cymbals is the suspended cymbal. This instrument takes its name from the traditional method of suspending the cymbal by means of a leather strap or rope, thus allowing the cymbal to vibrate as freely as possible for maximum musical effect. Crash cymbals evolved into the low-sock and from this to the hi-hat.

D

Deaf — partially or wholly lacking the power of hearing; unable to hear. There are varying degrees of hearing loss, which refers to the severity of the hearing loss. The numbers are representative of the patient's hearing loss range in decibels (dB HL).

Diminuendo — Dwindling; decreasing in volume.

Dissonance — Harsh, discordant, or lack of harmony. Also a chord that sounds incomplete until it resolves itself on a harmonious chord.

Dolce — Sweetly.

Dolore — Pain, distress, sorrow, grief con dolore; with sadness.

Double Bass — The double bass or simply the bass (and numerous other names) is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra. Double basses are typically found in symphony orchestras, chamber orchestras, concert bands, jazz bands, and other string ensembles. The only known double bassist so far is Kim Dahyun.

Double stop - In music, a double stop refers to the technique of playing two notes simultaneously on a bowed stringed instrument such as a violin, a viola, a cello, or a double bass. In performing a double stop, two separate strings are bowed or plucked simultaneously. 

Drum corps — Also known as drum and bugle corps, is a musical marching ensemble consisting of brass instruments, percussion instruments, synthesizers, and color guard. Drum corps typically perform in parades, festivals, and other civic functions. But most conceivably, durm corps participate in competitions especially the widely-known competitive summer tour, Drum Corps International. Santa Clara Vanguard and the Concord Blue Devils are both competitive drum and bugle corps based in Northern California. Chaeyoung mentions both corps. SinB also brings up Carolina Crown, a competitve drum and bugle corps based in Fort Mill, South Carolina.

Dynamics - In music, dynamics are instructions in musical notation to the performer about hearing the loudness of a note or phrase. More generally, dynamics may also include other aspects of the execution of a given piece.

E

Elegy — An elegy may denote a type of musical work, usually of a sad or somber nature.

Embouchure — the use of facial muscles and the shaping of the lips to the mouthpiece of woodwind instruments or the mouthpiece of the brass instruments. Each instrument has a unique embouchure that takes time and practice to learn.  A well-developed embouchure helps a player develop good sound quality; a poorly developed embouchure leads to poor sound quality. 

Empfindung — Feeling.

Etude — A short musical composition, typically for one instrument, designed as an exercise to improve the technique or demonstrate the skill of the player.

Excerpt — A short extract from a film, broadcast, or piece of music or writing.

F

Falsetto - a method of voice production used by singers to sing notes higher than their normal range

 — In music, , or on stringed instruments stopping, is the choice of which fingers and hand positions to use when playing certain musical instruments. typically changes throughout a piece; the challenge of choosing good for a piece is to make the hand movements as comfortable as possible without changing hand position too often.

Finger Spelling — A form of sign language in which individual letters are formed by the fingers to spell out words. If a character decides to use fingerspelling, then it would be represented in bold text within the italicized text that represents signing. Other than that, finger spelling may be used to represent words from an oral language which have no sign equivalent (e.g. proper nouns), or for emphasis, clarification, or when teaching or learning a sign language. If the person doesn't have a sign name, the person's name is fingerspelled.

Flat - In music, flat means "lower in pitch". In music notation, the flat symbol, ♭ derived from a stylised lowercase "b", lowers a note by a half step (semitone). Intonation or tuning is said to be flat when it is below the true pitch.

Flute - The flute is a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening. It is the most common variant of the flute is the Western concert flute. Known flutists in the story include Yuzuna Takebe and Kim Yewon (Umji).

Fortissimo — Very loud.

Fortississimo - with greatest loudness

G

Grammy Award — An honor awarded by The Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. 

Glockenspiel - A glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, thus making it a metallophone. The glockenspiel, moreover, is usually smaller and higher in pitch.

