Dynamics (music)

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Dynamics (music)
The beginning of the principal theme to the third movement of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique showing examples of pianissimo (pp) and hairpins

In music, the dynamics of a piece are the variation in loudness between notes or phrases. Dynamics are indicated by specific musical notation, often in some detail. However, dynamics markings require interpretation by the performer depending on the musical context: a specific marking may correspond to a different volume between pieces or even sections of one piece. The execution of dynamics also extends beyond loudness to include changes in timbre and sometimes tempo rubato.

Contents

Purpose and interpretation

Dynamics are one of the expressive elements of music. Used effectively, dynamics help musicians sustain variety and interest in a musical performance, and communicate a particular emotional state or feeling.

Dynamic markings are always relative. [1] p (piano - "soft") never indicates a precise level of loudness; it merely indicates that music in a passage so marked should be considerably quieter than f (forte - "loud"). There are many factors affecting the interpretation of a dynamic marking. For instance, the middle of a musical phrase will normally be played louder than the beginning or end, to ensure the phrase is properly shaped, even where a passage is marked p throughout. Similarly, in multi-part music, some voices will naturally be played louder than others, for instance, to emphasize the melody and the bass line, even if a whole passage is marked at one dynamic level. Some instruments are naturally louder than others – for instance, a tuba playing mezzo-piano will likely be louder than a guitar playing forte, while a high-pitched instrument like the piccolo playing in its upper register can sound loud even when its actual decibel level is lower than that of other instruments.

Dynamic markings

Scale of dynamic markings [2]
NameLettersLevel
fortississimo
fffvery very loud
fortissimo
ffvery loud
forte
floud
mezzo-forte
mfmoderately loud
mezzo-piano
mpmoderately quiet
piano
pquiet
pianissimo
ppvery quiet
pianississimo
pppvery very quiet

The two basic dynamic indications in music are:

More subtle degrees of loudness or softness are indicated by:

Use of up to three consecutive fs or ps is also common:

There are additional special markings that are not very common:

Changes

Three Italian words are used to show gradual changes in volume:

Dynamic changes can be indicated by angled symbols. A crescendo symbol consists of two lines that open to the right ( Music-crescendo.svg ); a decrescendo symbol starts open on the left and closes toward the right ( Music-diminuendo.svg ). These symbols are sometimes referred to as hairpins or wedges. [7] The following notation indicates music starting moderately strong, then becoming gradually stronger and then gradually quieter:

Dynamics (music)

Hairpins are typically positioned below the staff (or between the two staves in a grand staff), though they may appear above, especially in vocal music or when a single performer plays multiple melody lines. They denote dynamic changes over a short duration (up to a few bars), whereas cresc., decresc., and dim. signify more gradual changes. Word directions can be extended with dashes to indicate the temporal span of the change, which can extend across multiple pages. The term morendo ("dying") may also denote a gradual reduction in both dynamics and tempo.

For pronounced dynamic shifts, cresc. molto and dim. molto are commonly used, with molto meaning "much". Conversely, poco cresc. and poco dim. indicate gentler changes, with "poco" translating to a little, or alternatively poco a poco meaning "little by little".

Sudden dynamic changes are often indicated by prefixing or suffixing subito (meaning "suddenly") to the new dynamic notation. Subito piano (abbreviated as sub. p or sp) ("suddenly soft") implies a quick, almost abrupt reduction in volume to around the p range, often employed to subvert listener expectations, signaling a more intimate expression. Although it incorporates the pianop dynamic symbol, performers have slight interpretive leeway, allowing variations based on the preceding loudness or character of the piece. Likewise, subito can mark sudden increases in volume, as in subito fortesf or subito fortissimosff, typically accentuating a single note or chord.

Accented notes are generally marked with an accent sign > placed above or below the note, emphasizing the attack relative to the prevailing dynamics. A sharper and briefer emphasis is denoted with a marcato mark ^ above the note. If a specific emphasis is required, variations of subito, forzando/forzato, or fortepiano can be used.

forzando/forzato signifies a forceful accent, abbreviated as fz. To enhance the effect, subito often precedes it as sfz (subito forzato/forzando, sforzando/sforzato). The interpretation and execution of these markings are at the performer's discretion, with forzato/forzando typically seen as a variation of marcato and subito forzando/forzato as a marcato with added tenuto. [8]

The fortepiano notation fp denotes a forte followed immediately by piano. Contrastingly, pf abbreviates poco forte, translating to "a little loud", but according to Brahms, implies a forte character with a piano sound, although rarely used due to potential confusion with pianoforte. [9]

Messa di voce is a singing technique and musical ornament on a single pitch while executing a crescendo and diminuendo.

