Sanft: Soft; gentle.

Sans: Without.

Scale: A series of notes which define a diatonic tonality, often consisting of eight degrees, and containing a tonic and sometimes also a leading tone.

Second: The interval of two diatonic degrees.

Semitone: Also called a half step or a half tone, it is the is the distance in pitch between a note and the very next note, higher or lower, and is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music.

Septet: 1. A musical composition written for seven instruments or voices. 2. A group or set of seven musicians or singers.

Serialism: A form of music writing based on Twelve-Tone technique, in which pitch classes, rythms, and often dynamics are determined systematically.

Sequence: 1. Repetition of the same basic melodic theme at a different pitch. 2. A type of Gregorian chant with non-biblical texts, lines grouped in rhymed pairs, and one note per syllable.

Serenade: A love Song, or piece traditionally performed below a loved one's window in the evening.

Seventh: The interval of seven diatonic degrees.

Sharps: An accidental that raises a given pitch by one half-step. See also key signature.

Sixth: The interval of six diatonic degrees.

Sixteen-foot pitch: Organ pipe sounded at one octave lower than an eight-foot pitch.

Smorzando: An Italian dynamic indication: "fading away".

Solfège: A system where every note of a scale is given its own unique syllable that's used to sing that note every time it appears. Ex: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, and ti.

Sonata: A piece for a solo instrument or a small instrumental ensemble, usually in 3 or 4 movements.

Sonatina: A small, short, or brief sonata.

Song Forms: The arrangement of sections in a Song to contrast similiar and different sections. Often, letters are used to represent different parts of a given selection: ABA, AABA, ABACA, etc.

Soprano: The highest female vocal range, above alto.

Spiccato: A bow technique where the bow is bounced.

Staff: The five horizontal lines on which music is written. It usually includes a clef, and having a time signature and key signature.

Stop: Mechanism of a pipe organ that controls the entry of air from the pressurized wind chest into a specific set of pipes to select a particular timbre; the register (rank) of organ pipes controlled by a stop.

Strict time: Music in which the tempo and rhythm are adhered to strictly and precisely and there are no unexpected pauses. It's designed especially for dancing.

Subject: A theme or motif that is the basis for a musical form, such as a fugue or sonata.

Syllabic: A musical technique where each syllable of text is matched to a single note.

Symphony: A large-scale musical composition usually consisting of multiple distinct sections or movements with four being the most common, and the first movement in sonata, or first-movement form.

System: A staff line of music; includes all the instruments that are playing at the same time. In an orchestra score, one system often takes up the entire page.

Last updated: 8/20/2024

Select Resources: A Dictionary of Muical Terms, edited by J. Stainer and W. A. Barrett
Elson's Music Dictionary, Louis C. Elson
Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary, Richard Cole - Virginia Tech Department of Music and Ed Schwartz - Learning Technologies
Glossary of music terms from Naxos Digital Services Ltd.
Glossary of musical terminology, Aleksandar Tamindžić
Classical musical terms, Classical.dj
Music Dictionary, Dolmetsch Online
The New GROVE Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie