passagework: Meaning and Definition of

pas•sage•work

Pronunciation: (pas'ij-wûrk"), [key]
— n. Music.
  1. writing that is often extraneous to the thematic material of a work and is typically of a virtuosic or decorative character: passagework consisting of scales, arpeggios, trills, and double octaves.
  2. the performance of such writing: The pianist's passagework is brilliantly clear and smooth.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.