Extreme dynamic markings

Dynamics (music)
Two measures of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C♯ minor showing dynamic markings sffff. The top two staves are both played by the right hand, the bottom two by the left.

While the typical range of dynamic markings is from ppp to fff, some pieces use additional markings of further emphasis. Extreme dynamic markings imply either a very large dynamic range or very small differences of loudness within a normal range. This kind of usage is most common in orchestral works from the late 19th century onward. Generally, these markings are supported by the orchestration of the work, with heavy forte passages brought to life by having many loud instruments like brass and percussion playing at once.

History


On Music, one of the Moralia attributed to the philosopher Plutarch in the first century AD, suggests that ancient Greek musical performance included dynamic transitions – though dynamics receive far less attention in the text than does rhythm or harmony.

The Renaissance composer Giovanni Gabrieli was one of the first to indicate dynamics in music notation. However, much of the use of dynamics in early Baroque music remained implicit and was achieved through a practice called raddoppio ("doubling") and later ripieno ("filling"), which consisted of creating a contrast between a small number of elements and then a larger number of elements (usually in a ratio of 2:1 or more) to increase the mass of sound. This practice was pivotal to the structuring of instrumental forms such as the concerto grosso and the solo concerto, where a few or one instrument, supported by harmonic basso continuo instruments (organ, lute, theorbo, harpsichord, lirone, and low register strings, such as cello or viola da gamba, often used together) variously alternate or join to create greater contrasts. This practice is usually called terraced dynamics, i.e. the alternation of piano and forte.

Later baroque musicians, such as Antonio Vivaldi, tended to use more varied dynamics. J.S. Bach used some dynamic terms, including forte, piano, più piano, and pianissimo (although written out as full words), and in some cases it may be that ppp was considered to mean pianissimo in this period. In 1752, Johann Joachim Quantz wrote that "Light and shade must be constantly introduced ... by the incessant interchange of loud and soft." [24] 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).

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 Brahms's trio for violin, horn and piano (Opus 40), he uses the expressions ppp, molto piano, and quasi niente to express different qualities of quiet. Many Romantic and later composers added più p and più f, making for a total of ten levels between ppp and fff.

An example of how effective contrasting dynamics can be may be found in the overture to Smetana’s opera The Bartered Bride . The fast scurrying quavers played pianissimo by the second violins form a sharply differentiated background to the incisive thematic statement played fortissimo by the firsts.

Smetana Bartered Bride overture, bars 30-36
Smetana Bartered Bride overture, bars 30-36 Smetana Bartered Bride overture, bars 30-36.png
Smetana Bartered Bride overture, bars 30-36

Interpretation by notation programs

Note Velocity is a MIDI measurement of the speed that the key travels from its rest position to completely depressed, with 127, the largest value in a 7-bit number, being instantaneous, and meaning as strong as possible. Play a C major chord at each dynamic from fff to ppp Dynamic's Note Velocity.svg
Note Velocity is a MIDI measurement of the speed that the key travels from its rest position to completely depressed, with 127, the largest value in a 7-bit number, being instantaneous, and meaning as strong as possible. Play a C major chord at each dynamic from fff to ppp

In some music notation programs, there are default MIDI key velocity values associated with these indications, but more sophisticated programs allow users to change these as needed. These defaults are listed in the following table for some applications, including Apple's Logic Pro 9 (2009–2013), Avid's Sibelius 5 (2007–2009), musescore.org's MuseScore 3.0 (2019), MakeMusic's Finale 26 (2018-2021), and Musitek's SmartScore X2 Pro (2016) and 64 Pro. (2021). MIDI specifies the range of key velocities as an integer between 0 and 127:

Symbolspppppppppppppppmpmfffffffffff
Logic Pro 9 dynamics [25] 163248648096112127
Sibelius 5 dynamics [26] 203961718498113127
MuseScore 3.0 dynamics [27] 510163349648096112126127
MakeMusic Finale dynamics [28] 10233649627588101114127
SmartScore X2 dynamics [29] 293846556372808997106
SmartScore 64 dynamics [30] 30405060708090100110120

The velocity effect on volume depends on the particular instrument. For instance, a grand piano has a much greater volume range than a recorder.