H

Hard of Hearing (HoH) — Refers to someone who doesn't hear well and is often used to describe people with any degree of hearing loss, from mild to profound. Many hard of hearing people don't know that they have a hearing loss. Some simply deny it, even though they may know that their hearing is diminished. 

Hearing Aids — A hearing aid is a small electronic device that you wear in or behind your ear. It makes some sounds louder so that a person with hearing loss can listen, communicate, and participate more fully in daily activities. A hearing aid can help people hear more in both quiet and noisy situations.

Hearing Loss — Hearing loss, also known as hearing impairment, is a partial or total inability to hear. A deaf person has little to no hearing. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears.

Hearing-Impaired — We advise that you do NOT use this term to describe Deaf or HoH people. The term is offensive because it implies that Deaf/HoH people are impaired or incapable of doing something, which is not true at all. 

Horn — Most commonly referred to as a French Horn, the horn is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B♭ is the horn most used by professional bands and orchestras. Pitch is controlled through the adjustment of lip tension in the mouthpiece and the operation of valves by the left hand, which route the air into extra tubing. The sound can vary from extremely warm to extremely bright and the horn can produce a wide range of notes. Known horn players in the story so far are Sana Minatozaki, Yoon Chaekyung, Yuta Nakamoto, Kim Taehyung, and Im Yoona.

I

Interlochen Arts Camp - An annual summer camp attended by young artists from around the world. Programs are offered to students in grades three through twelve, providing an opportunity to learn, create and perform alongside leading artists and instructors.

Interval — In music theory, an interval is the difference between two pitches.

Intimo — Intimately.

L

Lacrimoso — Tearfully (i.e. sadly)

M

Mallets - A percussion mallet or beater is an object used to strike or beat a percussion instrument in order to produce its sound. Mallets used as drumsticks are often used to strike a marimba, xylophone, glockenspiel, metallophone, or vibraphone, collectively referred to as mallet percussion.

Marimba - The marimba is a percussion instrument consisting of a set of wooden bars struck with mallets to produce musical tones. Resonators suspended underneath the bars amplify their sound. The bars are arranged like the keys of a piano, with the groups of 2 and 3 accidentals raised vertically, overlapping the natural bars to aid the performer both visually and physically. This instrument is a type of idiophone, but with a more resonant and lower-pitched tessitura than the xylophone.

Master class - A master class is a class given to students of a particular discipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also painting, drama, any of the arts, or on any other occasion where skills are being developed. In a master class, all the students (and often spectators) watch and listen as the master takes one student at a time. The student (typically intermediate or advanced, depending on the status of the master) usually performs a single piece which they have prepared, and the master will give them advice on how to play it, often including anecdotes about the composer, demonstrations of how to play certain passages, and admonitions of common technical errors. The student is then usually expected to play the piece again, in light of the master's comments, and the student may be asked to play a passage repeatedly to attain perfection. Master classes for musical instruments tend to focus on the finer details of attack, tone, phrasing, and overall shape, and the student is expected to have complete control of more basic elements such as rhythm and pitch.

Measure - In musical notation, a bar (or measure) is a segment of time corresponding to a specific number of beats in which each beat is represented by a particular note value and the boundaries of the bar are indicated by vertical bar lines. Dividing music into bars provides regular reference points to pinpoint locations within a piece of music. It also makes written music easier to follow, since each bar of staff symbols can be read and played as a batch.

Mode - a type of scale, coupled with a set of characteristic melodic behaviours.

Motif - A short musical idea, a salient recurring figure, musical fragment or succession of notes that has some special importance in or is characteristic of a composition

Mouthpiece - The mouthpiece of a woodwind instrument is that part of the instrument which is placed partly in the player's mouth. On brass instruments the mouthpiece is the part of the instrument placed on the player's lips. The mouthpiece is a simple circular opening that leads, via a semi-spherical or conical cavity, to the main body of the instrument. Mouthpieces vary to suit the tone of the instrument. Lower instruments also have larger mouthpieces, to maximize resonance (see pitch of brass instruments). Also, mouthpieces are selected to suit the embouchure of the player, to produce a certain timbre, or to optimize the instrument for certain playing styles. For example, trumpet and trombone mouthpieces are usually semi-spherical whereas French horn mouthpieces are conical.

