Form: The "shape" of a musical composition as it unfolds in time. Often a piece can be divided into sections, some of which are repeated either exactly or with variations.
Turkish March (Janissary music): Music of the elite corps of soldiers known as Janissaries that formed the personal guard of Turkish sultans from the 14th century until 1826, or music of similar character performed on similar instruments. The typical Turkish ensemble included fifes, shawms, triangle, cymbals, kettledrums, Turkish crescent, and bass drum and was widely imitated in Europe beginning in the early 18th century. Its influence on European military and art music lasted well into the 19th century, and thus it is one of the ancestors of the modern marching band.
Orchestra: A performing body of diverse instruments. In the context of Western art music, it refers to the symphony orchestra, an ensemble consisting of a core group of strings of the violin family, to which have been added smaller groups of woodwinds, brass, and percussion instruments.
Strings: The stringed instruments (string section) of an orchestra, specifically the violin, viola, and cello of the violin family, and the double bass belonging to the viol family.
Woodwinds: Wind instruments that have an enclosed, vibrating air column set into motion by a reed (clarinet), a double reed (oboe, bassoon), or by blowing across or through an aperture (flute). Despite the name woodwind, this group of instruments is no longer composed only of wooden-bodied instruments. Typical orchestral woodwinds include the piccolo, flute, clarinet, oboe, English horn, and bassoon. Common non-orchestral woodwinds include the recorder and the saxophone.
Brass: A family of tubular wind instruments most often made of brass and sounded by the buzzing of the player's lips. Each consists of a more or less expanding length of tube with a mouthpiece at one end and a rapidly enlarging or flared opening call a bell at the other end. Common members of this family are the trumpet, cornet, horn, trombone, euphonium, and tuba of European and American bands and orchestras.
Percussion: Musical instruments that produce sound by being struck or, less often, scraped, shaken, or plucked. In more formal classifications of musical instruments, they are usually divided between membranophones (drums which have a vibrating skin) and idiophones, with both categories including instruments of definite as well as indefinite pitch.
Compound duple meter: A meter in which the main beats (one two) are subdivided into three, e.g., 6/8 (one two three four five six, with emphasis on one and four).