| s.u. | (German) siehe unten, see below |
| su, sull', sulla, sui, sugli, sulle | (Italian) by, on, near, up, above, upon |
| Suabe-flute | a sweet liquid-toned organ stop |
| Suantrai | see sean nos |
| suave | (French, Italian) sweet, mild, agreeable, pleasant, urbane, soothing in manner |
| (Spanish) smooth, p, piano |
| suavemente | (Italian) sweetly, pleasantly, gently |
| suavísimo | (Spanish) pp, pianissimo, very soft |
| suavísimo suave | (Spanish) ppp, pianississimo, very soft |
| Suavità | (Italian f.) suavity, sweetness, delicacy |
| sub | (Latin) under, below, beneath |
| sub. | abbreviation of subito |
| Subahdar | (Hindi, from Arabic) the governor of an Indian province, the native warrent-officer of a company of sepoys |
| sub anno | (Latin) under the year ... (always followed by a date, with reference to an entry in a chronicle or a series of annals) |
| Subbass | a pedal stop in the organ of 16ft. or 32ft. double-stopped pipes, or sometimes of open wood pipes of 16 ft. |
| Subbass clef |
 |
| a 'so-called' F clef, also known as the contrabass clef |
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| Subbotnik | (Russian) an organized project of voluntary public service |
| Subbourdon | a pedal stop in the organ of 16ft. or 32ft. stopped pipes |
| Sub-chanter | a precentor's deputy, in a cathedral choir |
| sub conditione | (Latin) conditionally |
| Sub-contra bass | see 'bass guitar' |
| Sub-contra octave | see 'octave' |
| Sub-deacon | a member of the order of the ministry below that of deacon; considered to be the lowest of the major orders |
| Subdiapente | (Latin, from the Greek, literally, 'under fifth') the fourth note of any scale or key, the sub-dominant |
| Subdivision | breaking up a larger metrical pattern into smaller parts, the easier to understand it |
| Subdominant | (English, Swedish, Danish, Dutch) sottodominante (Italian), Subdominante (German), Unterdominante (German), sous-dominante (French), the fourth degree of the major or minor scale, so-named because it is a fifth below the tonic, while the dominant is the fifth above the tonic
[corrected by Sze-Howe Koh] |
|
| Subdominant chord | the chord which uses as its root the subdominant note of a key, that is, the IV chord |
| Subdominante | (German f., Spanish m.) the fourth degree of the scale, sous-dominante (French) |
| Subdominant seventh chord | a seventh chord built on the fourth degree of the scale, IV |
| Subdominantti | (Finnish) the fourth degree of the scale |
| Subdominant triad | triad built on the fourth degree of the scale |
| Sub-five chords | or sub-V chords, an alternative name for tritone substitutions |
| Subharmonic series | a series of pitches of which a note might itself be a harmonic, even if they are not present in the note, The series is generated by dividing the frequency F of a note by the integers, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. Thus the subharmonics series begins: F, F/2, F/3, F/4, F/5, F/6, and so on |
| Subing | a bamboo Jew's harp of the Cuyinin People of the Palawan Island in western Philippines |
|
| subit (m.), subite (f.) | (French) sudden |
| subitamente | (Italian) suddenly, immediately, without pause, at once |
| subitement | (French) suddenly |
| subito | (Italian) quick, sudden, immediately, suddenly, without pause, at once |
| Subject | sujet (French), soggetto (Italian), Thema (German), Motiv (German), Satz (German), sujeto (Spanish) |
| (English) the principal theme, an important thematic element in 'formal' music, for example, in fugal form, sonata form, variation form, and so on |
| Subjekt | (German n.) the principal theme |
| subjir el diapasón | (Spanish) raise the tone of one's voice |
| sub judice | (Latin) before a court of law, not yet decided, unsettled |
| Subkontra-Oktave | (German f.) see 'octave' |
| Sublime | term that came into general use in the 18th-century to denote a new aesthetic concept that was held to be distinct from the beautiful and the 'Picturesque' and was associated with ideas of awe and vastness. The outstanding work on the concept of the 'Sublime' in English was Edmund Burke's A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757). This book was one of the first to realize (in contrast with the emphasis on clarity and precision during the Age of Enlightenment) the power of suggestiveness to stimulate imagination. The cult of the 'Sublime' had varied expressions in the visual arts, notably the taste for the 'savage' landscapes of Salvator Rosa and the popularity among painters of subjects from Homer, John Milton, and Ossian (the legendary Gaelic warrior and bard, whose verses - actually fabrications - were published in the 1760s to great acclaim). The vogue for the 'Sublime', with that for the 'Picturesque', helped shape the attitudes that led to 'Romanticism' |
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| Sub lite | (Latin) in dispute |
| Submediant | (English, Dutch, Danish, Swedish) or superdominant (English), sopradominante (Italian), Submediante (German), Untermediante (German), sus-dominante (French), submediante (Spanish), superdominante (Spanish), the sixth degree of the scale, named submediant because it is a third below the tonic (as opposed to the mediant which is a third above the tonic) or named superdominant because it is one degree above the dominant |
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| Submediant chord | the chord which uses as its root the submediant note of a key, that is, the VI chord |
| Submediante | (German f.) submediant, the sixth degree of the scale, also called superdominante |
| Submediant seventh chord with raised root and third | a diminished seventh chord built on the raised sixth scale degree of a major scale. The chord usually resolves to the dominant triad or seventh chord in first inversion |
| Submediant triad | triad built on the sixth degree of the scale |
| Subnotatio | (Latin) subscription |
| Suboctave | the octave below a given note |
| a coupler in an organ that produces notes one octave lower either on the same manual or on a different one |
| Subois | subois is a play on the word hautbois (oboe) which literally means 'high wood'. Subois means 'under wood'. It is a hybrid of the bombarde and a rustic oboe and is made exclusively by Hervieux & Glet. It is basically a rustic oboe body altered enough to be in tune when played with a tenor bombarde reed. The sound is indeed somewhere between a bombarde and an oboe, but leaning more toward the oboe |
| Subordinate chords | triads built on the second, third, sixth and seventh degrees of the scale, as well as all seventh chords except the dominant seventh |
| see 'secondary chords' |
| Subordinate theme | in rondo-form, the section that lies between the repeated performances of the principal theme or refrain |
| sub. p. | abbreviation of subito piano, 'suddenly quiet' |
| Subpoena | (Latin) under the penalty of law |
| sub prelo | (Latin) in the press |
| Subprincipal | a subbass organ pedal organ stop of 32ft. pitch or of 16 ft. pitch on the manuals |
| sub rosa | (Latin, 'under the rose') privately, secretly, in strict confidence |
| Subscript | a small letter, number or symbol placed below a standard sized letter of number (for example, S2, where 2 is the subscript) |
| Subsemifusa | (Latin) a demisemiquaver |
| Subsemitone | the leading note, a semitone below the key note |
| Subsemitonium modi | (Latin) the leading note |
| sub siglio | (Latin) under the seal (of confession), in inviolable confidence |
| sub silentio | (Latin) in silence, without making any remark, without paying any attention |
| Substratum (s.), Substrata (pl.) | (Latin) a layer of one substance beneath another, a basis, a foundation |
| Substitute chord | see 'substitution' |
| Substitute clausula | one passage (or several) composed as a replacement for a segment of Notre Dame organum, in which the tenor uses a short excerpt of plainchant, possibly melismatic, with newly composed organal voice(s) |
| the clausula was the forerunner of the early motet |
| Substitute dominants | an alternative name for tritone subtitutions |
| Substitute fingering | see 'alternative fingering' |
| Substitution | a chord (called a substitute chord) put in the place of a different chord often changing the chord root while retaining all the other voices, for example bII 7 for V7, and iii for I |
| in contrapuntal progression, the resolution or preparation of a dissonance by substituting, for the regular note of resolution or preparation, its higher or lower octave in some other part |
| the operation of musica ficta entails the taking of conjuncta, i.e. substitution at certain points and for contrapuntal reasons, of a tone for a semitone (or vice versa) |
| in piano studies and exercises, substituting different fingerings for those recommended in the score |
|
| Substitution des doigts | (French f.) change of finger |
| Subtone | an effect on certain wind instruments that produces a very quiet sound. It is marked as 'echo tone', 'subtone', mezzo voce or sotto voce. To mark the end of a 'subtone' passage, 'normal' is written above the music |
| Subtonic | the seventh degree of the natural minor scale, the flattened seventh of a major scale, sottotonica (Italian f.), sous-tonique (French f.), Subtonika (German f.), subtónica (Spanish f.) |
| many theorists reserve the term 'subtonic' for the flattened or lowered seventh degree, i.e. a semitone (half-step) lower than the leading note or leading tone |
|
| Subtonica | (Dutch) subtonic, sottotonica (Italian f.), sous-tonique (French f.), Subtonika (German f.), subtónica (Spanish f.) |
| Subtonika | (German f., Danish, Swedish) subtonic, sottotonica (Italian f.), sous-tonique (French f.), subtónica (Spanish f.) |
| Subtoonika | (Finnish) subtonic, sottotonica (Italian f.), sous-tonique (French f.), Subtonika (German f.), subtónica (Spanish f.) |
| sub voce | (Latin, literally 'under the word') used to indicate the head-word in a dictionary, etc. under which information may be found |
| Subwoofer | a large, often floor-standing speaker dedicated to reproducing very low frequencies |
