(MT) Dynamic Markings Lesson

Dynamic Marking

In music, dynamics are instructions in musical notation to the performer about hearing the loudness of a note or phrase. More generally, dynamics may also include other aspects of the execution of a given piece.

The two basic dynamic indications in music are:

p or piano, meaning "soft".
f or forte, meaning "loud".

More subtle degrees of loudness or softness are indicated by:

mp , standing for mezzo-piano, meaning "moderately soft".
mf , standing for mezzo-forte, meaning "moderately loud".

Beyond f and p , there are also

pp , standing for "pianissimo" and meaning "very soft".
ff , standing for "fortissimo" and meaning "very loud".
ppp , standing for "pianississimo" and meaning "very very soft".
fff , standing for "fortississimo" and meaning "very very loud".

Dynamics Relative to Voice Chart

Dynamics	Voice
ppp	Whispering
pp	Almost at a whisper
p	Softer than Speaking Voice
mp	Moderately soft
mf	Speaking Voice
f	Louder than Speaking Voice
ff	Speaking Loud
fff	Yelling

Some pieces contain dynamic designations with more than three f 's or p 's. In Holst's The Planets, ffff occurs twice in Mars and once in Uranus often punctuated by organ and fff occurs several times throughout the work. Tchaikovsky indicated a bassoon solo pppppp in his Pathétique Symphony and ffff in passages of his 1812 Overture and the 2nd movement of his Fifth Symphony.

Igor Stravinsky used ffff at the end of the finale of the Firebird Suite. 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 third movement of his Seventh Symphony, gives the celli and basses 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 diminuendo to ppppp.

Another more extreme dynamic is in György Ligeti's Études No. 13 (Devil's Staircase), which has at one point a ffffff and progresses to a ffffffff. In Ligeti's Études No. 9, he uses pppppppp. In the baritone passage Era la notte from his opera Otello, dynamic indications of this kind 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.

Sudden Changes and Accented Notes

Sudden changes in dynamics may be notated by adding the word subito (Italian for suddenly) as a prefix or suffix to the new dynamic notation. Accented notes (notes to emphasize or play louder compared to surrounding notes) can be notated sforzando, sforzato, forzando or forzato (abbreviated sfz , sf , or fz ) ("forcing" or "forced").

Accents can also be notated using the sign >, placed above or below the head of the note. The > sign indicates an accent only, and is neither related to nor derived from the sign for diminuendo, even though the signs are of a roughly similar shape.

Sforzando (sfz) Notation

text annotation indicator Sforzando (or sforzato or forzando or forzato), indicates a forceful accent and is abbreviated as sf, sfz or fz . There is often confusion surrounding these markings and whether or not there is any difference in the degree of accent. However all of these indicate the same expression, depending on the dynamic level, and the extent of the Sforzando is determined purely by the performer.

The fortepiano notation fp indicates a forte followed immediately by piano. Sforzando piano (sfzp or sfp) indicates a sforzando followed immediately by piano; in general, any two dynamic markings may be treated similarly.

Rinforzando, rfz or rf (literally "reinforcing") indicates that several notes, or a short phrase, are to be emphasized.

Gradual Changes

Three Italian words are used to show gradual changes in volume. Crescendo, abbreviated cresc., translates as "growing", and diminuendo, abbreviated dim., means "gradually becoming softer". The alternate decrescendo, abbreviated to decresc., also means "gradually becoming softer". Signs sometimes referred to as "hairpins" are also used to stand for these words. 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 strong, then becoming gradually stronger 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 greater changes in dynamics, cresc. molto and dim. molto are often used, where the molto means much. Similarly, for slow changes poco cresc. and poco dim. are used, where poco translates as a little.

Words/phrases Indicating Changes of Dynamics

(In Italian unless otherwise indicated)

al niente: to nothing; fade to silence. Sometimes written as >n
calando: literally "decreasing", means simultaneous reduction of volume and tempo, same as French en diminuant and Italian dim. e rall. (diminuendo and rallentando)
calmando: becoming calmer
crescendo: becoming louder
dal niente: from nothing; out of silence
decrescendo or diminuendo: becoming softer
fortepiano: loud and then immediately soft
fortissimo piano: very loud and then immediately soft
in rilievo: in relief (French en dehors: outwards); indicates that a particular instrument or part is to play louder than the others so as to stand out over the ensemble
perdendo or perdendosi: losing volume, fading into nothing, dying away
mezzoforte piano: moderately strong and then immediately soft
morendo: dying away (may also indicate a tempo change)
marcato: stressed, pronounced
pianoforte: soft and then immediately strong
sforzando piano: with marked emphasis, then immediately soft
sotto voce: in an undertone (whispered or unvoiced)
smorzando: becoming muffled or toned down

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 some dynamic terms, including forte, piano, più piano, and pianissimo (although written out as full words).

The fact that the harpsichord could play only "terraced" dynamics (either loud or soft, but not in between), and the fact that composers of the period did not mark gradations of dynamics in their scores, has led to the "somewhat misleading suggestion that baroque dynamics are 'terraced dynamics'," writes Robert Donington. In fact, baroque musicians constantly varied dynamics. "Light and shade must be constantly introduced... by the incessant interchange of loud and soft," wrote Johann Joachim Quantz in 1752. In addition to this, the harpsichord in fact becomes louder or softer depending on the thickness of the musical texture (four notes are louder than two). This allowed composers such as Bach to build dynamics directly into their compositions, without the need for notation.

In the Romantic period, composers greatly expanded the vocabulary for describing dynamic changes in their scores. Where Haydn and Mozart specified six levels (pp to ff), Beethoven used also ppp and fff (the latter less frequently), and Brahms used a range of terms to describe the dynamics he wanted. In the slow movement of the trio for violin, horn and piano (Opus 40), he uses the expressions ppp, molto piano, and quasi niente to express different qualities of quiet.

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