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Notation & Symbols

Simile (sim.)

Pronounced SIM-ih-layWritten as sim.

Definition

Simile, often shortened to sim., is Italian for 'similarly'. It tells you to keep playing in the same way, with the same articulation, pedaling or bowing, after the marks themselves stop being printed.

Simile is Italian for "similar". When a composer has marked a pattern carefully for a bar or two (slurs, staccato dots, accents, pedal marks, bowings), they write simile or sim. and stop printing the marks. You carry on playing the same way until the pattern clearly changes or a new marking appears.

A treble-clef staff in 4/4 with three bars of beamed eighth notes, the last ending on a half note. Bar 1 has slurs over the first and third pairs and staccato dots on the second and fourth pairs. The abbreviation sim. is printed below the start of bar 2, and bars 2 and 3 have no marks.
Bar 1 marks the pattern in full: two slurred eighth notes, then two staccato eighth notes, twice. From bar 2, sim. tells you to keep the same pattern although the marks are no longer printed, and the audio plays it that way.

What it applies to

  • Articulation: a pattern of slurs, staccato dots or accents, continued through a passage.
  • Pedaling: the same sustain pedal change on every bar or every chord.
  • Bowing and tonguing: the same grouping of slurred and separate notes for strings or winds.

Simile is close to sempre ("always"), as in sempre staccato, but simile points back to marks you have already been shown instead of naming them.

Bar-repeat signs

A related shortcut repeats whole bars, not just the way of playing them. The bar-repeat sign, a slanted line with a dot on each side filling the bar, means "play the previous bar again". A version with two slanted lines, centered on the bar line between two bars, repeats the previous two bars. These signs are common in drum parts, guitar and bass charts, and accompaniment patterns in orchestral parts, and they are sometimes called simile marks too.

A bass-clef staff in 4/4. Bar 1 has eight beamed eighth notes, C, G, E, G twice. Bars 2 and 3 each contain a bar-repeat sign, a slanted line between two dots. Bar 4 has four eighth notes and a half note.
Bar 1 is written out. The bar-repeat signs in bars 2 and 3 mean "play the previous bar again", so the broken-chord pattern sounds three times before bar 4 changes it.

How long does simile last?

Until the music changes. A new pattern, a different figure, new markings or a new section usually ends it. If you are unsure whether a bar is still "similar", play it in the way that continues the pattern most naturally, and check with your teacher.

Practice reading articulation marks in Read the marks: ties, slurs & accents and Legato or Staccato?.

Common questions

What does sim. mean in music?

It is short for simile, "similarly": keep playing with the same articulation, pedaling or pattern that was marked before, even though the marks are no longer printed.

How long does simile last?

Until the music clearly changes: a new pattern, new markings or a new section.

Practice it: free worksheets