| Term | Description |
|---|
| saltando | bouncing the bow as in a staccato arpeggio, literally means "jumping" |
| sanft (Ger) | gently |
| scherzando, scherzoso | playfully |
| scherzo | a joke; i.e., a musical form, originally and usually in fast triple time, often replacing the minuet in the later Classical period and the Romantic period, in symphonies, sonatas, string quartets and the like; in the 19th century some scherzi were independent movements for piano, etc. |
| schleppen (Ger) | to drag; usually nicht schleppen ("don't drag"), paired with nicht eilen ("don't hurry") in Gustav Mahler's scores |
| schnell (Ger) | fast |
| schneller (Ger) | faster |
| scordatura | out of tune; i.e., an alternative tuning used for the strings of a string instrument |
| secco, or sec (Fr) | dry |
| segno | sign, usually Dal Segno (see above) "from the sign", indicating a return to the point marked by |
| segue | carry on to the next section without a pause |
| sehr (Ger) | very |
| semitone | The smallest pitch difference between notes (in most Western music), (e.g., F–F#). |
| semplice | simply |
| sempre | always |
| senza | without |
| senza misura | without measure |
| senza sordina | without the mute; compare con sordina in this list; see also Sordina. Note: sordina, with plural sordine, is strictly correct Italian, but the forms con sordino and con sordini are much more commonly used as terms in music. In piano music (notably in Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata), senza sordini or senza sordina (or some variant) is sometimes used to mean keep the sustain pedal depressed, since the sustain pedal lifts the dampers off the strings, with the effect that all notes are sustained indefinitely. |
| serioso | seriously |
| sforzando or sfz | made loud; i.e., a sudden strong accent |
| silenzio | silence; i.e., without reverberations |
| simile | similarly; i.e., continue applying the preceding directive, whatever it was, to the following passage |
| slargando or slentando | becoming broader or slower (that is, becoming more largo or more lento) |
| smorzando or smorz. | dying away, extinguishing or dampening; usually interpreted as a drop in dynamics, and very often in tempo as well |
| soave | smoothly, gently |
| solenne | solemn |
| solo, plural soli | alone; i.e., executed by a single instrument or voice. The instruction soli requires more than one player or singer; in a jazz big band this refers to an entire section playing in harmony. |
| sonatina | a little sonata |
| sonatine | a little sonata, used in some countries instead of sonatina |
| sonore | sonorous |
| sordina, sordine (plural) | a mute, or a damper in the case of the piano. Note: sordina, with plural sordine, is strictly correct Italian, but the forms sordino and sordini are much more commonly used as terms in music. See also con sordina, senza sordina, in this list. |
| soprano | the highest of the standard four voice ranges (bass, tenor, alto, soprano) |
| sordino | see sordina, above |
| sospirando | sighing |
| sostenuto | sustained, lengthened |
| sotto voce | under voice; i.e., softly and subdued, as if speaking under one's breath |
| spiccato | distinct, separated; i.e., a way of playing the violin and other bowed instruments by bouncing the bow on the string, giving a characteristic staccato effect |
| spiritoso | spiritedly |
| staccato | making each note brief and detached; the opposite of legato. In music notation, a small dot under or over the head of the note indicates that it is to be articulated as staccato. |
| stanza | a verse of a song |
| strepitoso | noisy |
| stretto | tight, narrow; i.e., faster or hastening ahead; also, a passage in a fugue in which the contrapuntal texture is denser, with close overlapping entries of the subject in different voices; by extension, similar closely imitative passages in other compositions |
| stringendo | tightening, narrowing; i.e., with a pressing forward or acceleration of the tempo (that is, becoming stretto, see preceding entry) |
| subito | suddenly |
| sul ponticello | on the bridge; i.e., in string playing, an indication to bow (or sometimes to pluck) very near to the bridge, producing a characteristic glassy sound, which emphasizes the higher harmonics at the expense of the fundamental; the opposite of sul tasto |
| sul tasto | on the fingerboard; i.e., in string playing, an indication to bow (or sometimes to pluck) over the fingerboard; the opposite of sul ponticello |
