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Vali, Reza: A composer born in Iran who lives in Pittsburgh and combines aspects of Western classical music and Persian music.

Vander, Judith: An ethnomusicologist and composer who studies the music of Shoshone women.

vernacular music: Music linked to the commonplace aspects of life. See also folk music.

verse: A variable strophe of text which is sung to a fixed, repeating melody in a strophic song.

vibrato: A regular fluctuation of the pitch, produced by shaking the hand which controls the pitch on instruments or by manipulating the vocal chords.

Vietnam: A former French colony located on the east coast of the Indochinese peninsula, homeland of Pham Duy and the subject of his The National Road: Journey Through Vietnam

vihuela: A small, strummed folk guitar. A key instrument in the mariachi ensemble.

violin: A small bowed lute with a hollow wooden body and a solid neck to which the fingerboard is attached. It has a wide range of relatively high pitches, often plays the melody in Western ensembles ranging from mariachi music to orchestral ensembles and has spread worldwide becoming a standard instrument in Middle Eastern and South Indian musics. See also fiddle.

vocables: A polite word for ìnonsense syllables".

vocal: Music produced by the human voice.

vocal style: A particular, idiosyncratic manner of singing which features particular tone qualities, articulations or uses of vibrato.

vocalise: Untexted vocal music.

The Voice of the Turtle: A vocal and instrumental early music ensemble which specializes in Judeo-Spanish songs.