A few common musical terms.

 Concerto            Music that features one instrument or a group of
 [cone-CHAIR-toe] instruments, usually playing with an orchestra.

 Oratorio                 Vocal soloists and chorus join the orchestra to tell a story in
 [oh-rah-TOE-ree-oh] music, but without the staging and costumes of an opera.

 Sonata            A piece for a single instrument, for an instrument with piano,
 [soh-NAH-tah]  or for a small group of instruments, which draws out the capabilities
                       of that instrument or combination.

 Suite   A collection of several movements, often dance movements.
 [sweet] 

 Symphony  The musical equivalent of a novel, meant to show off the
 [SIM-fo-nee]  many moods and sounds of the orchestra.

 Overture  A piece for beginning an opera, ballet, or concert.
 [OH-ver-cherr]

 Movement  A piece of music within a larger piece. Most symphonies, for instance, have several movements: each movement is in a different mood, and each has its own beginning and end.

 Finale   A final movement. It might be in any form: a rondo, a minuet, a theme and variations, or something else.

 Minuet   Probably the most popular dance of all time. It is really two dances: you hear the first one, then a second dance that has a different sound and feeling, then the first one again. Many symphonies have a Minuet movement. The Minuet is often called "Minuet and Trio," because the second dance, the "Trio," traditionally used a smaller group of instruments. The Minuet has this rhythm: ONE, two three, ONE, two three.

 Rondo   A piece in which there is a melody that keeps coming back. In between appearances of the melody, there will be other music, and the melody often returns in sneaky, surprising, or entertaining ways.

 Scherzo          Beethoven and many of the composers who came after him put Scherzos
 [SCARED-so]   in their symphonies instead of Minuets. Scherzo means "joke," but the character of a scherzo movement is often ironic, turbulent, dark, or fierce.

 Sonata                   A typical first movement of a symphony, concerto, or sonata, in which
 (or sonata-allegro)  the composer introduces musical ideas at the beginning, then creates
 movement             excitement and surprise by playing around with the ideas. Later, in a sort of homecoming, the ideas return in their original form.

 Theme and  The musicians play some music, and then that music is transformed in
 Variations   different ways, as though the same music kept coming back in different costumes.

 Allegro   Lively

 Andante  Walking speed; medium

 Adagio   Slow

 Crescendo  Getting louder

 Diminuendo  Getting softer

 Largo   Slow

 ma non troppo  but not too much

 Moderato  Moderate

 molto   very

 Presto   Very fast

 Vivace   Vivacious