| Term | Description |
|---|
| ma | but |
| ma non troppo | but not too much |
| maestoso | majestically, in a stately fashion |
| magico | magically |
| magnifico | magnificent |
| main droite (Fr) | [played with the] right hand (abbreviation: MD or m.d.) |
| main gauche (Fr) | [played with the] left hand (abbreviation: MG or m.g.) |
| malinconico | melancholy |
| mano destra | [played with the] right hand (abbreviation: MD or m.d.) |
| mano sinistra | [played with the] left hand (abbreviation: MS or m.s.) |
| marcatissimo | very accentuated |
| marcato | marked; i.e., accentuated, execute every note as if it were to be accented |
| marcia | a march; alla marcia means in the manner of a march |
| martellato | hammered out |
| marziale | in the march style |
| mässig (Ger) | moderately |
| MD | see mano destra and main droite |
| melancolico | melancholic |
| melisma | the technique of changing the note (pitch) of a syllable of text while it is being sung |
| measure | the period of a musical piece that encompasses a complete cycle of the time signature, e.g., in 4/4 time, a measure has four quarter-note beats |
| meno | less; see meno mosso, for example, under mosso |
| mesto | mournful, sad |
| meter (or metre) | the pattern of a music piece's rhythm of strong and weak beats |
| mezza voce | half voice; i.e., with subdued or moderated volume |
| mezzo | half; used in combinations like mezzo forte (mf), meaning moderately loud |
| mezzo forte | half loudly; i.e., moderately loudly. See dynamics. |
| mezzo piano | half softly; i.e., moderately softly. See dynamics. |
| mezzo-soprano | a female singer with a range usually extending from the A below middle C to the F an eleventh above middle C. Mezzo-sopranos generally have a darker vocal tone than sopranos, and their vocal range is between that of a soprano and that of an alto. |
| MG | see main gauche |
| misterioso | mysteriously |
| mobile | flexible, changeable |
| moderato | moderate; often combined with other terms, usually relating to tempo; for example, allegro moderato |
| modesto | modest |
| moll (Ger) | minor; used in key signatures as, for example, a-moll (A minor), b-moll (B♭ minor), or h-moll (B minor) (see also dur (major) in this list) |
| molto | very |
| morendo | dying; i.e., dying away in dynamics, and perhaps also in tempo |
| mosso | moved, moving; used with a preceding più or meno (see in this list), for faster or slower respectively |
| MS | see mano sinistra |
| moto | motion; usually seen as con moto, meaning with motion or quickly |
| munter (Ger) | lively |
