British vs. American Musical Terms

Find a term on the Alphabetical List, and click to find its transatlantic equivalent and context.

Or skim the whole page, and e-mail me to let me know how I can make it better or more accurate. Also, please let me know if you find other sources for this information.

Categories you will find below the alphabetical list:

American note values and their British equivalents

British note values and their American equivalents

American cadences and their British equivalents

British cadences and their American equivalents

American analytical terms and their British equivalents

British analytical terms and their American equivalents

Other American musical terms and their British equivalents

Other British musical terms and their American equivalents

Alto (A)
Alto (B)
Applied music (A)
Asymmetric meter (A)
Aural training (B)
Authentic cadence (A)
Bar (B)
Barline (A)
Choral society (B)
Chromatic scale (A)
Clinician (A)
Common chord (B)
Community chorus (A)
Complex time (B)
Composite meter (A)
Concertmaster (A)
Concertmistress (A)
Contralto (B)
Cor Anglais (B)
Course director (B)
Crotchet (B)
Cue (A)
Deceptive cadence (A)
Demisemiquaver (B)
Direct (an opera) (A)
Drum kit (B)
Drum set (A)
Ear training (A)
Eighth note (A)
English horn (A)
Fermata (A)
Folk song (A)
The Forty-Eight (B)
Glee club (A)
Half-cadence (A)
Half note (A)
Half step (A)
Hemidemisemiquaver (B)
Harmonic chromatic scale (B)
Hold (B)
Hundred twenty-eighth note (A)
Imperfect cadence (B)
Intermission (A)
Interrupted cadence (B)
Interval (B)
Inverted cadence (B)
Kit(B)
Leader (B)
Leading note (B)
Leading tone (A)
Lecturer (B)
Measure (A)
Melodic chromatic scale (B)
Minim (B)
National song (B)
Non-essential notes (B)
Non-harmonic tones (A)
Orchestra (B)
Orchestra leader (B)
Parallel minor (A)
Part writing (B)
Pause (B)
Picardy third (A)
Perfect cadence (A)
Perfect cadence (B)
Practical music (B)
Primary triads (B)
Produce (an opera) (B)
Quarter note (A)
Quasihemidemisemiquaver (B)
Quaver (B)
Secondary triads (B)
Semi-breve (B)
Semi-cadence (A)
Semihemidemisemiquaver (A)
Semiquaver (B)
Semitone (B)
Singing (B)
Sixteenth note (A)
Sixty-fourth note (A)
Symphony (A)
Thirty-second note (A)
Tierce de Picardie (B)
Tone (A)
Tone (B)
Tonic minor (B)
Turn over (B)
Turn pages (A)
Turn the page (A)
Voice (A)
Voice leading (A)
The Well-Tempered Clavier (A)
Whole note (A)
Whole step (A)

American note values

British equivalent

Whole note

Semi-breve

Half note

Minim

Quarter note

Crotchet

Eighth note

Quaver

Sixteenth note

Semiquaver

Thirty-second note

Demisemiquaver

Sixty-fourth note

Hemidemisemiquaver (NOTE: Instead of actually pronouncing such a long name for such a short note, people sometimes just say "quick note")

Hundred twenty-eighth note

Quasihemidemisemiquaver (I'm not making this up: it's in Scholes' Oxford Companion to Music and elsewhere), or Semihemidemisemiquaver

Rests

Where, for example, British say crotchet rest, Americans say quarter rest (not quarter-note rest)

Dots

Dots are dots: a dotted half note, for example, is a dotted minim

British note values

American equivalent

Semi-breve

Whole note

Minim

Half note

Crotchet

Quarter note

Quaver

Eighth note

Semiquaver

Sixteenth note

Demisemiquaver

Thirty-second note

Hemidemisemiquaver

Sixty-fourth note

Quasihemidemisemiquaver

Hundred twenty-eighth note (I'm not making this up: it's in Scholes' Oxford Companion to Music and elsewhere)

Semihemidemisemiquaver

Hundred twenty-eighth note

Rests

Where, for example, British say crotchet rest, Americans say quarter rest (not quarter-note rest)

Dots

Dots are dots: a dotted minim, for example, is a dotted half note

American Cadences

British equivalent

Authentic cadence

Perfect cadence

Deceptive cadence

Interrupted cadence

Half-cadence (semi-cadence)

Imperfect cadence

Perfect Authentic cadence

Perfect cadence -- that is, what British call perfect

and Americans call authentic -- in which top voice is on root of final (tonic) chord, and both dominant and tonic chords are in root position so that the bass moves from the fifth to the first scale degree (no British label for that concept)

Plagal cadence

Plagal cadence (same!)

Semi-cadence (half-cadence)

Imperfect cadence

British Cadences

American equivalent

Imperfect cadence

Semi-cadence, half-cadence

Interrupted cadence

Deceptive cadence

Inverted cadence

Cadence whose chords are not in root position (no simple American label for that concept)

Perfect cadence

Authentic cadence (there is no British equivalent for the American term perfect cadence)

Plagal cadence

Plagal cadence (same!)

