parlando/parlante - accented; in a recitative or speaking style.
passacaglia - a chaconne with a ground bass in slow triple time, and always in a minor key.
parallel keys - major and minor keys having the same letter name but different key signatures (e.g., G major with one sharp and G minor with two flats ).
parallel motion, parallelism - two or more melodic lines which move simultaneously in the same direction and by the same intervals.
part - the single line in a polyphonic composition. One refers to the soprano part, the violin part, and so on.
partita - a word meaning either Suite or a set of variations.
passepied - a gay, spirited French dance in 3/8 or 6/8 time, sometimes in the German Suites.
passing tone - an unaccented nonharmonic tone between two chordal tones a third apart.
passionato/passionatamente - impassioned, passionate.
pastorale - a piece written to imitate the music of shepherds, usually in moderate 6/8 or 12/8 time, a tender flowing melody, somewhat suggestive of a Musette.
patetica - pathetic.
pateticamente - pathetically.
pausa - a pause.
pavane - a slow solemn dance in duple (or sometimes triple) time, of Spanish origin; generally in three sections, each one repeated.
paventato - fearful.
pedal point - a sustained tone in the bass over which changing harmonies take place.
pentatonic - a five-tone scale (e.g., the black keys of the piano).
per - for, by, from, etc.
percussion - essentially rhythmic instruments such as drums, cymbals, gongs, and triangle.
perdendosi - gradually decreasing in time and tone.
pesante - heavy.
phrase - a musical unit, often four measures in length, which concludes with a cadence.
piacere - pleasure, fancy.
piacevole - pleasing, agreeable.
piangevole - mournful.
pianissimo - extremely soft. 
piano - a keyboard instrument. Also, the indication for soft, a low dynamic level. Abbreviation : 
pickup beat - one or several unaccented notes of a melody preceding the bar line at the beginning of a phrase. Also called anacrusis.
piena, pieno - full.
pieta - pity.
pietoso - tenderly, pitifully.
pitch - the vibration frequency of a tone.
piu - more.
piu mosso/piu moto - more motion.
pizzicato - plucking the strings of a bowed string instrument with the fingers.
placido - calm, tranquil.
plagal cadence - the progression subdominant to tonic (IV I) at the conclusion of a cadence.
plagal mode - in plainsong, the modes which range approximately a fourth below and a fifth above the final.
plainsong - liturgical Catholic monophonic song. Also called Gregorian chant, plainchant.
pochettino/pochetto - very little slower.
poco a poco - little by little.
poi - then, afterwards.
poi a poi - by degrees.
polonaise (polacca) - a Polish dance in moderate 3/4 time. The phrases end on the third beat of the bar, and there are many repetitions of short motives. It is not a folk dance, but originated from court ceremonies.
polychoral - the use of two or more separate choirs.
polyphony, polyphonic - a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic lines; nearly synonymous with counterpoint, contrapuntal.
polytonality, polytonal - The simultaneous use of two or more keys.
pomposo - pompous..
ponderoso - massively, heavily.
ponticello - the bridge of a stringed instrument.
possibile - possible.
precipitato - hurriedly.
precipitando - hurrying.
precisione - exactness.
preciso - precise, exact.
prelude - a piece designed to be played as an introduction, but also an independent short romantic piece in an improvised manner.
preparation - a chordal (consonant) tone which subsequently becomes a nonchordal (dissonant) tone, as in a suspension.
prestissimo - as fast as possible.
presto - quickly, rapidly.
primo - first, principal.
prima volta - the first time.
program music - instrumental music which the composer intends to be descriptive of some action, scene, or story, and which carries a descriptive title.
progression - a sequence of tones in melody, or chords in harmony.
psalm - musical setting of texts from the biblical Book of Psalms.
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