For the ABRSM grade 3 music theory exam you’re going to need to know some Italian words and symbols and what they mean.
Although it can seem quite daunting at first don’t worry you’ll pick them up with a bit of work.
So below are all the Grade 3 Italian Musical Terms for you to start getting to know.
You can also download a print out of all the words you need to learn here
The Grade 3 Italian Music Terms
| Grade 3 Italian Terms | Definition |
| ad libitum, ad lib. | at pleasure, to be played freely |
| adagietto | rather slow |
| agitato | agitated |
| alla breve | with a minim beat |
| amore | love (amoroso – loving) |
| anima | soul, spirit |
| animando | becoming lively |
| animato | animated, lively |
| ben | well |
| brio | vigour |
| comodo | convenient, comfortable |
| deciso | with determination |
| delicato | delicate |
| energico | energetic |
| forza | force |
| largamente | broadly |
| leggiero | light, nimble |
| marcato / marc. | emphatic, accented |
| marziale | in a military style |
| mesto | sad |
| pesante | heavy |
| prima / primo | first |
| risoluto | bold, strong |
| ritmico | rhythmically |
| rubato / tempo rubato | with some freedom of time |
| scherzando / scherzoso | playful, joking |
| seconda / secondo | second |
| semplice | simple, plain |
| sempre | always |
| stringendo | gradually getting faster |
| subito | suddenly |
| tanto | so much |
| tranquillo | calm |
| triste / tristamente | sad, sorrowful |
| volta | time (prima volta – first time) |
Grade 3 Italian Terms Quiz
Time for a quiz!
See how well you know the above grade 3 performance terms by taking the quiz below.
Good luck.
As well as all these grade 3 Italian terms and symbols, if you’re doing your grade 3 exam you’ll need to know the words and symbols from grades 1 and 2.
Below you’ll find links to those words as well as the terms you’ll need to know for grades 4 and 5 once you’re finished with these.
Grade 1 Performance Directions
Grade 2 Performance Directions
Grade 4 Performance Directions
Grade 5 Performance Directions
Or if you’re done with learning performance directions for a bit you can head back to read more of our lessons on our learn music theory.