Movement -  A self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession.

Music Jury — A music jury is a final performance by a music student for a panel of jurors, usually consisting of faculty of the institution. Students attend private lessons throughout the year, and they perform at the end of a semester or the year, to illustrate progress before the panel.

N

National Youth Orchestra — In some cases, there are national youth orchestras, which consist of the best young musicians in a country, as determined by auditions. Mina was a veteran member of the NYO-USA or the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America, performing as their principal bassoonist since she was sixteen years-old. Members of the NYO-USA must be aged 16-19. Since Mina is currently twenty years-old going on twenty-one in the following year, her last year with the NYO-USA was the summer before her second year at Juilliard. Mina also brings up the European Union Youth Orchestra.

Nocturne — A piece for the night.

NYSSMA - Abbreviated for the New York State School Music Association, the NYSSMA is a professional organization that evaluates student musicians in New York state from elementary school to high school. Each spring, thousands of students register through their school music programs to attend NYSSMA Evaluation Festivals where they are adjudicated. These festivals take place at local middle and high schools within the fifteen NYSSMA zones, each of which covers an area in New York State. Usually, county high schools take turns to host the festival every few years.

O

Oboe - The oboe is a double-reed woodwind instrument. The distinctive oboe tone is versatile, and has been described as “bright.” The pitch of the regular oboe is affected by the way in which the reed is constructed, which has a significant effect on the sound of the instrument. Orchestras normally tune to a concert A played by the oboe, since the pitch of the oboe is secure and its penetrating sound makes it ideal for tuning purposes. Known oboists in the story include Shuuka Fujii of the Juilliard Orchestra and Choi Youngjae of the Juilliard Pops Orchestra.

Octave - A series of eight notes occupying the interval between (and including) two notes, one having twice or half the frequency of vibration of the other.

Offbeats - Any of the normally unaccented beats in a bar, such as the second and fourth beats in a bar of four-four time. They are stressed in most rock and some jazz and dance music, such as the bossa nova.

Ostinato — A continually repeated musical phrase or rhythm.

P

Partita - A suite, typically for a solo instrument or chamber ensemble.

Passionato — In music, noting a passage to be rendered with emotional intensity.

Percussion — A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater (including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles); struck, scraped or rubbed by hand; or struck against another similar instrument. Percussion instruments are most commonly divided into two classes: Pitched percussion instruments, which produce notes with an identifiable pitch, and unpitched percussion instruments, which produce notes or sounds without an identifiable pitch. Principal percussionists determine who plays which instrument for each piece. Known percussionists include Son Chaeyoung, Kim Himchan, Park Minhyuk (Rocky), Eric Nam, and Kunpimook Bhuwakul (Bambam)

Piccolo — The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The modern piccolo has most of the same s as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written. In the orchestral setting, the piccolo player is often designated as "piccolo/flute III", or even "assistant principal". The larger orchestras have designated this position as a solo position due to the demands of the literature. Piccolos are often orchestrated to double the violins or the flutes, adding sparkle and brilliance to the overall sound because of the aforementioned one-octave transposition upwards. The only known piccolo player in the story is Kim Sohee, Chaeykung's girlfriend and a piccolo player of the Juilliard Orchestra.

Pidgin Signed English (PSE) — Pidgin Signed English (PSE) is a combination of American Sign Language (ASL) and English. With PSE, someone might sign most of the English words of a sentence and use approximately the English syntax.

Pitch — Pitch is a perceptual property of sounds that allows their ordering on a frequency-related scale or more commonly, pitch is the quality that makes it possible to judge sounds as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies. Pitch can be determined only in sounds that have a frequency that is clear and stable enough to distinguish from noise. Pitch is a major auditory attribute of musical tones, along with duration, loudness, and timbre.

Pops Orchestra — A pops orchestra is an orchestra that plays popular music (generally traditional pop) and show tunes as well as well-known classical works. Pops orchestras are generally organised in large cities and are distinct from the more "highbrow" symphony or philharmonic orchestras which also may exist in the same city. Examples of Pops Orchestras include the Boston Pops Orchestra and The Cincinnati Pops.

