There's a lot in the creation of music, from that conceiving the first elements of the melody through to the eventual performance. That music is eventually likely to find it's way into musical notes on musical staves, whether on paper or computer. When it's reproduced again it needs to be able to reclaim some of the nuances and subtleties which enhance those musical notes to provide that extra magic.
That magic is often captured through musical directions to accompany the notes on the page. These are the descriptive words to compliment the notes. Traditionally these have often been in Italian, and especially for the classical and orchestral music. Somehow those Italian words really do capture the emotion to overly on those technical notes....glissando, prestissimo, diminuendo, crescendo, espressivo, adagio.... It could well be that same smooth and emotive language that's spawned those wonderful coffee shop drinks names....
Here's a selection of those magical Italian musical directions....
Accelerando – get faster
Adagio – slow
Agitata – agitated
Allegretto – fairly fast
Allegro – fast
Andante – fast
Animato – lively
Arco - play with the bow
Cantabile – flowing in style
Con Brio – spirited
Crescendo – get louder
Da capo – play again from the start
Dal Segno – go back to the sign
Diminuendo – get softer
Espressivo – with expression
Forte – loud
Fortissimo – very loud
Glissando – play with sliding notes
Grave – slowly
Grazioso – gracefully
Largo – slow
Legato – smoothly with long notes
Lento – slow
Maestoso – majestically
Meno mosso – slower
Mezzo forte – moderately loud
Mezzo piano – moderately soft
Moderato – at moderate speed
Molto – much or very
Non Troppo – not to much, not exaggerated
Pianissimo – very soft
Piano – soft
Piu- more
Pizzicato – pluck the string
Poco – a little
Prestissimo – very, very fast
Presto – very fast
Rallentando – slow down
Ritardando – get slower
Sfotzando – play the note or chord strongly
Sostenuto – sustained notes
Sotto voce – whispered
Staccacto – short detached notes
Tremolo – repeat the notes rapidly
Vivace – lively
