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Music Glossary A B C D E F G H I J L M N O P Q R S T U W X Y Z 1 3 - Scherzo
- Scherzos are supposed to be musical jokes, and, for the most part, they are. In the Baroque period the scherzo referred specifically to any vocal work that was of a light character. This lightness of character remains a quality of the scherzo with few exceptions. After 1650 the term scherzo was only applied to instrumental music. This music was characterized by quick tempos, 2/4 or 3/4 meters and they were used as the next to the last movement in a number of different musical forms. During the Romantic and post-Romantic eras scherzos were regular components of the symphony and they also became independent forms for the piano in the hands of Chopin, Brahms and Mendelssohn specifically.
- Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI)
- An initiative to bring together the worldwide music community in an open forum with technology companies to develop an open interoperable architecture and specification for digital music security.
- Segue
- Italian for "follows," a segue is used to indicate a smooth, flowing transition from one section of a composition to another without any pause or interruption. It is also an instruction to continue a musical or rhythmic pattern that has already been established such as a broken-chord or Alberti accompaniment.
- semitone
- Music. An interval equal to a half tone in the standard diatonic scale. Also called half step, half tone.
- Ship Date
- Ship Date
- The date on which the manufacturer physically mails or "ships" product for distribution.
- Short Form Albums
- Defined as configurations with at least three, but not more than five, cuts and a maximum running time of 30 minutes. Short-form albums are awarded at the same levels as full-length albums.
- SoundScan
- SoundScan is an information system that tracks actual sales of music and music video products throughout the United States. Sales data from point-of-sale cash registers is collected weekly from over 16,000 retail, mass merchant and non-traditional outlets, such as on-line stores and other venues. Fresh data is compiled and made available to SoundScan's subcribers every Wednesday.
Soundscan clients include all major and most indie record companies, distribution companies, artist managers, booking agents, concert promoters and venue owners. Since March 1, 1991, BILLBOARD MAGAZINE charts have been constructed directly from SoundScan data. MTV, VH1, CMT and all major newspapers regularly use SoundScan data.
SoundScan offers a great variety of information access packages. They range in price and as far as we know, you need to join and purchase a package in order to check your SoundScan numbers.
- Special 301
- Special 301 is a provision of U.S. trade law requiring the identification of countries that deny adequate and effective copyright protection and market access to U.S. companies.
- Stomp
- Type of lively, rhythmic jazz music marked by a heavy beat. The term was probably derived from the early, foot-stomping forms of blues and ragtime dance music. "Stomp" was a common word to titles of music during the 1920s and 1930s. Besides having a "heavy" beat the rhythms of stomps are sharply defined, energetic and music associated with the stomp builds to a definitive climax.
- Stop-Time
- Performance technique used in New Orleans-style jazz in which the rhythm section stops keeping time and instead alternates sets of sounded beats with periods of silence. Alternations, however, occur regularly. An accent will be given to the first beat of a two measure phrase where the rhythm section will play a chord and beat at this point. Silence follows but solos can continue. Stop-time is not only used in jazz music it is also used in tap dancing and blues.
- Stopping
- In the process of playing stringed instruments where the strings lie over a fingerboard, the strings are said to be "stopped" when they are pressed against the fingerboard to alter the open-position interval of the string. Stopping, or pressing against the string, actually shortens the string relative to its open or unstopped position thus increasing its frequency and tonal structure. Accordingly, melodic lines, harmonies, and arpeggiated and blocked chords are a result of stopping positions and techniques. (See "stopped tones" concerning "stopping" and brass instruments.)
- Street Date
- The date on which the product actually arrives on the "street" in retail stores or ancillary markets for sale and distribution; the date which product is commercially available for public sale.
- Super Audio CD (SACD)
- A high-density disc format that uses a proprietary audio system of very high quality developed by Philips and Sony. Like the DVD, SACD will also have extra capacity that will be used to achieve a high-quality, multi-channel surround sound that is significantly better than current CDs, and may also be used to include features such as text, graphics, video and interactivity. SACD audio discs will require new players, but most, if not all, new SACD players will also play consumers’ existing CD collections.
- Syncopation
- Although syncopation can be given a Euro-centric slant because many cultural rhythms naturally emphasize other beats, polyrhythms are not consistent with cultural diversity; different rhythms are consistent with cultural diversity. Syncopation does not simply refer to accents on different beats (Euro-centric rhythms accentuate beats one and three in 4/4 time and Afro-centric rhythms accentuate beats two and four in 4/4 time) but refers to the interruption of what is considered the dominant pulse or beat of a piece of music. Accordingly, syncopation can be applied to any constant rhythm regardless of culture. The performance of syncopation can include temporary shifts in meter, accenting weak beats over strong beats, accentuating a different beat in each measure, making a weak beat into a strong beat, contextual note values, articulation of notes and even melodic and harmonic contours or contrasts.
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Music Glossary 