| Succedaneum (s.), Succedanae (pl.) | (Latin) a makeshift, an often inferior substitute |
| Succentor | (Latin) the sub-chanter, a deputy of the precentor |
| (Latin) a bass singer |
| Succès | (French m.) success |
| Succès de ridicule | (French m.) the success (of a work of art) that results from it having been assumed to be a joke |
| Succès de scandale | (French m.) the success (of a work of art) due wholly to the scandal it has created |
| Succès de snobisme | (French m.) the success (of a work of art) due to its appeal to intellectual snobbery |
| Succès d'estime | (French m.) the success (of a work of art) which elicits the approval of discerning critics but gathers neither wdie popularity nor financial reward for its creator (the English phrase 'gained critical acclaim' is used often in such a case, for it is to be assumed that the work in question has been a commercial failure) |
| Succès fou | (French m.) a success (of a work of art) that is marked by scenes of wild enthusiasm |
| Successeur | (French m.) successor |
| successif (m.), successive (f.) | (French) successive |
| Successive composition | a compositional technique in which the voices were written in an order with each new voice fitting into the whole so far constructed, a feature of the earliest forms of polyphony |
| successivement | (French) successively |
| Successo | (Italian m.) success |
| succinct (m.), succincte (f.) | (French) brief, concise |
| succomber | (French) to die |
| succomber à | (French) to succumb to |
| Succotash | an American dish made from green corn and lima beans |
| Succubus (s.), Succubi (pl.) | see incubus |
| Succulent | a plant whose leaves or stems are thick and fleshy |
| succulent (m.), succulente (f.) | (French) juicy, palatable, fleshy (of a plant) |
| Succumb | to surrender, to die, to die from |
| Succursale | (French f.) a branch (of a business) |
| sucer | (French) to suck |
| Sucesión | (Spanish f.) succession |
| Sucette | (French f.) a lollipop, a dummy (for a baby) |
| Sucre | (French m.) sugar |
| sucré | (French) sweet, sweetened |
| Sucre d'orge | (French m.) barley sugar |
| Sucre en poudre | (French m.) caster sugar |
| Sucre glace | (French m.) icing sugar |
| sucrer | (French) to sugar, to sweeten |
| Sucreries | (French f. pl.) sweets |
| Sucre roux | (French m.) brown sugar |
| Sucrier | (French m.) a sugar-bowl |
| sucrier (m.), sucrière (f.) | (French) to sugar |
| Sud | (French m.) south |
| sud | (French) south, southern, southerly |
| Sud-africain (m.), Sub-africaine (f.) | (French) a South-African |
| sud-africain (m.), sub-africaine (f.) | (French) South-African |
| Sudama | the indigent boyhood friend and associate of Sri Krishna, whom the latter honours, in the Bhagavata |
| Sudarium | (Latin) a face-cloth |
| Sudden | done or occuring abruptly or unexpectedly, improvviso (Italian), soudain (French), plötzlich (German), subit (French), repentino (Spanish) |
| Suddenly | unexpectedly, abruptly, subito (Italian), improvvisamente (Italian), plötzlich (German), jäh (German - abrupt), subitement (French), brusquement (French), de repente (Spanish) |
| Sudden modulation | modulation to a distant key, with no preparatory or intermediate chord |
| Suddenness | subitaneltà (Italian), soudaineté (French), lo repentino (Spanish) |
| Sud-est | (French m.) south-east |
| Sud-ouest | (French m.) south-west |
| Sudser | soap opera (colloquial) |
| Su&eagrave;de | (French f.) Sweden |
| (French, literally 'Sweden') undressed kid-skin (originally a reference to gants de Suède, gloves from Sweden, which became associated with the material from which they were commonly made) |
| Suédois | (French m.) the Swedish language |
| Suédois (m.), Suédoise (f.) | (French) a Swede |
| suédois (m.), suédoise (f.) | (French) Swedish |
| Suegra | (Spanish f.) mother-in-law |
| Suegro | (Spanish m.) father-in-law |
| Sueldo | (Spanish m.) salary |
| suer | (French) sweat |
| sueur | (French) to sweat |
| suffire | (French) to be enough |
| suffire à | (French) to satisfy |
| suffisamment | (French) sufficiently |
| suffisamment de | (French) sufficient |
| Suffisance | (French f.) conceit (vanity) |
| suffisant (m.), suffisante (f.) | (French) sufficient, conceited (vain) |
| Suffixe | (French m.) suffix |
| Sufflöte | (German f.) synonymous with sifflöte |
| suffocato | (Italian) soffocato |
| Suffoquer | (French) to choke, to suffocate |
| Suffrage | (French m.) a vote, the right to vote |
| Sufi | devotional Muslim music. Sufi brotherhoods (tarikas) are common in Morocco, and music is an integral part of their spiritual tradition, in contrast to most other forms of Islam, which do not use music. This music is an attempt at reaching a trance state which inspires mystical ecstasy. The brothers hold hands in a circle and chant or dance. Sufi music is usually without rhythm |
| suggérer | (French) to suggest |
| Suggeritore | (Italian m.) a prompter |
| suggeritore | (Italian) see rammentatore |
| Suggeritrice | (Italian f.) a prompter |
| Suggestion | (English, French f.) the proposal of a theory, a plan, etc., to give a hint, to insinuate a belief, etc. into the mind |
| suggestif (m.), suggestive (f.) | (French) suggestive, hinting at |
| Suggestivfrage | (German f.) leading question |
| sugli, sui (pl.) | see su |
| Sugonghu | a Korean harp |
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| Sugudu | Chinese plucked lute |
| suhteelliset laulunimet | (Finnish) solmization |
| Sui | (Chinese) xun in the Guangdong dialect |
| (Italian) see su |
| suicidaire | (French) suicidal |
| Suicidé (m.), Suicidée (f.) | (French) a suicide |
| Suie | (French) soot |
| Sui generis | (Latin, literally 'of his/her/its own kind') unique |
| sui juris | (Latin) in law, at an age when one can is able to manage one's own affairs |
| Suintement | (French m.) oozing |
| suinter | (French) to ooze |
| Suisse | (French f.) Switzerland |
| Suisse (m.), Suissesse (f.) | (French) a Swiss man or woman |
| Suitcase aria | although aria borrowing was commonplace in opera history, the distinctive feature of the "suitcase aria" was that it was re-used by the same performer. An investigation of opera performances in late 17th-century Italy shows that borrowed arias were not transmitted by individual singers but were exchanged between singers. Certain other singers and impresarios maintained an aria repertory and served as brokers for other cast members |
| Suite | (French f.) continuation, rest, sequel, series, suite (of rooms), consequence, order, a succession |
| a retinue, a train of followers |
| a set of furniture, etc. made to a common pattern |
| (English, German f.) in music, a set of related or unrelated instrumental pieces, movements or sections, usually short, played as a group, and usually in a specific order. In the 18th-century suites were also known as overtures or, in France, ouvertures |
| see 'baroque suite', 'form' |
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| Suite à votre lettre du | (French) further to your letter of the |
| Suite de dances | (French f.) a set of dances, that originated in the early part of the 17th-century, and was firmly established by the Baroque era, when the 'suite' contained an optional prelude, followed by a selection of dances including allemande, courante, sarabande, intermezzi (consisting of two to four dances, containing a minuet, a gavotte, or other styles of dances) and a gigue |
| Suite de pièces | (French f.) a series of lessons or pieces |
| Suites | (French f.) the after-effects |
| suivant | (French) according to |
| Suivant (m.), Suivante (f.) | (French) used after ou, to mean 'the next person' |
| suivant (m.), suivante (f.) | (French) following, next |
| suivez | (French) continue, go on, attacca |
| (French) follow, colla parte, colla voce |
| suivi | (French) steady, sustained, consistent |
| peu suivi (French: poorly-attended) |
| très suivi (French: well-attended) |
| suivre | (French) to follow, to keep up, to keep up with |
| Sujet | (French m.) subject, cause, subject (in grammar) |
| (French m.) in music, subject, melody, theme, phrase |
| sujet à, sujete à | (French) liable to, subject to |
| Sujeto | (Spanish m.) subject, melody, theme, phrase |
| Suku | small West African fiddle |
| Sukuti | Bantu-style drums played by the Luhya in Kenya |
| Sul | Korean twenty-five string zither used in court music |
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| sul | see su |
| sul bordo | (Italian) at the edge, on the rim |
| sul bordo della calaida | (Italian) on the rim of the kettle |
| sul bordo della cassa | (Italian) on the rim of the shell of the drum |
| sul cerchio | (Italian) at the edge, on the rim |
| sul fazzoletto | (Italian) on the handkerchief |
| sulfurique | (French) sulphuric (for example, sulphuric acid) |
| sul G | (Italian) on the G string |
| sul ginocchio | (Italian) on the knee |
| Sulibao | (Philippines) a drum in which a drumhead is stretched over one side of a hollowed out drum shell. The head is tied to the body using a piece of rattan and is tightened. The player holds the instrument at an angle to the body |
- Sulibao from which this information has been taken
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| Sulim | (Indonesia) flute from Sumatra |
| Suling | (Javanese) hollow reed flute used in gamelan orchestras, each tuning, slendro and pelog, requiring its own suling |
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| Suling degung | (Indonesia) a suling used in the Sundanese small ensemble style gamelan degung |
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| Suling tembang | (Indonesia) a suling used in tembang, small ensembles that accompany primarily vocal music |
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| sull' | see su |
| sulla | see su |
| sulla caldaia | (Italian) on the kettle
[corrected by Mike Morrison] |
| sulla cassa | (Italian) on the shell (of the drum)
[corrected by Mike Morrison] |
| sulla corda La | (Italian) on the A string |
| sulla scena | (Italian) on stage |
| sulla pella | (Italian) on the (drum)head |
| sulla superfice del tamburello | (Italian) on the flat of the tambourine |
