DYNAMICS (MUSIC)

In music, 'dynamics' normally refers to the 'softness' or 'loudness' of a sound or note, but also to every aspect of the execution of a given piece, either stylistic (staccato, legato etc.) or functional (velocity). The term is also applied to the written or printed musical notation used to indicate dynamics.

Contents

Relative loudness

Sudden changes

Gradual changes

Words indicating changes of dynamics

Other uses of notation

History

See also

Relative loudness

The two basic dynamic indications in music are:

★ '''p''' or ''piano'', meaning "soft" and

★ '''f''' or ''forte'', meaning "loud" or "strong".
More subtle degrees of loudness or softness are indicated by:

★ '''mp''', standing for ''mezzo-piano'', and meaning "medium-quiet" or "moderately-quiet" and

★ '''mf''', standing for ''mezzo-forte'', and meaning "medium-loud" or "moderately-loud".
Beyond '''f''' and '''p''', there are also

★ '''ff''', standing for "fortissimo", and meaning "very loud" and

★ '''pp''', standing for "pianissimo", and meaning "very quiet".
To indicate even more extreme degrees of intensity, more '''p'''s or '''f'''s are added as required. '''fff''' and '''ppp''' are found in sheet music quite frequently. No standard names for '''fff''' and '''ppp''' exist, but musicians have invented a variety of neologisms for these designations, including ''fortississimo''/''pianississimo'', ''fortissimento''/''pianissimento'', ''forte fortissimo''/''piano pianissimo'', and more simply ''triple forte''/''triple piano'' or ''molto fortissimo''/''molto pianissimo''. '''ppp''' has also been designated "pianissimo possibile".
A few pieces contain dynamic designations with more than three '''f''s (sometimes called "fortondoando") or '''p''s. The Norman Dello Joio Suite for Piano ends with a crescendo to a '''ffff''', and Tchaikovsky indicated a bassoon solo '''pppppp''' in his Pathétique symphony and '''ffff''' in passages of his 1812 Overture and the 2nd movement of his 5th symphony. '''ffff''' is also found in a prelude by Rachmaninoff, op.3-2. Shostakovich even went as loud as '''fffff''' in his fourth symphony. Gustav Mahler, in the second movement of his Seventh Symphony, gives the violins a marking of '''fffff''', along with a footnote directing 'pluck so hard that the strings hit the wood.' On another extreme, Carl Nielsen, in the second movement of his Symphony No. 5, marked a passage for woodwinds a decrescendo to '''ppppp'''. Another more extreme dynamic is in Gyorgy Ligeti's Devil's Staircase Etude, which has at one point a '''ffffff''' and progresses to a '''fffffff'''.
Dynamic indications are relative, not absolute. '''mp''' does not indicate an exact level of volume, it merely indicates that music in a passage so marked should be a little louder than '''p''' and a little quieter than '''mf'''. Interpretations of dynamic levels are left mostly to the performer; in the Barber Piano Nocturne, a phrase beginning '''pp''' is followed by a decrescendo leading to a '''mp''' marking. Another instance of performer's-discretion in this piece occurs when the left hand is shown to crescendo to a '''f''', and then immediately after marked '''p''' while the right hand plays the melody '''f'''. It has been speculated that this is used simply to remind the performer to keep the melody louder than the harmonic line in the left hand.
For some music notation programs, there might be default MIDI key velocity values associated with these indications, but more sophisticated programs allow users to change these as needed.

Sudden changes

''Sforzando'' (or ''forzando''), indicates a strong, sudden accent and is abbreviated as '''sf''', '''sfz''' or '''fz'''. The notation '''fp''' (or '''sfp''') indicates a ''sforzando'' followed immediately by ''piano''. One particularly noteworthy use of this dynamic is in the second movement of Joseph Haydn's Surprise Symphony. ''Rinforzando'' (literally "reinforcing") indicates that several notes, or a short phrase, are to be emphasized.

Gradual changes

In addition, there are words used to indicate gradual changes in volume. The two most common are ''crescendo'', sometimes abbreviated to '''cresc.''', meaning "get gradually louder"; and ''decrescendo'' or ''diminuendo'', sometimes abbreviated to '''decresc.''' and '''dim.''' respectively, meaning "get gradually softer". Signs sometimes referred to as "hairpins" are also used to stand for these words (See image). If the lines are joined at the left, then the indication is to get louder; if they join at the right, the indication is to get softer. The following notation indicates music starting moderately loud, then becoming gradually louder and then gradually quieter.
:
Hairpins are usually written below the staff, but are sometimes found above, especially in music for singers or in music with multiple melody lines being played by a single performer. They tend to be used for dynamic changes over a relatively short space of time, while '''cresc.''', '''decresc.''' and '''dim.''' are generally used for dynamic changes over a longer period. For long stretches, dashes are used to extend the words so that it is clear over what time the event should occur. It is not necessary to draw dynamic marks over more than a few bars, whereas word directions can remain in force for pages if necessary.
For more quick changes in dynamics, '''molto cresc.''' and '''molto dim.''' are often used, where the ''molto'' means ''a lot''. Similarly, for slow changes '''poco a poco cresc.''' and '''poco a poco dim.''' are used, where ''poco a poco'' translates as ''bit by bit''.

Words indicating changes of dynamics

★ 'al niente': to nothing

★ 'calando': becoming softer

★ 'crescendo': becoming louder

★ 'decrescendo' or 'diminuendo': becoming softer

★ 'perdendo' or 'perdendosi': losing volume, fading into nothing, dying away

★ 'morendo': dying away

★ 'marcato': stressed, pronounced

★ 'sotto voce': opposite of marcato, in an undertone (literally "beneath the voice")

★ 'in rilievo': indicates that a particular instrument is to play slightly louder than the others so as to stand out (be "in relief") over the ensemble

Other uses of notation

In marching percussion, the directions '''p''', '''mp''', '''mf''' and '''f''' can also be used to instruct the performer as to the height from which the instrument should be struck. ''Piano'' implies a height of one to three inches, ''mezzo-piano'' between three and six, ''mezzo-forte'' between six and nine, and ''forte'' implies that the instrument should be struck from between nine and twelve inches away.

History

The Renaissance composer Giovanni Gabrieli was one of the first to indicate dynamics in music notation, but dynamics were used sparingly by composers until the late 18th century. Bach used the terms ''piano'', ''più piano'', and ''pianissimo'' (written out as words), and in some cases it may be that '''ppp''' was considered to mean ''pianissimo'' in this period.

See also

★ Musical terminology

★ Accent (music)