Practice Room - A room, often soundproof, designed for musicians to practice their instrument.

Principal Player — Principal Players, sometimes called the "first chair," is typically the most skilled player in each instrumental section. This player is usually charged with playing any solos written in the music. Depending on the politics of an ensemble, their jobs may also include possessing good interpersonal and communication skills, working in conjunction with other staff members, organizing and leading sectional rehearsals, providing coaching to their section members, attend meetings, and more. They may also be required to learn the music earlier than the rest of the members. In some cases, there can be two principal players also known as "co-principals". Known principal players are Mina Myoui, Sana Minatozaki, Kai (Kim Jongin), Reina Washio, Yuzuna Takebe, Shuuka Fujii, Shori Satou, Wen Junhui (Jun), Yoon Chaekyung, Im Jaebum (JB), Kim Himchan, Jackson Wang, Jung Eunbi (Eunha), Momo Hirai, Park Jihyo, Choi Youngjae, Kim Sojung (Sowon), Mark Tuan, Im Nayeon, Eric Nam, and Yoo Jeongyeon are are known principal players. Note that principal players aren't always section leaders; for example, Mark Tuan plays principal contrabassoon but Mina Myoui is still his section leader, in addition to being principal bassoonist.

Prodigy - In psychology research literature, the term child prodigy is defined as a person under the age of ten endowed with exceptional qualities or abilities. Child prodigies are rare; and, in some domains, there are no child prodigies at all. Prodigiousness in childhood does not always predict adult eminence. Known prodigies in the story are Mina Myoui, Reina Washio, and Im Yoona.

The Proms — The Proms, more formally known as the BBC Proms or Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London, England, UK. The Last Night of the Proms is the concert that sells out the most tickets and takes place on the second Saturday of September.

R

Reed — A thin strip of material which vibrates to produce a sound on a musical instrument. There are two types of reeds — single reeds and double reeds. Single reeds are used on the mouthpieces of clarinets, saxophones, etc. A single reed consists of one piece of cane which vibrates against a mouthpiece made of metal, hardened rubber, resin, or some other material. Double reeds are used on the oboe, bassoon, etc. For double reeds, two pieces of cane are vibrated against each other to produce a sound.

Register - In music, a register is the relative "height" or range of a note, set of pitches or pitch classes, melody, part, instrument, or group of instruments. (ex. A higher register indicates higher pitch.)

Repertoire — A stock of plays, dances, or pieces that a company or a performer knows or is prepared to perform.

Ritardando — Slowing down; decelerating.

Roll - a technique that a percussionist employs to produce, on a percussion instrument, a sustained sound, "over the value of the written note." Rolls are used by composers to sustain the sound and create other effects, the most common of which is using a roll to build anticipation.

Rondo - A musical form in which a certain section returns repeatedly, interspersed with other sections

S

Scale - In music theory, a scale is any set of musical notes ordered by fundamental frequency or pitch. A scale ordered by increasing pitch is an ascending scale, and a scale ordered by decreasing pitch is a descending scale. Some scales contain different pitches when ascending than when descending.

Scherzo — A light, "joking" or playful musical form, originally and usually in fast triple metre, often replacing the minuet in the later Classical period and the Romantic period, in symphonies, sonatas, string quartets and the like; in the 19th century some scherzi were independent movements for piano, etc.

Score - A full score is a large book showing the music of all instruments and/or voices in a composition lined up in a fixed order. It is large enough for a conductor to be able to read while directing orchestra or opera rehearsals and performances. In addition to their practical use for conductors leading ensembles, full scores are also used by musicologists, music theorists, composers and music students who are studying a given work. "Score" is a common alternative (and more generic) term for sheet music, and there are several types of scores. The term "score" can also refer to theatre music, orchestral music or songs written for a play, musical, opera or ballet, or to music or songs written for a television programme or film.