| sulla tastiera | (Italian) upon the keys |
| (Italian) or sul tasto, in string playing, bow near or above the fingerboard producing a colourless tone, flautando (Italian), nahe am Griffbrett (German), sur la touche (French) |
| sulle | see su |
| sul legno | (Italian) on wood |
| sull'orlo | (Italian) at the edge, on the rim (of a drum) |
| sull'orlo della pella | (Italian) on the rim of the (drum)head |
| sull'orlo del timpano | (Italian) near the rim of a kettle-drum |
| sull'orlo vicino cerchio | (Italian) near the edge, near the rim (of a drum) |
| sullo sfondo | (Italian) in the background |
| sul naturale | (Italian) normal bowing on a string instrument |
| sul più bello | (Italian) at the crucial point |
| sul pont. | abbreviated form of sul ponticello |
| sul ponticello | (Italian) bow on or close to the bridge (which increases the high harmonics and produces a brittle tone), am Steg (German), près du chevalet (French) |
| sul primo abbordo | (Italian) or di primo abbordo (Italian), at first, first of all, to begin with |
| Sultan | a Moslem sovereign |
| Sultana | a Moslem ruler's wife, mother, concubine or daughter |
| Sultana | a cither- or zither-viol, the 18th-century double-strung bowed guitar |
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| Sultanate | the reign of a Moslem ruler, the country or region so ruled |
| sul tardi | (Italian) late in the day |
| sul tasto | (Italian) or sulla tastiera, bow near or above the fingerboard producing a colourless tone, flautando (Italian), nahe am Griffbrett (German), sur la touche (French) |
| Sultry | hot and close (of weather), passionate or sensual (of a person) |
| sum. | abbreviation of 'summer' |
| Sumac | (French, from Arabic) or sumach, a shrub with reddish conical fruits used as a spice, the dried and ground leaves of this plant used in tanning and dyeing |
| Sumarian music | |
| sumerische Musik | (German f.) Sumerian music, music of the Sumerians |
| Summa | (Latin) a summary treatise, a single work embracing the whole of a subject |
| Summa cum laude | (Latin) with highest honour, with distinction |
| Summarize | to make a summary of |
| Summation | see 'summational note', 'summational tone' |
| Summational note | or 'summation tone' or 'summation note', a resultant tone whose frequency is equal to the sum of the frequencies of the two generating tones |
| Summational tone | synonymous with 'summational note' |
| Summationston | (German m.) summational note, summational tone |
| summen | (German) to hum |
| summend | (German) humming |
| Summer stock theatre | a theatre that generally produces plays only in the summertime. The name combines the seasonal aspect with a tradition of putting on the same shows each year and reusing "stock" scenery and costumes. Some smaller theatres still continue this tradition, and a few summer stock theatres have become highly regarded theatre festivals. Equity status and pay for actors in these theatres varies greatly, sometimes resulting in sub-minimum wage pay for acting "interns." Often viewed as a starting point for professional actors, stock casts are typically young; just out of high school or still in college |
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| Summum | (French m.) height |
| Summum bonum | (Latin) the supreme Good |
| Sumpoton | see sompoton |
| sumptibus | (Latin) at the expense |
| Sunaglieri | (Corsica) mule bells |
| Sunburst pleats | fine knife pleats that burst out from the waistband of a skirt, similar to that of a sun ray |
| Sund | (German m.) a sound |
| Sun Fin Chin | (Chinese) accordion |
| Sungion-mu | (Korean) dance music for celebrating a victory |
| Sung mass | see 'mass' |
| Sung multiphonics | see 'multiphonics' |
| Sung-through | a term used for a piece of music theatre without spoken dialogue, often, wrongly, including those works where the singing pauses for orchestral interludes |
| s'unir | (French) to join, to unite |
| Sunnah | (Arabic) the body of traditional sayings attributed to Muhammad and not contained in the Koran |
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| Sunu | a welcome ceremonial music of the Malenke people from the border region between Guinea and Mali in West Africa. This music is performed during traditional festivals such as the Ramadan, Tabaseki, weddings and other social occasions |
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| SUNY | abbreviation of 'State University of New York' |
| suo | (Italian) its own |
| suo loco | (Italian) in its own, or usual place, at the pitch as written (a term sometimes used after an indication such as 8va) |
| Suomirock | the term for 'Finnish rock music' |
| Suomisaundi | sometimes called 'psy-fi', 'suomistyge', 'suomisoundi' or 'spugedelic trance', a style of freeform psychedelic trance, originating from Finland. Suomisaundi literally means in Finnish slang "Finnish sound" |
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| Suona | a Chinese folk shawm, often popularly called laba (trumpet), it first appeared in the Wei and Jin period (200-420), but did not become widely appreciated until the Zhengde period (1506-1520) of the Ming dynasty. With a strong, penetrating tone, the suona is best suited to ardent and lively styles, especially for the imitation of the singing of hundreds of birds. Experienced players can produce a soft tone (called the sound of the xiao) for a plaintive or sentimental effect. A smaller instrument known as the haidi (sea flute) is pitched a fourth higher
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| name | desription |
| soprano suona | may be keyed; strident to the point of piercing |
| alto suona | usually with added keys; vigorous and sonorous |
| tenor suona | with added keys |
| bass suona | with added keys; solemn and deep |
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| Suonare | (Italian) synonymous with sonare |
| Suonare le campane | (Italian) to ring the bells |
| Suonar sordamente | (Italian) to play softly |
| Suonata | (Italian f.) synonymous sonata |
| Suonata di chiesa | (Italian f.) synonymous sonata da chiesa |
| Suonatina | (Italian f.) synonymous with sonatina |
| Suonatore (m.), Suonatrice (f.) | (Italian) player |
| Suoni armonichi | (Italian m. pl.) harmonics, flageolet notes |
| Suoni armonici | (Italian m. pl.) harmonics, flageolet notes |
| Suoni musicali | (Italian m. pl.) musical sounds |
| Suono (s.), Suoni (pl.) | (Italian m.) note, tone, sound, sounds, a song |
| Suono armonioso | (Italian m.) harmonious sound |
| Suono delle campane | (Italian m.) the sound(s) of bells |
| Suono sinusoidale | (Italian m.) sine tone |
| Suono traduttore | (Italian m.) sound transducer |
| Sup | abbreviation of superius (Latin) |
| Supelka | (Greece) small flute |
| Super | in the theatre, also called 'supernumerary' or 'extra', a walk-on part, most often one in which no words are spoken |
| super | (Latin) above, over |
| Superacutae claves | (Latin) the five highest notes of the hexachordal system |
| Superacutae voces | (Latin) the five highest notes of the hexachordal system |
| Superacuta loca | (Latin) the five highest notes of the hexachordal system |
| superba | see superbo |
| superbamente | (Italian) proudly |
| superbo | (Italian) or altero (Italian), haughty, hochmütig (German), hautain (French) |
| superbo (m.), superba (f.) | (Italian) proud, haughty, superb, proudly, loftily |
| Superbone | a hybrid trombone, a cross between the slide trombone and the valve trombone, which has both valves and a slide |
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| Superdominant | (English, Swedish, Danish, Dutch) the sixth degree of the scale, the submediant |
| Superdominante | (Spanish, German) see 'submediant' |
| superflu | (French) superfluous |
| superfluo | (Italian, Spanish) superfluous |
| Superfluous | synonymous with augmented |
| Superfluous fourth | the note whose frequency ratio to the tonic is 25:18 (568.717 cents) |
| Superfluous interval | synonymous with augmented interval |
| supérieur (m.), supérieure (f.) | (French) superior, upper, greater, higher |
| Superimposition | in music, the placement of an melody over another melody, or' in some case, the simultaneous performance of two or more unrelated pieces |
| superior | (Portuguese) higher, upper, greater |
| superiore | (Italian) superior, higher, upper, greater |
| Superius | also called discantus or cantus, the highest voice or melody in a musical composition of two or more parts |
| common from the 15th-century, the superius was orginally only used as an accompaniment to the main melody, the tenor |
| Supernatural | pertains to entities, events or powers regarded as beyond nature, in that they cannot be explained from the laws of the natural world. Religious miracles are typical of such “supernatural” manifestations, as are spells and curses, divination, the notion that there is an afterlife for the dead, and innumerable others. Supernatural themes are often associated with magical and occult ideas |
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| Supernumery | in the theatre, also called 'super' or 'extra', a walk-on part, most often one in which no words are spoken |
| Superoctave | an organ stop tuned two octaves or a fifteenth higher in pitch than the diapasons |
| a coupler that causes a key an octave higher than those to be struck to be pulled down |
| the octave above a particular note |
| Superparticular intervals | intervals where the pitch ratio is of the form ((n+1)/n) where n is an integer; for example, 9/8, 11/10, 3/2, etc. |
| the only superparticular intervals in 3-limit Pythagorean tuning are 2/1, 3/2, 4/3, and 9/8 |
| Superposición de terceras | (Spanish f.) tertian harmony |
| Superposition de tierces | (French f.) tertian harmony |
| Superposition d'intervalles autre que l'harmonie en tierces | (French) non-tertian harmony |
| Superscript | a small letter, number or symbol placed above a standard sized letter of number (for example, S2, where 2 is the superscript) |
| supersonic | a speed that is above that of the speed of sound in that particular medium |
| supersonic | (Italian) supersonic |
