Appendix C

Dynamics Reference Chart

Dynamics Dynamics are the degrees and shadings of volume Ñ loudness and softness Ñ in a musical piece or performance. The written symbols, words, and abbreviations that are included in the music to indicate those degrees and shadings are called Òdynamic marks.Ó   By tradition and convention, the terms employed for dynamics are Italian. This doesn't mean that they have to be pronounced with an Italian accent, though, even if it's a pretty good Italian accent. ÒMusicians' ItalianÓ long ago became an international language, and it's normal for the terms to take on the flavor of local pronunciation. There's one exception: a final ÒeÓ is pronounced Òay,Ó as in Òday.Ó The word forte, for example, is pronounced Òfortay,Ó and sempre is Òsempray.Ó   Dynamics are indicated in the music below the notes or passages to which they refer. Here are the most common terms for dynamics, their definitions, and the ways they're marked in printed music:   Dynamic Definition Dynamic mark

Dynamic	Definition	Dynamic mark
piano	soft	p
pianissimo (sometimes called Òdouble pianoÓ)	very soft	pp
mezzo piano	medium, or moderately soft	mp
pi piano	softer ( pi> means ÒmoreÓ; implies the dynamic is already piano)	pi p
meno piano	louder ( meno means ÒlessÓ)	meno p
forte	loud	f
fortissimo (sometimes called Òdouble forteÓ)	very loud	ff
mezzo forte	medium, or moderately loud	mf
pi forte	louder (implies the dynamic is already forte)	pi f
meno forte	softer	meno f
poco forte	somewhat loud, or not too loud ( poco means Òa littleÓ; an ambiguous marking, favored by Johannes Brahms, among others)	poco f
sempre piano	remain soft	sempre p
sempre forte	remain loud ( sempre means Òalways,Ó or ÒstillÓ)	sempre f
sforzando, sforzato	strongly accented (applies to a single note or chord; sforzando means Òforcing,Ó sforzato means ÒforcedÓ; the terms are equivalent)	sf or sfz
forzando, forzato	strongly accented (same as sforzando)	fz
forte-piano	loud, immediately followed by soft (usually on the same note)	fp
crescendo	getting louder	crescendo or cresc.
decrescendo	getting softer	decrescendo, decresc., or decr.
diminuendo	getting softer ( decrescendo means Òdecreasing,Ó diminuendo means ÒdiminishingÓ; the terms are equivalent)	diminuendo, dimin., or dim.
(The words poco a poco, Òlittle by little,Ó are occasionally added either before or after crescendo, decrescendo, or diminuendo.)
morendo	fading away (literally, ÒdyingÓ)	morendo

 How loud is loud and how soft is soft? That's up to the performer to decide. Loud and soft are not exact measurements, and dynamic marks Ñ like tempo markings Ñ always require interpretation. The style of the piece, the nature of the specific musical material, the acoustics of the performing space, the size and characteristics of the instrumental and/or vocal forces and the balancing of those forces to bring out the important musical lines Ñ all must be taken into account in choosing actual volume levels. Shaping and shading dynamics, in fact, is one of the most important aspects of a musician's responsibility in performing a piece. It's also one of the areas where individual (and group) differences in interpretation and musical ideas are most apparent.   Dynamics are relative. Forte is louder than mezzo forte, and mezzo piano is louder than pianissimo. The relationships that count, however, are within the same piece. It doesn't mean anything to compare the fortissimo in one piece with the forte in another Ñ one piece may be for solo harpsichord and the other for a phalanx of trombones Ñ but within the same piece those comparisons are crucial because they give a clear indication of the relative volume levels the composer has in mind. Because of individual differences in taste or capacity, one performer's forte may be louder than another's even when interpreting the same piece Ñ I play TOMATO, you play TOMATO Ñ but for that piece each performer's forte should still be less loud than his own fortissimo. Faithfulness to a composer's intentions is a matter of keeping proportions, not counting decibels.   Up until and throughout the Baroque period (ca. 1600Ð1750), however, a composer's intentions regarding dynamics had to be deduced mainly from the character and patterns of the music and the stylistic conventions of the time, because dynamic marks in music were infrequent. Most of J. S. Bach's works, for example, include no dynamic marks at all. And even during the Classical era (ca. 1775Ð1820), dynamic marks provided only a skeleton. In the music of Haydn and Mozart, for instance, f's and p's are common, but ff, pp, and crescendo appear infrequently, diminuendo even more infrequently, and mf and mp never. Haydn and Mozart and their contemporaries assumed that, for the most part, well-educated performers would know when a musical phrase required a crescendo or diminuendo, and that good musicians would use good taste in managing the subtle dynamic shadings and gradations necessary during the course of a piece.   It was Ludwig van Beethoven (1770Ð1827) who started the practice of providing much more detailed indications of dynamics, and most composers since Beethoven's time have followed his example. A number of these composers, including late-nineteenth-century composers like Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky and turn-of-the-century composers like Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss, expanded the range of dynamic marks to include such indications as ppp and fff, with even an occasional ffff or ppppp. Some might consider these amplifications a devaluation of the currency, since even in the mighty final movement of his Ninth Symphony, with a big chorus and orchestra going full guns, Beethoven never felt the need to mark anything more than ff. But if a composer marks a passage fff and nowhere else in the piece goes above ff, it's certainly clear where the loudest point in the piece is supposed to be.   The ending - issimo means Òvery,Ó as in forte- fortissimo, piano- pianissimo. But what do you call fff, or ppp? Not to worry, the Italians have a solution: just add another iss. The term for fff in Italian is fortississimo, with the accent on the second iss, and ppp is pianississimo. Four p's would be pianissississimo, and five would be pianississississimo. In these cases, however, linguistic discretion is often the better part of pronunciatory valor: terms such as triple forte and quadruple piano convey the necessary information, and they're a lot easier to say. 