| Term | Description |
|---|
| Rāga | Rāga (Sanskrit, lit. "colour" or "mood"; or rāgam in Carnatic music) refers to melodic modes used in Indian classical music. It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is founded. |
| Range | In music, the range of a musical instrument is the distance from the lowest to the highest pitch it can play. For a singing voice, this is known as vocal range. |
| Ratamacue | In percussion, a single Ratamacue is a rudiment consisting of a the pattern drag-triplet-tap. When played in succession, the first note of the pattern always alternates (R, L, R, L, etc). |
| Recapitulation | In music theory, the recapitulation is an analytical convenience to denote a section of a movement that has been identified as an example of sonata form. The recapitulation occurs after the movement's development section, and typically presents once more the musical themes from the movement's exposition. |
| Recital | A recital is a musical (vocal or instrumental) performance. It can highlight a single performer, sometimes accompanied by piano, or a performance of the works of a single composer. |
| Recitative | Recitative (also known by its Italian name "recitativo") is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech. |
| Reed | A reed is a thin strip of material which vibrates to produce a sound on a musical instrument. |
| Reel Music | Reel Music is a compilation album featuring a selection of songs by The Beatles that were featured in their films. |
| Refrain | A refrain (from the Old French refraindre "to repeat," likely from Vulgar Latin refringere) is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song. |
| Register | In music, a register is the relative "height" or range of a note, set of pitches or pitch classes, melody, part, instrument or group of instruments. A higher register indicates higher pitch. |
| Registered piano technician | A registered piano technician (RPT) is an individual who has passed a series of technical examinations offered by the Piano Technicians Guild. |
| Rehearsal letter | A rehearsal letter is a boldface letter of the alphabet in an orchestral score, and its corresponding parts, that provides a convenient spot from which to resume rehearsal after a break. Rehearsal letters are most often used in scores of the Romantic era, beginning with Louis Spohr. |
| Relative key | In music, the relative minor of a particular major key (or the relative major of a minor key) is the key which has the same key signature but a different tonic, as opposed to parallel minor or major, respectively. |
| Religious music | Religious music (also sacred music) is music performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. |
| Renaissance | The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth"; Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere "be born") was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th through the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. |
| Renaissance music | Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 - 1600. |
| Resolution | Resolution in western tonal music theory is the "need" for a sounded note and/or chord to move from a dissonance (an unstable sound) to a consonance (a more final or stable sounding one). |
| Resonator | A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance or resonant behavior, that is, it naturally oscillates at some frequencies, called its resonance frequencies, with greater amplitude than at others. |
| Responsory | A responsory or respond is a type of chant in western Christian liturgies. |
| Rest | A rest is an interval of silence in a piece of music, marked by a sign indicating the length of the pause. |