| supersónico | (Spanish) supersonic |
| supersonique | (French) supersonic |
| Supertonic | sus-tonique (French), sopratonica (Italian), Supertonika (German), supertónica (Spanish), the second degree of a major or minor scale, the note above the tonic |
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| Supertonica | (Dutch) supertonic |
| Supertónica | (Spanish) supertonic |
| Supertonic chord | the chord which uses as its root the supertonic note of a key, that is, the II chord |
| Supertonic seventh chord | a seventh chord built on the second degree of a scale |
| the first inversion supertonic seventh chord is usually desribed as an added sixth chord, first used by Debussy and other early 20th-century composers, where a sixth is added to the major tonic triad, usually treated as a consonance at the end of a phrase, and later taken up by jazz pianists |
| Supertonic seventh chord with raised root and third | a diminished seventh chord built on the raised second degree of a major scale. This chord usually resolves to the tonic chord in first inversion |
| Supertonic triad | triad built on the second degree of the scale |
| Supertonika | (German, Danish, Swedish) supertonic |
| Supertonique | (French) supertonic, the second degree of the scale |
| suplementario | (Spanish) supplementary |
| Suplemento | (Spanish m.) supplement |
| Supplément | (French m.) supplement |
| supplémentaire | (French) supplementary |
| supplementare | (Italian) supplementary |
| Supplementary score | a score containing parts that cannot be written into the body of a larger score, so that the two would, if nessary, be read together |
| Supplemento | (Italian m.) supplement |
| suppliant | (French) supplicating |
| supplicando | (Italian) in a supplicating, pleading or entreating style |
| Supplication | prayer |
| supplichevole | (Italian) supplicating, in a supplicatory manner |
| supplichevolmente | (Italian) supplicatingly, in a supplicatory manner |
| Supporti a lettura ottica | (Italian m. pl.) compact disc, CD |
| Supporting cast | actors who are not playing major parts |
| Supporting leg | a term used by dancers and teachers for the leg which supports the body so that the working leg is free to execute a given movement |
| Suppressed fundamental | see 'missing fundamental' |
| Suppression du bruit | (French f.) noise reduction, noise suppression |
| Suppressio veri | (Latin) the misrepresentation or suppression of the truth |
| supprimez | (French) put stop out of action, suppress |
| supra | (Latin) above, on an earlier page |
| (Italian) above |
| Suppression | (French) removal, cancellation, deletion |
| supprimer | (French) get rid of, remove, cancel, delete |
| supra | (Latin) above, previously mentioned (for example, when referencing an earlier passage in a book, etc.) |
| Supratitle | see 'English capitions' |
| Supreme | in cooking, boneless breast of chicken |
| Supremo | (Spanish) an overlord, the supreme commander, the supreme authority in matters of taste, etc. |
| Supriñu | (Spain, France) an ancient Basque double-reed horn made from hazelnut tree bark rolled into a cone that is bent at one end to form the mouthpiece and is then rolled to form a long tube |
| sur | (French, Italian) on, over, upon |
| Surah | (Arabic) a chapter of the Koran |
| suraigu (m.), suraiguë (f.) | (French) very shrill |
| Sur-augmenté | (French) double augmented |
| Surbahar | essentially a bass sitar, tuned anywhere from four steps to an octave lower than a regular sitar, the surbahar has an advantage over the sitar in that it has a longer sustain and an ability to meend (glissando) up to an octave in a single fret. It is possible therefore to play complex melodies without using more than a single fret. This instrument is very well suited to long slow alaps but the instrument's main weakness is that its long sustain causes a fast jhala to become indistinct and muddy. It is for this reason that some artists prefer to play the alap with a surbahar but shift to the sitar for gat and jhala |
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| sur bois | (French) on wood |
| Surcoat | long flowing garment worn over armour |
| Surdam | (Indonesia) flute from Sumatra |
| Surdas | blind Hindi poet of northern India who lived in the 16th century AD; his poetical work, Sursagar, narrating the story of Krishna, is immensely popular with Hindi-speaking Hindus |
| Surdelina | (Italian f.) a kind of bagpipe |
| Surdeline | see surdelina |
| Surdité | (French f.) deafness |
| Surdo | Brazilian bass drum used to mark the beat of samba music, which is like a very large and very deep tom-tom which is often hung on a rope around the neck, so it can be used in a march or on parade The head is flat and can be reached with both hands, although it is usually struck with a single large headed mallet held in one hand while the other hand is employed to vary the sound by sometimes pressing on the head to create a slightly higher pitch 'closed' or muffled sound |
| like many drums used in latin-america the surdo is often used in sets of three: |
| surdo de primeira | first surdo | the largest surdo (bass drum), the one that gives the crucial marcação, the second, stronger beat, to the samba. The surdo de primeira is generally placed next to the principal singers to help them keep time. It has a higher pitch, a stronger tone than the surdos de resposta (the responding bass drums, second and third surdos). A large bateria has from 8 to 10 big surdos |
| surdo de segunda | second surdo | the response to the surdo de primeira, the second surdo sustains the samba rhythm while the surdo de primeira is at rest [in equal note values] by providing a counter-rhythm |
| surdo de terceira | third surdo | provides beats between the other two, usually a little before the surdo de segunda, and is used to 'spice up' the rigid structure of the other two drum lines |
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| Surdu | see surdo |
| Surdulina | small bagpipe from southern Italy |
| Sûreté | (French) the criminal investigation department of a French police force |
| Sûreté Générale | (French) the French equivalent of Scotland Yard |
| Sur fond réservé | (French) in art, en plein (enamel work), where the ground (usually gold or silver) is carved in intaglio, the hollows being filled with translucent enamel through which the modelling can still be seen |
| Surf music | a California-born style, both instrumental and vocal, popular during the 1960s and 1970s and whose most noted exponents were The Beach Boys |
| Surf rock | a style of music that originated in the USA that mixes elements of surf music and rock music. While in the 1960s surf music and rock and roll were distinct styles, associated with competing dance styles and representing distinct and competing youth cultures, the development of rock music since then has built upon both styles. Many authorities now retrospectively classify all surf bands as rock bands, and surf music therefore as a subgenre of rock music |
- Surf rock from which this extract has been taken
|
| sur la caisse | (French) on the shell (of the drum) |
| sur la peau | (French) on the (drum)head |
| sur la quatrième corde | (French) on the fourth string |
| sur la scène | (French) on the stage |
| sur la seconde corde | (French) on the second string |
| sur la touche | (French) (bow) on the fingerboard, sul tasto (Italian), sulla tastiera (Italian), flautando (Italian), nahe am Griffbrett (German) |
| sur le bord | (French) at the edge, on the rim (of a drum) |
| sur le bord de la peau | (French) on the rim of the drum head |
| sur le bord du caisse | (French) on the rim of the shell (of the drum) |
| sur le bord du chaudron | (French) on the rim of the kettle |
| sur le cercle | (French) on the rim |
| sur le centre de la cymbale | (French) on the dome of the cymbal, on the top of the cymbal |
| sur le chaudron | (French) on the kettle |
| sur le chevalet | (French) (bow) near the bridge |
| sur le compte de | (French) about |
| sur le contretemps | (French) off beat |
| sur le cou-de-pied | (French, literally 'on the "neck" of the foot') in dance, the working foot (actually the heel of that foot) is placed on the part of the leg between the base of the calf and the beginning of the ankle |
| sur le fond | (French) in the background |
| sur le genou | (French) on the knee |
| sur le mouchoir | (French) on the handkerchief |
| sur le plateau du tambour de Basque | (French) on the flat of the tambourine |
| sur les pointes | (French) in ballet, the raising of the body on the tips of the toes, also used in the singular, sur la pointe. This technique was first introduced in the late 1820s or early 1830s at the time of Taglioni. There are three ways of reaching the points, by piqué, relevé or sauté |
| sur le tapis | (French, literally 'on the carpet') under discussion, the subject of conversation |
| sur le tard | (French) late in life |
| sur le temps | (French) top of the beat |
| sur le vif | (French) in art, (painted, etc.) from life |
| sur le voile | (French) on the cloth |
| Surmandal | otherwise known as swarmandal or svaramandala, the surmanal is basically a small harp used for the drone to accompany singers. It is considered a minor instrument although, as a class, the harps in India are very ancient |
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| Surnai | a double reed wind instrument with two double blades that are bound together and fixed into the top of the instrument. The sound generated by vibration, caused by blowing through the gaps between the two blades, gives it a buzzing sound. |
| Surnay | the Uzbecki seven-holed wind instrument known in Persia as the zurna and in China as the sona |
| Surpeti | also called swar pethi, swar peti, swarpeti, surpeti, sruti box or shruti box, the surpeti is an Indian drone instrument. The manual surpeti is a small hand-pumped free reed organ, similar to the harmonium, but as it has no keys, it cannot can play a melody |
| sur place | (French) on the spot |
| Surplice | item of processional vestments: loose fitting white garment not quite reaching to the feet |
