Ballade:  In the medieval period a form of trouvere music and poetry. In later time, German poetry set as a through-composed song.

Bar line:  The vertical line placed on the staff to divide the music into measures.

Bass clef:  The other name for the F clef.

Basso continuo, Continuo, Thorough-bass:  The Baroque practice in which the bass part if played by a viola da gamba(cello) or bassoon while a keyboard instrument performed the bass line and the indicated chords.

Baton:  Conductor's stick.

Battuto:  Beat, bar, or measure. A due or a tre battuta, the musical rhythm in groups of two or three respectively.

Ben:  Well. Used with other words, e.g. ben marcato, well accented, emphasized.

Binary form:  The term for describing a composition of two sections. AB, each of which may be repeated.

Bis:  Repeated twice.

Bitonality:  The occurrence of two different tonalities at the same time.

Broken chord:  Notes of a chord played in succession rather than simultaneously. Arpeggio.

Cadence:  A chordal or melodic progression which occurs at the close of a phrase, section, or composition, giving a feeling of repose; a temporary or permanent ending. The most frequently used cadences are perfect, plagal, and deceptive.

Cadenza:  a solo passage, often virtuosic, usually near the end of a piece, either written by the composer or improvised by the performer.

Caesura:  A sudden silencing of the sound; a pause or break, indicated by the following symbol: //

Calmo, calmato:  Calm.

Cambia:  A direction found in scores to change tuning or instruments.

Camminando:  Following easily and gently.

Canon:  The strictest form of imitation, in which two or more parts have the same melody but start at different points.

Canonic:  A term used to describe a polyphonic style of music in which all the parts have the same melody but which start at different times.