American analytical terms

British equivalent

Asymmetric meter, sometimes called Composite meter

Complex time -- meter such as 7/8 that mixes simple and compound pulses

Chromatic scale

Melodic chromatic scale: written with sharps on the way up and flats on the way down (see harmonic chromatic scale)

Composite meter, more often called Asymmetric meter

Complex time -- meter such as 7/8 that mixes simple and compound pulses

Half step

Semitone

Leading tone

Leading note (names of other scale degrees, such as tonic, supertonic, etc., are common to both sides)

Non-harmonic tones

Non-essential notes

Parallel minor

Tonic minor (but relative minor = relative minor)

Picardy third

Tierce de Picardie

Tone

Note (for some uses of American "tone")

Voice leading

Part writing

Whole step (noun)

Tone (but as an adjective, whole-tone scale = whole-tone scale)

British analytical terms

American equivalent

Common chord

Triad whose fifth is perfect -- major or minor, not augmented or diminished (no equivalent American label)

Complex time

Asymmetric meter, sometimes called composite meter -- meter such as 7/8 that mixes simple and compound pulses

Harmonic chromatic scale

Chromatic scale written to include notes of major and tonic minor scales, plus the augemented fourth and minor second; the harmonic chromatic scale built on C, for example, goes C / D-flat / D / E-flat / E / F / F-sharp / G / A-flat / A / B-flat / B / C.

Leading note

Leading tone (names of other scale degrees, such as subdominant, dominant, etc., are common to both sides)

Melodic chromatic scale

Chromatic scale written American-style, with sharps on the way up and flats on the way down (see harmonic chromatic scale)

Non-essential notes

Non-harmonic tones

Note

Tone (for some uses of American "tone")

Part writing

Voice leading

Primary triads

I, IV, and V -- the triads that are major in a major key (some Americans also use this term)

Secondary triads

ii, iii, and vi -- the relative minors of the primary triads

Semitone

Half step

Tierce de Picardie

Picardy third

Tonic minor

Parallel minor (but relative minor = relative minor)

Tone

Whole step (noun) (but as an adjective, whole-tone scale = whole-tone scale)

Other American musical terms

British equivalent

Alto (female singer)

Contralto, sometimes alto

Applied music

Practical music

Bar, barline

Barline (line between bars)

Clinician

Lecturer, course director (a "clinic" is a group of medical patients)

Community chorus, glee club

Choral society, though there are differences everywhere among the various terms for choral organizations

Concertmaster, concertmistress

Orchestra leader, or just "leader"; as a verb, the orchestra is "led by So-and-so," meaning that So-and-so is what Americans would describe as a concertmaster or concertmistress. "Concertmaster" can refer to a male or a female.

Concertmistress, concertmaster

Orchestra leader, or just "leader"; as a verb, the orchestra is "led by So-and-so," meaning that So-and-so is what Americans would describe as a concertmaster or concertmistress. "Concertmaster" can refer to a male or a female.

Cue

Lead (noun); cue (noun or verb)

Direct an opera

Produce an opera

Drum set

Drum kit, kit, sometimes drum set

Ear training

Aural training

English horn,

Cor anglais

Fermata

Hold, pause, fermata

Folk song

National song, folk song

Glee club, community chorus

Choral society

Intermission

Interval

Measure (sometimes "bar")

Bar, meaning the metrical unit; "twelve-bar blues" is always "twelve-bar blues," however

Symphony, also "symphony orchestra" or "orchestra"

Symphony orchestra or orchestra, but the term "symphony" alone is not used as a noun meaning orchestra

Turn pages, turn the page

Turn over (Someone who offers "Shall I turn over?" is offering to turn pages for you)

Turn the page, turn pages

Turn over (P.T.O. -- "please turn over" -- means "turn this page" in music and elsewhere)

Voice

Singing, as in "singing lessons"

The Well-Tempered Clavier

The Forty-Eight

Other British musical terms

American equivalent

Alto

Often a male alto or countertenor, see Contralto

Aural training

Ear training

Bar

Measure, sometimes bar; "twelve-bar blues" is "twelve-bar blues" everywhere

Contralto

Female alto singer, referred to as an alto or a contralto

Cor anglais,

English horn

Choral society

Glee club, community chorus

Course director, lecturer

Clinician

Drum kit, kit

Drum set

The Forty-Eight

The Well-Tempered Clavier

Hold, pause

fermata

Interval,

Intermission

Kit, drum kit

Drum set

Lead

Cue (noun), or, serve as concertmaster (verb)

Leader, Orchestra leader

Concertmaster or concertmistress

Lecturer, course director

Clinician

National song, folk song

Folk song

Orchestra, symphony orchestra

Symphony, orchestra, or symphony orchestra

Orchestra leader

Concertmaster, concertmistress

Pause, hold

fermata

Practical music

Applied music

Produce an opera

Direct an opera

Singing

Voice, as in "voice lessons"

Turn over

Turn pages, turn the page

Please e-mail me with any comments, corrections, additions, or advice.

This is an informal list, based on two years of teaching within a British-based school system, about eight years of actively seeking these terms, advice from Sir David Willcocks and the late Walter Collins, and the "American musical terms" entry in the old Oxford Companion to Music. Thanks to Professor Christopher Hunt (Mohawk College, Hamilton, Ontario) for adding some Canadian perspective!

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