| Surprise cadence | synonymous with 'interrupted cadence' |
| Surrealism | (from the French surréalisme, literally 'super-realism') the term originated in the studios of Paris and appeared in manifestos in the early 1920s. Surrealism's founders were André Breton, Louis Aragon, Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, Yves Tanguy, Man Ray. In Britain, surrealism was promoted by Roland Penrose and Herbert Read and later by George Melly (jazz singer and writer), Spike Milligan (script-writer) and John Lennon (poet and writer of pop songs). The most significant figure, however, David Gascoyne, sat at the feet of Ernst and Aragon and, before he was 20, published the pioneering treatise A Short Study of Surrealism (1935). In the same year, he translated Dali's Conquest of the Irrational and Breton's What Is Surrealism? |
| Surréalisme | (French m.) surrealism |
| Surshree | in Hindustani classical music, an honourable title given to an eminent female musician |
| Sursum corda | (Latin, literally 'lift up your hearts') the exhortation made by the celebrant immediately before the Preface of the Mass, although applied to any exhoration |
| Surtitle | see 'English capitions' |
| surtout | (French) above all, especially |
| Sûruf | subsidiary procedures employed by singers in milhûn song to produce an even greater effect on the audience and above all to correct the rhythm. Al-Maghrawi (16th-17th centuries) created from dân, a word that has no meaning, verses which were used as the basis for verse-writing by Moroccan folk poets, thus Dân dâni yâ dâni dân dân yâ dân |
| sur una corda | (Italian) upon one string |
| sur une corde | (French) upon one string |
| sur une grande échelle | (French) on a grand scale |
| sur une même portée | on the same staff |
| Surveillance | (French) watching over or spying (on a suspect) |
| survoler | (French) to skim through (a book) |
| Susanne un jour | the poem, Susanne un jour, by Guillaume Guéroult (died c.1565) provided the text for at least 30 chansons by more than 20 different composers in addition to the most famous setting by Orlando di Lasso. Indeed, there are more settings of Susanne un jour preserved in manuscripts and publications than of any other 16th-century secular text in any language |
| Susap | Papuan Jew's harp |
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| sus | abbreviated form of 'suspended', used in naming certain chords or triads, as, for example, Fsus4 which is F-Bb-C, where the third A has been raised to a fourth Bb |
| Sus chord | in jazz, generally a reference to a dominant 7th chord in which the 4th does not act like an avoid note |
| Sus-dominante | (French) see 'submediant' |
| s'user | (French) to wear, to wear out |
| Sus flat 9 | or sus b9, a sus chord derived from either the third or Phrygian mode of the major scale or the second mode of the melodic minor scale |
| Sushi | a Japanese dish made up of rice, veg and seafood (raw or cooked) rolled in nori and sliced, usually served with a dipping sauce |
| Suspended cadence | synonymous with 'interrupted cadence' |
| Suspended chords | a chord in which the third is replaced or accompanied by either a fourth or a major second, although the fourth is far more common |
| Suspended cymbal | a cymbal (circular brass plate measuring from 16" to 22" in diameter) that is suspended on a stand and is struck with drum sticks, brushes, or, more often, mallets, typically used in a symphony orchestra, symphonic band, concert band, brass band, and other large instrumental ensembles, to keep a rhythmic pulse in a composition or provide percussive accents |
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| Suspended fourth chords | |
| Suspended ninth | the suspended ninth is formed by the delaying of the root of a chord (usually an octave above the bass) by prolonging from a previous chord the note diatonically above it, i.e. the ninth which then resolves to the octave |
| Suspended Sound Line | Max Neuhaus created Suspended Sound Line, a permanent sound installation, in 1999 on the footbridge at Lorrianstrasse 1, Berne, Switzerland. Neuhas' concept is that the sounds become an inseparable part of our sonic environment. In his words, the sound "is a part of the structure ... as if the sound was another element of construction, like steel and concrete ..." |
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| Suspended time | very long static events, with nothing much else happening |
| Suspended tonality | an effect produced by a series of nonfunctional chords or by rapid modulations where a sense of key is momentarily lost |
| Suspender | ain the theatre or films, a suspense film |
| an accessory used to hold up a garment (for example, trousers, socks, stockings) |
| suspendu (m.), suspendue (f.) | (French) suspended |
| Suspension | (English, French f., German f.) ritardo (Italian), Vorhalt (German), suspension (French), a dissonance caused by a note that is held over, that is approached by itself, and resolved to the chord note by a tone or semitone after the chord is played. When two or three notes are thus suspended, a double or triple suspension is formed |
| there are three stages in the treatment of a suspension: |
| preparation | the appearance or sounding of the note in the first of the two chords |
| suspension or percussion | the retaining of that note as a dissonance in the second chord |
| resolution | its progression by step to the note of the second chord whose appearance has been delayed |
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| Sus pentatonic scale | the same as the minor pentatonic scale with the second note diminished by half a note, the sus pentatonic scale is the second mode of the major pentatonic scale. The name 'sus pentatonic' is not in common use, but the name fits the scale well, because the scale generates a sus7 chord and is therefore used over these chords |
| suspirar | (Spanish) to sigh |
| suspirar por | (Spanish) to long for (figurative) |
| Suspirium | (Latin) a crochet (quarter note) rest |
| Suspiro | (Spanish m.) a sigh, a pause for breath, soupir (French) |
| süß | (German) sweet, sweetly |
| Suße | (German f.) sweetness |
| Sussex Mummers Carol | this traditional carol is sung as an ending to the folk play in Horsham, Sussex, England |
| sussurando | (Italian) whispering, murmuring |
| sussurante | (Italian) whispering, murmuring |
| sussurrare | (Italian) to whisper, to murmured |
| Sustain | to hold a note for its full time value, to play in a sostenuto or legato manner |
| as a verbal-noun, used to mean the length of time a string vibrates after being plucked |
| Sustained | (note) held for its full time value, sostenuto (Italian), gehalten (German), soutenu (French) |
| Sustaining pedal | on a piano, a mechanism that holds up the felt dampers, allowing the strings to vibrate freely even after the keys are released, usually operated by the rightmost pedal which for this reason is also known as the 'damper' pedal |
| Sustenido |  | (Portuguese) a sign to show that a note should be raised one semitone in pitch |
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| sustentação (do som) | (Portuguese) sustain (the sound) |
| su stoffa | (French) on the cloth |
| Sus-tonique | (French) supertonic |
| susurrer | (French) to whisper |
| Susurrus | (Latin) a low whispering, rustling or muttering |
| Sutra | (Sanskrit) a short mnemonic rule, particularly associated with Buddhist sacred texts |
| Suture | an element in psychoanalytic theory, which explains the ability of film music to create subjectivity in spectators |
| suuri Intervalli | (Finnish) major interval |
| suyo afectisimo | (Spanish) yours sincerely |
| Suzeraine | (French) a woman in authority over others or over an estate, etc. |
| Suzu | Japanese bells |
| Suzuki method | a method of teaching music to children founded by Shin'ichi Suzuki (1898-1998), a Japanese educationalist and violin teacher, which originally developed for the teaching of the violin, is now applied to the teaching of other instruments |
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| SV | referring to the catalogue prepared by Manfred H. Stattkus of music by Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) |
| sv | abbreviation of sub verbo (Latin: under the word - used for a reference to a dictionary, encylopedia, etc.) |
| svanendo | (Italian) vanishing, en s'estompant |
| svanirando | (Italian) vanishing, fainter and fainter |
| Svar | (Swedish) in a fugue, the second answering theme |
| Svaramandala | see surmandal |
| Svar lippi | see swar lippi |
| svegliando | (Italian, literally 'wakening') brisk, alert, lively, sprightly, erweckend (German), en réveillant (French) |
| svegliato | (Italian) awakened, brisk, alert, lively, sprightly, animated |
| Svejtrit | a Scandinavian step-lift pivot dance |
| svelte | (French) smart, quick, freely, lightly, nimble, speedy, slender, willowy, elegant |
| svelto | (Italian) smart, quick, freely, lightly, nimble, speedy, slender, willowy, elegant |
| Sviluppo | (Italian m.) the development section of a movement in sonata form |
| Svirala | (Croatia) a six-hole shepherd's flute, from Dalmatia |
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| Svirel | a double longitudinal whistle flute with two pipes made of willow, maple or bird cherry. The mouthpieces of the pipes are beak-shaped. 3 finger-holes are cut or burnt out of each pipe set close to their lower ends, two of the holes are in the front and one is on the back, thus forming a pair of three hole pipes. The shorter pipes is normally 300-350 mm long, the longer is 450-470 mm. When playing, the "beaks" are both placed in the mouth with the pipes held at about 45 degrees to the vertical, and each drawn apart from the other to form an acute angle. The player holds one pipe in each hand. The first record of the svirel in Russian literature dates back to the 12th century |
| Svirets | (Old Russian) anyone who played a wind instrument |
| Svirka | Bulgarian's shepherd's flute |
| Svolgimento | (Italian m.) development |
| SW | for Searle/Winklhofer, the catalogue prepared by Humphrey Searle (1915-1982), updated by Sharon Winklhofer, of music by Franz Liszt (1811-1886) |