Sectionals - The term "sectionals" is used when the band breaks off into its individual "sections" (usually divided by the instrument you play) in order to practice as a group. During this time, the section leader usually helps the section members work on what they need help with the most.

Section Leaders - Section Leaders are decision-makers and usually the best player in his/her instrumental section. In addition, all section leaders are principal players. Their jobs include possessing good interpersonal and communication skills, working in conjunction with other Section Leaders and the staff members, organizing and leading sectional rehearsals, providing coaching to their section members, attend meetings, and more. They may also be required to learn the music earlier than the rest of the members.

Sforzando - Sforzando (sfz) is an indication to make a strong, sudden accent on a note or chord. Sforzando literally means subito forzando (fz), which translates to “suddenly with force.”

Sharp - In music, sharp means higher in pitch. More specifically, in musical notation, sharp means "higher in pitch by a semitone (half step)," and has an associated sharp symbol, ♯, which may be found in key signatures or as an accidental.

Sheet Music - Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols to indicate the pitches (melodies), rhythms and/or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Sheet music is the basic form in which Western classical music is notated so that it can be learned and performed by solo singers or instrumentalists or musical ensembles. 

Sight Read — Sight-reading, also called a prima vista (Italian meaning "at first sight"), is the reading and performing of a piece of music or song in music notation that the performer has not seen before. Sight-singing is used to describe a singer who is sight-reading. Both activities require the musician to play or sing the notated rhythms and pitches.

Signed Exact English (SEE) — Signed Exact English (SEE) was developed in 1972 by Gerilee Gustason. It is not a language; it is a manually coded form of English that uses ASL signs supplemented with special signs or inflections that allow English to be signed exactly as it is spoken.

Sign Name — In Deaf culture and sign language, a sign name (or a name sign) is a special sign that is used to uniquely identify a person, just like a name. In the meantime, nobody in Silent Sonata is known to have a sign name.

Slides — A slide is a part of a wind instrument consisting of two (or more) pieces of tubing fitted one closely inside the other, and used to vary the overall length of the tube, and therefore the pitch of the instrument. In instruments such as the french horn, there are many slides used to tune the instrument, sometimes even during practice. In instruments such as the trombone and slide whistle, moving the slide is the main way of selecting the note while playing.

Snare Drum — The snare drum or side drum is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick. Snare drums are often used in orchestras, concert bands, marching bands, parades, drumlines, drum corps, and more. It is one of the central pieces in a drum set, a collection of percussion instruments designed to be played by a seated drummer, which is used in many genres of music. Snare drums are usually played with drum sticks, but the use of other beaters such as the brush or the rute can be used to achieve a very different sound. The snare drum is a versatile and expressive percussion instrument due its sensitivity and responsiveness to playing technique.

Staccato — Italian for "detached", staccato is a form of musical articulation. In modern notation it signifies a note of shortened duration, separated from the note that may follow by silence.

String Instruments — String instruments are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when the performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. There are several types of string instruments: those in which the strings are plucked, hit or struck, or bowed with rosin-coated hair stretched out onto a tensioned musical bow. Bowed instruments include the string section instruments of the Classical music orchestra (violin, viola, cello and double bass) and a number of other instruments (e.g., viols and gambas used in early music from the Baroque music era and fiddles used in many types of folk music). All of the bowed string instruments can also be plucked with the fingers, a technique called "pizzicato".

Subito — Suddenly.

Syncopation - a temporary displacement of the regular metrical accent in music caused typically by stressing the weak beat.

T

Tacet — Silent; do not play.

Temperament — Refers to the tuning of an instrument.

Tempo - In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece or subsection thereof, how fast or slow. Tempo is related to meter and is usually measured by beats per minute, with the beats being a division of the measures, though tempo is often indicated by terms which have acquired standard ranges of beats per minute or assumed by convention without indication.

"The President's Own" — Also The United States Marine Band, it is the premier band of the United States Marine Corps. Established by act of Congress on July 11, 1798, it is the oldest of the United States military bands and the oldest professional musical organization in the United States.

Time Signature - The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are to be contained in each bar and which note value is to be given one beat.

