Sempre simile

As Printed on a Score

Printed above or below the staff once a pattern — articulation, pedalling, bowing, figuration — has been shown in full; it covers the rest of the passage until the pattern visibly changes or a new marking contradicts it. Sempre stresses that it carries on, even across page turns.

Abbreviations: sempre sim.

How Composers Use It

Simile saves clutter; sempre simile adds that the pattern runs on without exception, a useful reassurance over long passages. Write the pattern out fully for a bar or two first, and mark any departure explicitly, since players will otherwise carry it through. Where the pattern changes in small ways, write it out instead of leaving editors and players to guess.

Example

Liszt, Grandes études de Paganini, No. 6 (Theme and Variations in A minor), piano, m. 10: “sempre simile” within the theme, under the opening “Quasi Presto.”

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