| Sw. | abbreviation of 'Swell Organ' |
| Swadeshi | belonging to or made in one’s country |
| Swahili rumba | in Kenya, Swahili rumba remains one of the popular urban sounds. Since the early 1980s, the Swahili bands have experimented with various stylistic innovations but even today, their music remains closely tied to their rumba origins |
| Swami | (Hindi) a Hindu religious teacher |
| Swamp blues | a form of blues music that is highly evolved and specialized. It arose from the Louisiana blues and is known for its laidback rhythms which dominate a music that is simultaneously funky and often lighthearted - for a blues sub-genre. Influences from Cajun music or black Creole zydeco music can also be heard in the sound, which has long been based out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
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| Swamp Pop | a style of music created by Cajun and Creole musicians in the late 1950s. This hybrid of pop, rock, and rhythm & blues is virtually identical to the pop, rock, and R&B of this area that was popular in other parts of the country. Accordions are rare in swamp pop, which favors typical R&B instrumentation, and French lyrics are rare, as well. Instead, swamp pop's regional identity comes from a soulful, emotional vocal style that has strong connections with zydeco and Cajun music |
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| Swanee whistle | see 'slide whistle' |
| Swara | in Indian music, a musical note, a tonal register. The notes, or swaras, of Indian music are Shadjamam, Rishabham, Gandharam, Madhyamam, Panchamam, Dhaivatam and Nishadam. Collectively these notes are known as the sargam, the Indian solfege. In singing, these become Sa, Ri (Carnatic) or Re (Hindustani), Ga, Ma, Pa, Da (Carnatic) or Dha (Hindustani), and Ni. (Sargam stands for "Sa-R(i,e)-Ga-M(a)"). Only these syllables are sung, and further designations are never vocalized. When writing these become, S, R, G, M, P, D, N. A dot above a letter indicates that the note is sung one octave higher, a dot below indicates a note one octave lower. In certain forms of Indian classical music and quwalli, when a rapid, 16th note sequence of the same note is to be sung, sometimes different sylables are used in a certain sequence to make the whole easier to pronounce. For example instead of "sa-sa-sa-sa-sa-sa-sa-sa" said very quickly, it might be "sa-da-da-li-sa-da-da-li" which lends itself more to a quick and light tongue movement |
- Swara from which this extract has been taken
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| Swaraj | (Sanskrit) (the agitation in favour of) self-rule, self-government (for India) |
| Swarajnana | (Sanskrit) the knowledge of music |
| Swaré bèlè | (Martinique) dance evening |
| Swargarohan Parva | the name of the last of the eighteen sections of the epic Mahabharata which describes how, when Yudhisthira, the eldest of the five Pandava brothers, retired to the Himalayas, towards the close of his life, and lost his wife and four brothers one after another, Indra appeared in his chariot to take him in the flesh to his (Indra’s) Swarga, i.e., his heaven where mortals after death enjoy the results of their good deeds on earth |
| Swar lippi | (India) a form of music notation known to have existed during the ages of the Vedas (from c.1500 BC). The Vedic hymns were typically sung in three notes: the central note was referred to as the swarita. This was the default state and needed no notational element. The upper note was called the udatta. This was denoted with a small vertical line over the syllable. The lower note was called the anudatta and was denoted with a horizontal line underneath the syllable. There are two modern systems that are derived from swar lippi, namely Paluskar notation, introduced at the turn of the 20th-century, and, a little later, Bhatkhande notation, which is the major non-Western based system in use in India today |
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| Swarmandal | see surmandal |
| Swastika | (Sanskrit) an ancient symbol of good fortune more recently associated with the German National Socialist (Nazi) Party |
| Sway | the term has a specific meaning in the technique of ballroom dancing, namely, describing a body position in which its upper part gracefully deflects from the vertical |
| Sweat | in cooking, to cook in fat under a lid without colouring the foods |
| Swed. | abbreviation of 'Swedish' |
| Swedish hip hop | |
| Sweep-picking | a technique used on the guitar in which a "sweeping" motion of the pick is combined with a matching fret hand technique in order to produce a specific series of notes which are fast and fluid in sound. Despite being commonly known as sweep "picking" both hands perform an integral motion to achieve the desired effect |
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| Sweep The Floor | one of the two-couple figures danced in a circle of four people traditionally associated with square dancing |
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| Sweet, Sweetly | dolce (Italian), soave (Italian), süss (German), doux (French m.), douce (French f.), doucement (French) |
| Sweetening | a term used in the 18th century for the flattement technique, a finger vibrato |
| The first absolutely clear description of the flattement technique appears in the anonymously edited recorder method The Complete Flute Master, which was printed for the first time in 1695 and reprinted up to 1765. The following advice for ornaments is added probably in
1699: "An open shake or sweetning is by shaking your finger over the half hole immediately below ye note to be sweetned ending with it off." |
| Sweet potato | see 'ocarina' |
| Swei lei | small Burmese bells |
| Swell | a device that controls the volume of an organ through the use of a foot-pedal operated shutter |
| term that used to mean crescendo, but is now synonymous with messa di voce |
| see 'Swell division' |
| Swell division | or 'Swell', a grouping of organ pipes located in a chamber or an enclosure equipped with Swell Shades, or movable louvers covering tone openings, which enable the organist to make the tone 'swell' or get louder, when desired. It is played from the top manual keyboard of a 2- or 3- manual console. The Swell contains stops to accompany the choir, and louder voices that benefit from the expression afforded by the Swell Shades, usually including a chorus of reeds |
| Swell pedal | also called 'swell shoe', a pedal on an organ console that controls the opening and closing of the swell shades |
| Swell shades | slats which look like Venetian blinds that can be opened and closed through a foot pedal called the swell shoe. This allows volume control because organ pipes behind the blinds will get louder as the shades are opened. The shades are normally in front of the division called the swell. They can also be placed in front of the solo and choir divisions if the organ has these divisions; a similar device called the 'Venetian swell' was incorporated into later harpsichords |
| Swell shoe | see 'swell pedal' |
| SWF | abbreviation of Südwestfunk (German) |
| Swift, Swiftly | veloce (Italian), volante (Italian), eilig (German), rapidement (French) |
| Swing (contradance) | (English, German m.) a basic figure in contradance which is a standard ballroom swing. The couple takes standard ballroom position, with the lady's left hand on the gent's shoulder, the gent's right hand on the lady's waist, and their free hands clasped together in the air. (Experienced dancers often experiment with other ways to place their hands.) One can either walk or use a buzz-step; one partner may walk while the other uses the buzz-step. For the buzz-step your right foot remains on the ground, with your partner's right foot to the right of it. Your left foot pushes against the ground repeatedly, moving you in a circle clockwise. Weight is very important in this figure. Usually ends facing across the set, sometimes down the set, rarely up the set, but always with the gent on the left and the lady on the right. It is generally recommended that newcomers get an experienced dancer to teach them this figure before the dance begins |
- Swing from which this extract has been taken
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| Swing (music) | (English, German m.) American style of jazz music, originating in the 1930s, characterized by 'big band' instrumentation, a greater emphasis on solo passages, certain types of harmony (use of added 6ths rather than 7ths in major and minor chords, of un-embellished diminished chords, frequent use of the augmented 5th and little use of the augmented 11th, etc.) and a 4/4 tempo with an almost even emphasis on each beat of the bar |
| or shuffle rhythm, a rhythmic style, unique to jazz, in which the first of a pair of written quavers (eighth notes) is played longer than the second, even twice as long, while the second tends to receive a slight accent, though the distribution of accents is irregular and syncopated. The degree of this effect depends on the overall tempo, and is modified by the requirements of expression and phrasing |
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| Swing at the Wall | one of the two-couple figures danced in a circle of four people traditionally associated with square dancing |
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| Swing dance | a group of related street dances. The three main dance forms of swing are 'Lindy Hop', 'West Coast Swing', and 'East Coast Swing'. However, there are many other dances of this kind, such as 'Jive' and 'Balboa' |
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| Swing era | see 'Big Band era' |
| Swing Figures | one of the two-couple figures danced in a circle of four people traditionally associated with square dancing |
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| one of the big circle figures danced by all couples in one large circle facing the centre which are traditionally associated with square dancing |