Timpani — Timpani, or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet. A standard set of timpani (sometimes called a console) consists of four drums: roughly 32 inches (81 cm), 29 inches (74 cm), 26 inches (66 cm), and 23 inches (58 cm) in diameter. The only known timpanist in the story is Yoo Jeongyeon.

Tinnitus — The sensation of hearing ringing, buzzing, hissing, chirping, whistling, or other sounds. The noise can be intermittent or continuous, and can vary in loudness.

Tone — Traditionally in Western music, a musical tone is a steady periodic sound. A musical tone is characterized by its duration, pitch, intensity (or loudness), and timbre (or quality). The notes used in music can be more complex than musical tones, as they may include aperiodic aspects, such as attack transients, vibrato, and envelope modulation.

Tone Hole — A tone hole is an opening in the body of a wind instrument which, when alternately closed and opened, changes the pitch of the sound produced. Tone holes may serve specific purposes, such as a trill hole or register hole.

Tonguing — Tonguing is a technique used with wind instruments to enunciate different notes using the tongue on the reed or woodwind mouthpiece or brass mouthpiece. A silent "tee" is made when the tongue strikes the reed or roof of the mouth causing a slight breach in the air flow through the instrument. If a more soft tone is desired, the syllable "da" (as in double) is preferred. Tonguing also refers to articulation, which is how a musician begins the note (punchy, legato, or a breath attack) and how the note is released (air release, tongued release, etc.) For wind players, articulation is commonly spoken of in terms of tonguing because the tongue is used to stop and allow air to flow in the mouth.

Tremolo — A trembling effect.

Triangle - The triangle is an idiophone type of musical instrument in the percussion family. It is a bar of metal, usually steel but sometimes other metals like beryllium copper, bent into a triangle shape. The instrument is usually held by a loop of some form of thread or wire at the top curve. Most difficulties in playing the triangle come from the complex rhythms which are sometimes written for it, although it can also be quite difficult to control the level of volume. Very quiet notes can be obtained by using a much lighter beater — knitting needles are sometimes used for the quietest notes. Composers sometimes call for a wooden beater to be used instead of a metal one, which gives a rather "duller" and quieter tone. When the instrument is played with one beater, the hand that holds the triangle can also be used to damp or slightly modify the tone. For complex rapid rhythms, the instrument may be suspended from a stand and played with two beaters, although this makes it more difficult to control.

Trill - The trill (or shake, as it was known from the 16th until the 19th century) is a musical ornament consisting of a rapid alternation between two adjacent notes, usually a semitone or tone apart, which can be identified with the context of the trill.

Triplets - A triplet is a rhythm playing three notes in the space of two. That is, three evenly spaced notes in the space of two notes of the same rhythmic value. 

Trumpet - The trumpet is a musical instrument. It has the highest register in the brass family. The most common is a transposing instrument pitched in B♭ with a tubing length of about 1.48 m (4 ft 10 in). Earlier trumpets did not have valves, but modern instruments generally have either three piston valves or, more rarely, three rotary valves. Each valve increases the length of tubing when engaged, thereby lowering the pitch. The only known trumpet players in the story so far are Im Jaebum (JB) and the Pops Orchestra's Maestro Anna Ishii.

Trombone - The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips (embouchure) cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate. Unlike other brass instrument that using a valve, the trombone mostly uses a telescoping slide mechanism that varies the length of the instrument to change the pitch. The most widely-used trombone is a tenor trombone. There is also a bass trombone, where Its tubing length of 9 feet (2.7 m) and is slightly identical to that of the tenor trombone, but it has a wider bore, a larger bell, and a larger mouthpiece. Sunny Lee plays the bass trombone.

Tuner - A tuner is a device used for measuring pitch, typically to the standard pitch of A440 (a stand A pitch), though there is a recent trend of many bands increasingly tuning sharper to A441, A442, or even A443.

Tutti — All together, a passage to be performed with all voices or instruments together.

V

Vertigo — a sensation of whirling and loss of balance, associated particularly with looking down from a great height, or caused by disease affecting the inner ear or the vestibular nerve; giddiness.

