Pacato - Calm, quiet.

Passing tones - Unaccented notes which move conjunctly between two chords to which they do not belong harmonically.

Pausa - A rest.

Pensieroso - Contemplative, thoughtful.

Percussion family - Instruments made of sonorous material that produce sounds of definite or indefinite pitch when shaken or struck, including drums, rattles, bells, gongs, and xylophones.

Perfect - A term used to label fourth, fifth, and octave intervals. It corresponds to the major, as given to seconds, thirds, sixths, and sevenths.

Perfect cadence - The chordal progression of dominant to tonic, in a major key V-I, in minor V-i.

Perfect interval - Interval of an octave, fifth, or fourth without alteration.

Perfect pitch - The ability to hear and identify a note without any other musical support.

Pesante - Heavy.

Petite - Little.

Peu a peu - Little by little.

Phrase - A relatively short portion of a melodic line which expresses a musical idea, comparable to a line or sentence in poetry.

Pianissimo -  Very soft.

Pianississimo -  Very, very soft; the softest common dynamic marking.

Piano -  Soft. Pianoforte.

Pianoforte - "Soft-loud." A keyboard instrument, the full name for the piano, on which sound is produced by hammers striking strings when keys are pressed. It has 88 keys.

Picardy third - The term for the raising of the third, making a major triad, in the final chord of a composition which is in a minor key. The practice originated in c. 1500 and extended through the Baroque period.

Pitch - The highness or lowness of a tone, as determined by the number of vibrations in the sound.

Piu - More. Used with other terms, e.g. piu mosso, more motion.

Pizzicato - "Pinched." On string instruments, plucking the string.

Plagal cadence - Sometimes called the "amen" cadence. The chordal progression of subdominant to tonic, in a major key IV-I, in minor iv-i.

Poco - Little. Used with other terms, e.g. poco accel., also, poco a poco, little by little.

Poco ced., Cedere - A little slower.

Poco piu mosso - A little more motion.

Poi - Then or afterwards, e.g. poi No. 3, then No. 3.

Postlude - "Play after." The final piece in a multi-movement work. Organ piece played at the end of a church service.

Prelude - "Play before." An introductory movement or piece.

Premiere - First performance.

Prestissimo - Very, very fast. The fastest tempo.

Presto - Very quick.

Primo - First.

Principal - Instrumental section leader.

Prologue - An introductory piece that presents the background for an opera.