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| Swing Old Adam, Swing Old Eve (Helvetia) | one of the big circle figures danced by all couples in one large circle facing the centre which are traditionally associated with square dancing |
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| Swingout | also called 'Lindy Turn' or 'Whip', the defining dance move of 'Lindy Hop' and 'West Coast Swing'. Its variants are also used in 'Jive', 'East Coast Swing' and 'Modern Jive' |
- Swingout from which this extract has been taken
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| Swing polka | see slängpolska |
| Swing songs | see bambera |
| Swing the one Behind | one of the two-couple figures danced in a circle of four people traditionally associated with square dancing |
| one of the big circle figures danced by all couples in one large circle facing the centre which are traditionally associated with square dancing |
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| Swing time | in dance, swing or shuffle time or rhythm is music whose metre is that of common time played with a swing. It may be written as simple time and played with a swing, or as compound time and played as written |
| Swing Your Corner Lady | one of the two-couple figures danced in a circle of four people traditionally associated with square dancing |
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| Swisen | (Arabic) a high-pitched North African oud |
| Swiss bell ringers | a common designation in the 19th- and early 20th-centuries for players of English handbells, especially in the United States. How this term originated is obscure; perhaps it derived from the Swiss custom of performing with cowbells |
| Swiss flute | an organ stop, with a pleasant tone somewhat like that of the Gamba |
| Swiss hip hop | |
| Swiss organ | see schwyzerörgeli |
| Swiss sixth | a German augmented sixth chord spelled with a raised second scale degree instead of a lowered third scale degree (i.e., D sharp instead of E flat in C major) |
| Switch | Rute or Ruthe (German), verge (French), verga (Italian), vara (Spanish) |
| the forerunner of the wire brush, the switch is a bundle of twigs bound at one end or a length of bamboo split from one end to the middle into thin lengths. It is used to strike a drum head, often to provide a contrast to the sound produced when striking the same drum head with a standard wooden stick held in the opposite hand |
| Sword dance | Il bal do sabre, the Italian sword dance, comes from the Piedmont area of northwestern Italy. Italy has at least two different sword traditions. The morescas, or "Moorish" sword performances, featured in the 15th- to 18th-centuries as court entertainment. They were mock sword-play dances or battles between Christians and Moors. The other tradition of linked-sword dances appeared later, but seems to have borrowed some of the style of the morescas. The linked-sword dance was not mentioned in print until the early 19th-century, although oral tradition places its origin several centuries earlier |
| there is a 'sword-dancing' tradition in Croatia, for example, the kraljice or 'queens' (a sword dance that existed in northern Pannonian region of Croatia and in Slavonia until the mid 20th-century), the 'contradance' from the southern part of Croatia (performed on the Peljesac peninsula) in which the male dancers wear face-covering white veils, and the chain sword dances performed by the kumpanije (male societies) from which the dances take their names, kumpanije, or mostre. A third type of sword dance (a mock combat dance), the Moreska is performed in the town of Korcula |
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| Swordstick | a percussion instrument that is shaped like a sword with jingles attached to either side of the blade, a type of sistrum |
| Swung eighth notes | eighth notes (quavers) in which the first half of each beat is prolonged. The exact ratio between between two eighth notes that make up each beat depends on the degree of 'swing' intended |
| Swung note | or 'shuffle note', a rhythmic device in which the duration of the initial note in a pair is augmented and that of the second is diminished. A swing or shuffle rhythm is the rhythm produced by playing repeated pairs of notes in this way. Notes that are not swung are known as straight notes |
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| Swung rhythm | see 'swung note' |
| SWV | (WV is an abbreviation of Werke-Verzeichnis) reference to the catalogue of music by Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) by Bittinger |
| s'y attendre | (French) expect it |
| Sybell | see cebell |
| Sycamore | (German Bergahorn, French Sycomore, European Species: Acer pseudo platanus) Sycamore is native to southern and central Europe and was apparently introduced into England in the 15th to 16th centuries |
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| Syce | (Hindi) a groom, a running footman |
| s'y connaître à | (French) know (all) about |
| s'y connaître en | (French) know (all) about |
| Sygyt | meaning "whistling", a Tuvan overtone singing technique that utilizes a mid-range fundamental and produces a high-pitched, rather piercing harmonic reminiscent of whistling. The technique is different from khöömei as the fundamental is completely attenuated, and has a higher pitch. The tone sounds very bright and clear. It has been described as an imitation of the gentle breezes of summer, the songs of birds |
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| s'y habituer | (French) get used to it |
| Sykora | after Vaclav Jan Sykora, the cataloguer of music by Frantisek Xaver Dusek [Dussek] (1731-1799) |
| Syllabe | (French f.) syllable |
| Syllabic melody | or syllabic song, a musical setting where one and only one note is related to one syllable in the text |
| Syllabic song | syllabic melody |
| syllabique | (French) syllabic |
| syllabisch | (German) syllabic |
| Syllable name | a syllable is used to name a note, as for example do for C |
| Syllabub | a cream dessert flavoured with a liquor |
| Syllepsis (s.), Syllepses (pl.) | (Latin, from Greek) a particular type of zeugma, a rhetorical device whereby a single word is to be construed with two or more other words in the same sentence, usually in a slightly different sense (for example, one meaning might be literal but the other figurative). This leads to a grammatical incongruity because the word (or a single sense of the word) governing two or more others is unable to agree with both or all of them |
| Sylvesterabend | (German) New Year's Eve |
| sym(s). | abbreviated form of 'symphony, 'symphonies', 'symphonic' |
| Symbiosis | (Latin, from Greek) the association between two organisms which mutually support one another |
| symbiotic | a relationship based on symbiosis |
| Symbol | (English, German n.) a thing regarded as typifying or representing something |
| (English, German n.) a mark, a sign, etc. representing an object, idea, function, or process |
| (English, German n.) a logo |
| Symbole | (French m.) symbol |
| Symbolik | (German f.) symbolism |
| symbolique | (French) symbolic, symbolical |
| symbolisch | (German) symbolic |
| symboliser | (French) symbolize |
| Symbolism | |
| Symbols, musical | |
| Symétrie | (French f.) symmetry |
| symétrique | (French) symmetric, symmetrical |
| Symfoni | (Danish, Swedish) symphony |
| Symfonie | (Dutch) symphony |
| Symmetrical scales | |
| Sympathetic strings | strings, that cannot be bowed or plucked, that resonate by means of their immediate proximity to other strings that can be bowed or plucked, which are set very closely above them |
| Sympathetic vibration | the vibration of an object independently in response to tone sounded by a musical instrument of which the object is a part, or that of another instrument |
| sympathetique | (French) likable, congenial |
| symph. | abbreviated form of 'symphony' |
| Symphonia | (Greek, literally 'consonance') in Greek music theory, the unison, as distinct from paraphonia, meaning the fifth, and antiphonia, meaning the octave |
| a word used in place of the Latin word 'symphony' |
| Michael Praetorius (1571-1621) confirms that symphonia was a type of keyboard instrument, possibly a clavichord or a spinet |
| Symphonic black metal | it has the same components as melodic black metal but a lot more orchestral pieces, mostly during the entire length of the song, mixed with the black metal element |
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| Symphonic metal | a term used to describe metal music that has "symphonic" elements, that is, elements that sound similar to a classical symphony |
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| Symphonic ode | a symphonic composition combining orchestra and chorus |
| Symphonic poem | or 'tone poem', c. 1850 to present, a descriptive orchestral piece in which the music conveys a scene or relates a story |
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| Symphonic rock | a subgenre of rock music, it is 'prog rock' with a much more strict adherence to classical music influences than other forms of prog |
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| Symphonic study | synonymous with 'symphonic poem' |
| Symphonie | (German, French f.) symphony |
| Symphonie concertante | (French f.) a symphonie concertante is not a symphony, but a common name during the Classical era (c. 1775-1820) for a concerto featuring two or more soloists. The Italian equivalent is sinfonia concertante. The solo instruments of a symphonie concertante may be strings or winds, or a combination of the two. Probably the most famous example of the form is the Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola by Mozart |
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| Symphonie fantastique | (French f.) Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) probably derived the title to his five movement Symphonie fantastique (intially composed 1830, revised and published 1845) from a scene in Act IV of Ossian ou Les Bardes, by Jean-François Lesueur (1760-1837), in which the words simphonie fantastique were printed in the full score. The Symphonie Fantastique was the first in a Romantic trend of associating the Dies Irae sequence (we have no records of the melody's origins, but attribute the text to Thomas of Celano) with death and the last judgment in its most terrible aspects |