Vibraphone — The vibraphone (also known as the vibraharp or simply the vibes) is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family. Each bar is paired with a resonator tube that has a motor-driven butterfly valve at its upper end. The valves are mounted on a common shaft, which produces a tremolo or vibrato effect while spinning. The vibraphone also has a sustain pedal similar to that on a piano. With the pedal up, the bars are all damped and produce a shortened sound. With the pedal down, they sound for several seconds.

Vibrato — Vibrating (i.e. a more or less rapidly repeated slight variation in the pitch of a note, used as a means of expression). Often confused with tremolo, which refers either to a similar variation in the volume of a note, or to rapid repetition of a single note.

Violin — The violin is a wooden string instrument in the violin family. It is the smallest and highest-pitched instrument in the family in regular use. The violin typically has four strings tuned in perfect fifths, and is most commonly played by drawing a bow across its strings, though it can also be played by plucking the strings (pizzicato). Violins make up a large part of an orchestra, and are usually divided into two sections, known as the first and second violins. Composers often assign the melody to the first violins, typically a more difficult part using higher positions, while second violins play harmony, accompaniment patterns or the melody an octave lower than the first violins. Known first violinists in the story are Reina Washio, Kai, Jackson Wang, and Jung Eunbi (Eunha). Known second violinists in the story include Momo Hirai, Kim Yugyeom, and Choi Yuna (Yuju).

Viola - The viola is a bowed and plucked string instrument. It is slightly larger than a violin and has a lower and deeper sound than a violin. Since the 18th century it has been the middle or alto voice of the violin family, between the violin (which is tuned a perfect fifth above it) and the cello (which is tuned an octave below it). Known violists in the story include Park Jihyo, Karen Fujii, and Nozomi Bando.

Virtuoso - A virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in a particular art or field such as fine arts, music, singing, playing a musical instrument, or composition. The defining element of virtuosity is the performance ability of the musician in question, who is capable of displaying feats of skill well above the average performer. Mina Myoui is a bassoon virtuoso.

Volante — Move with light rapidity; flying.

W

Wind Instruments — A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator (usually a tube), in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece set at the end of the resonator. The pitch of the vibration is determined by the length of the tube and by manual modifications of the effective length of the vibrating column of air. In the case of some wind instruments, sound is produced by blowing through a reed; others require buzzing into a metal mouthpiece.

Wind instruments are typically grouped into two families: Brass instruments (horns, trumpets, trombones, euphoniums, tubas, etc.) and Woodwind instruments (recorders, flutes, oboes, clarinets, saxophones, bassoons, etc.) Although brass instruments were originally made of brass and woodwind instruments have traditionally been made of wood, the material used to make the body of the instrument is not always a reliable guide to its family type. For example, the saxophone is typically made of brass, but is classified as a woodwind instrument because it produces sound with a vibrating reed. A more accurate way to determine whether an instrument is brass or woodwind is to examine how the player produces sound.

In brass instruments, the player's lips vibrate, causing the air within the instrument to vibrate. In woodwind instruments the player either (1) cause a reed to vibrate, which agitates the column of air (as in a clarinet, oboe, bassoon) (2) blow against an edge or fipple (as in a recorder), or (3) blows across the edge of an open hole (as in a flute).

Wind quartet - an ensemble of consisting of a mixture of brass and woodwind instruments, or music written for four such a combination of instruments.

X

Xylophone - The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale, whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African and Asian instruments, diatonic in many western children's instruments, or chromatic for orchestral use. Concert xylophones have tube resonators below the bars to enhance the tone and sustain. Frames are made of wood or cheap steel tubing: more expensive xylophones feature height adjustment and more stability in the stand.

Y

Youth Orchestra — A youth orchestra is an orchestra made of young musicians, typically ranging from pre-teens or teenagers to those in their mid-20s. The typical youth orchestra involves members from across an entire city or town. Sana, Chaeyoung, Jihyo, and the principal characters of my previous story The Bucket List were members of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO), which comprises of musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area.

 

Z