#18 MUSICAL TERMS

1.   Segue – Italian – means ‘follow’.  Immediately go on to the next musical number

2.   Seguidilla – Spanish – A Spanish dance in triple time, usually in minor and accompanied by guitar and voice and sometimes castanets

3.   Sehnsucht – German – Longingly.  In an expressive style of yearning

4.   Semitone – Half a tone (half step)

5.      Semplicimente – Italian – In a simple, natural, unaffected style

6.   Sempre – Italian – Always, continually throughout – sempre forte

7.   Senza – Italian – Without. Senza ritardando – without slowing

8.   Septet – A composition for seven voices or instruments

9.   Septuplet – A group of seven equal notes to be performed in the same time as 4 of the same kind.

10. Sequence – The repetition of a melodic motive starting on a different pitch.

11. Serenade – An evening song, especially sung by a lover beneath a lady’s window

12. Serio, seria – Italian – Serious.  Opera seria – grand opera or tragic opera.  Tenore serio – dramatic tenor

13. Severo – Italian – strictly, with rigid observance of all tempo and dynamic markings

14. Sextet – A composition for six voices or instruments

15. Sextuplet – A group of six equal notes to be performed in the same time as 4 of the same kind.

Schirmer Pocket Manual of Musical Terms, Edited by Theodore Baker, Macmillan Publishing Co., 1978