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| Symphoniette | (French) sinfonia |
| Symphonion | an instrument resembling an orchestrion, that combines the tone of a pianoforte with that of the flute, clarinet, etc. |
| Symphonious | harmonious |
| symphonique | (French) symphonic |
| symphonisch | (German) symphonic, harmonic, consonant |
| symphonische Band | (German n.) symphonic band |
| symphonische Dichtung | (German f.) a symphonic poem |
| symphonisches Gedicht | (German n.) symphonic poem |
| Symphonium | a small mouth organ invented by Charles Wheatstone (1802-1875) which was patented in 1829, the instrument employs free reeds as its sounding elements. It is the forerunner to the English system concertina |
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| Symphony | (Middle English symphonye, harmony, from Old French symphonie, from Latin symphonia, from Greek sumphonia, from sumphonos, harmonious : sun-, syn- + phone, sound), sinfonia (Italian), Symphonie (German), symphonie (French) |
| an extended piece for full orchestra, usually serious in nature and in several movements |
| before the mid 18th-century a symphony was an instrumental interlude between section of a large choral work |
| harmony, especially of sound or color |
| something characterized by a harmonious combination of elements |
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| Symphony of a Thousand | a title given to Symphony no. 8 by Gustav Mahler (1860-1911). Although 858 singers and an orchestra of 171 took part in the first performance (and its repeat) in Munich in 1910 under Mahler himself it was the concert's promoter Emil Gutman who hit on the title "Symphony of a Thousand" which Mahler himself never used or sanctioned. Mahler was a practical musician and he does give advice to conductors that they should double the front desk woodwinds depending on the size of the hall and its accoustic where the size of the chorus can also be enlarged. His concern was balance rather than absolute size. In the score Mahler asks for "Mixed Double Chorus" but certainly gives us no precise number |
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| Symphony orchestra | an extended ensemble of instruments that has grown in number steadily since the early 18th-century when it might have had only 20 instruments to the modern orchestra which may have in excess of 100 members |
| Symposium (s.), Symposia (pl.) | (Latin, from Greek) a collection of speeches delivered or articles written by a number of persons on the same topic |
| Synaesthesia (s.), Symaesthesiae (pl.) | see synesthesia |
| Synästhesie | (German f.) synesthesia |
| Synchronisation | (German f., French f.) synchronization |
| synchronisieren | (German) to synchronize |
| Synchronization | (English) the placing of one event relative to another so that when two events are synchronised they occur at exactly the same time |
| Synclavier | developed by Sydney Alonso and Cameron Jones with musical advice from Jon Appleton, this sythesiser was first designed and built in 1977. Appleton recalls, "My input was that we should have an instrument for live performance and that the functions of an analog studio and of certain music languages should be hardwired in the form of buttons and knobs on a control panel ..." In 1979, the Synclavier was remodelled to become the Synclavier II which quickly became a major commercial success, widely used in the film industry and in popular music composition and production |
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| syncopata | (Italian) syncopated |
| Syncopate | to move the accent of a note or chord which falls naturally on a strong beat to an earlier weak beat, the note or chord then persists through to its natural place by means of a tie |
| Syncopated pedal | the release of the damper pedal on playing a chord, followed by the immediate depression of the pedal |
| Syncopatie | (Dutch) syncopation |
| Syncopatio | (Latin) syncopation |
| Syncopation | sincope (Italian), Synkope (German), syncope (French), where a silence or weak beat replaces the expected strong beat in a bar, used extensively in the 14th-century and again in the 20th |
| in jazz, the process of displacing 'expected' beats by anticipation or delay of half a beat. The natural melodic accent which would fall, in 'square' music, on the beat, is thus heard on the off-beat. This adds a flavor of ambiguity as to where the beat is |
| in dance, as well as the standard musical meaning, there is a second one, namely, making more (and/or different) steps than required by the standard description of a figure, to address more rhythmical nuances of the music. This latter usage is considered incorrect by many dance instructors, but, in the absence of a better term, it is still in circulation |
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| syncopato | (Italian) syncopated |
| Syncope | (French f., Dutch) syncopation |
| (Latin, from Greek) suspension of the action of the heart, resulting in unconsciousness or death |
| (Latin, from Greek) in linguistics, the contraction of a word by the omission of a medial vowel |
| syncoper | (French) syncopate |
| syncopieren | (German) to syncopate |
| syncopiren | (German, old spelling) to syncopate |
| Syndie | syndicated television programming, those sold to stations, rather than provided by one of the networks (colloquial) |
| Syndrum | see 'Pollard Syndrum' |
| Synecdoche | (Latin, from Greek) in linguistics, a figure of speech in which the name of a part is used to designate the whole, or the name of the whole is used to designate a part |
| Syneresis | the squeezing out of liquid from an over-cooked protein, for example, scrambled eggs |
| Synesthesia | also written 'synæsthesia' or 'synaesthesia', a neurological condition where the production of a mental image of one kind is found to be elicited by a sense-impression of a different kind. One example is 'coloured hearing', where particular tones, chords, or keys are associated, in the mind of the listener, with specific colours. Coloured hearing may arise due to strong associations arising from childhood co-exposure to particular stimuli. Such forms of coloured hearing are often associated with absolute pitch |
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| Syngathistos | a Thracian dance performed as the bride and groom are escorted to and from the church for their wedding |
| Synket, The | (from 'Syn' (synthesizer) and 'Ket' (off)) the Synket was designed and built by Paul Ketoff in Rome, Italy, in 1964. Commissioned by the American Academy in Rome for its electronic music studio, it was a small, portable, keyboard-based performance-oriented synthesizer |
- The Synket from which this information has been taken
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| Synklavier | a tradename of the Yamaha Corporation, a piano that, through the use of electronic sensors, can operate as a synthesiser or, from signals read from a CD-ROM, the piano can be played automatically |
| Synkooppi | (Finnish) syncopation |
| Synkop | (Swedish) syncopation |
| Synkope | (German f., Danish) syncopation |
| synkopieren | (German) syncopate |
| Synkopierung (s.), Synkopierungen (pl.) | (German f.) syncopation |
| synkopiren | (German, old spelling) syncopate |
| synkopisch | (German) syncopated |
| Synod | a formal meeting of representatives of various units of the church |
| Synonyme | (French m.) synonym |
| synonyme | (French) synonymous |
| Synopsis (s.), Synopses (pl.) | (Latin, from Greek) a cndensed general survey or comprehensive view, a conspectus |
| Syntagma musicum (1618/9) | written by Michael Praetorius (1571-1621), the Latinized named of Michael Schultheiß, and published in Wolfenbüttel, an important treatise on music and musical instruments |
| Syntagmatic structure | literally 'structure of syntax', "the mode of time-awareness which listeners are placed" such as 'narrative', 'epic', or 'lyrical'. Narrative structures feature a realistic temporal flow guided by tension and relaxation, privilege difference, and "as diegesis, songs speak to or address us by organizing a particular stretch of time into a conscious experience, and an experience of consciousness" |
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| synth | abbreviation of 'synthesizer', 'synthesized' |
| Synthcore | an alternative name for 'electroclash' that never found popularity |
| Synthdance | see 'spacesynth' |
| Synthé | (French m. abbreviation of synthétiseur) synthesizer |
| Synthàse électronique | (French f.) tone sythesis |
| Synthese | (German f.) synthesis |
| Synthesis (s.), Syntheses (pl.) | (Latin, from Greek) the putting together of parts so as to make up a complex whole, or the resulting complex itself |
| Synthesis |
| additive or Fourier synthesis | the creation of complex sounds by mixing sounds of a simpler nature, usually electronic |
| subtractive synthesis | selective elimination of elements of a complex sound to create a simpler one |
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| Synthesiser | synonymous with 'synthesizer' |
| Synthesizer | (English, German m.) an instrument that uses electronics to generate a large range of sounds, some meant to mimic real instruments and others that are completly new, originally developed from principles developed by Robert Moog and others in the 1960s. A synthesizer is distinguished from an electronic piano or electronic organ by the fact that its sounds can be programmed by the user, and from a sampler by the fact that the sampler allows the user to make digital recordings of external sound sources |
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| Synthetic scales | the blues and bebop scales are sometimes called synthetic scales, because they do not fit in well with classical theory and appear to have been invented to fit a particular situation. In gen |