Overture:  The introductory music for an opera, oratorio or ballet. A concert overture is an independent work.

Passing tones:  Unaccented notes which move conjunctly between two chords to which they do not belong harmonically.

Pausa:  A rest.

Pensieroso:  Contemplative, thoughtful.

Perfect:  A term used to label fourth, fifth, and octave intervals. It corresponds to the major, as given to seconds, thirds, sixths, and sevenths.

Perfect cadence:  The chordal progression of dominant to tonic, in a major key V-I, in minor V-i.

Perfect interval:  Interval of an octave, fifth, or fourth without alteration.

Perfect pitch:  The ability to hear and identify a note without any other musical support.

Pesante:  Heavy.

Petite:  Little.

Peu a peu:  Little by little.

Phrase:  A relatively short portion of a melodic line which expresses a musical idea, comparable to a line or sentence in poetry.

Pianissimo:  Very soft.

Pianississimo:  Very, very soft; the softest common dynamic marking.

Piano:  p, Soft

Pianoforte:  "Soft-loud." A keyboard instrument, the full name for the piano, on which sound is produced by hammers striking strings when keys are pressed. It has 88 keys.

Picardy third:  The term for the raising of the third, making a major triad, in the final chord of a composition which is in a minor key. The practice originated in c. 1500 and extended through the Baroque period.

Piu:  More. Used with other terms, e.g. piu mosso, more motion.

Pizzicato:  "Pinched." On string instruments, plucking the string.

Plagal cadence:  Sometimes called the "amen" cadence. The chordal progression of subdominant to tonic, in a major key IV-I, in minor iv-i.

Poco:  Little. Used with other terms, e.g. poco accel., also, poco a poco, little by little.

Poco ced., Cedere:  A little slower.