Relation to audio dynamics

The introduction of modern recording techniques has provided alternative ways to control the dynamics of music. Dynamic range compression is used to control the dynamic range of a recording, or a single instrument. This can affect loudness variations, both at the micro- [31] and macro scale. [32] In many contexts, the meaning of the term dynamics is therefore not immediately clear. To distinguish between the different aspects of dynamics, the term performed dynamics can be used to refer to the aspects of music dynamics that is controlled exclusively by the performer. [33]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ So stark anreißen, daß die Saiten an das Holz anschlagen.

Related Research Articles

In musical terminology, tempo, also known as beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given composition. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece and is usually measured in beats per minute (BPM). In modern classical compositions, a "metronome mark" in beats per minute may supplement or replace the normal tempo marking, while in modern genres like electronic dance music, tempo will typically simply be stated in BPM.

A variety of musical terms are encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special musical meanings of these phrases differ from the original or current Italian meanings. Most of the other terms are taken from French and German, indicated by Fr. and Ger., respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Sonata No. 23 (Beethoven)</span>

Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 is among the three famous piano sonatas of his middle period ; it was composed during 1804 and 1805, and perhaps 1806, and Beethoven dedicated it to cellist and his friend, Count Franz Brunswick. The first edition was published in February 1807 in Vienna.

In music, an accent is an emphasis, stress, or stronger attack placed on a particular note or set of notes, or chord, either because of its context or specifically indicated by an accent mark. Accents contribute to the articulation and prosody of a performance of a musical phrase. Accents may be written into a score or part by a composer, or added by the performer as part of their interpretation of a musical piece.

<i>Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis</i> 1910 composition by Ralph Vaughan Williams

Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, also known as the Tallis Fantasia, is a one-movement work for string orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams. The theme is by the 16th-century English composer Thomas Tallis. The Fantasia was first performed at Gloucester Cathedral as part of the 1910 Three Choirs Festival, and has entered the orchestral repertoire, with frequent concert performances and recordings by conductors and orchestras of various countries.

Sergei Prokofiev set to work on his Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16, in 1912 and completed it the next year. However, that version of the concerto is lost; the score was destroyed in a fire following the Russian Revolution. Prokofiev reconstructed the work in 1923, two years after finishing his Piano Concerto No. 3, and declared it to be "so completely rewritten that it might almost be considered [Piano Concerto] No. 4." Indeed, its orchestration has features that clearly postdate the 1921 concerto. Performing as soloist, Prokofiev premiered this "No. 2" in Paris on 8 May 1924 with Serge Koussevitzky conducting. It is dedicated to the memory of Maximilian Schmidthof, a friend of Prokofiev's at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, who had committed suicide in April 1913 after having written a farewell letter to Prokofiev.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto No. 1 (Liszt)</span>

Franz Liszt composed his Piano Concerto No. 1 in E♭ major, S.124 over a 26-year period; the main themes date from 1830, while the final version is dated 1849. The concerto consists of four movements and lasts approximately 20 minutes. It premiered in Weimar on February 17, 1855, with Liszt at the piano and Hector Berlioz conducting.

The Two Romanian Dances, Op. 8a, are a piano work written by Béla Bartók, based on Romanian folk music. Written in 1910, they date from the beginning of his interest in folk music — his first work showing strong folk influence, the String Quartet No. 1, is from just two years before. However, the Dances show that he has already seamlessly incorporated folk idioms into his musical language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violin Sonata No. 3 (Brahms)</span>

Johannes Brahms's Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108 is the last of his violin sonatas, composed between 1886 and 1888. Unlike the two previous violin sonatas, it is in four movements. The sonata is dedicated to Brahms' friend and colleague Hans von Bülow and was premiered in Budapest in 1888, with Jenő Hubay on violin and the composer at the piano.

Franz Schubert's Piano Sonata in A minor, D 784, is one of Schubert's major compositions for the piano. Schubert composed the work in February 1823, perhaps as a response to his illness the year before. It was however not published until 1839, eleven years after his death. It was given the opus number 143 and a dedication to Felix Mendelssohn by its publishers. The D 784 sonata, Schubert's last to be in three movements, is seen by many to herald a new era in Schubert's output for the piano, and to be a profound and sometimes almost obsessively tragic work.

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Robert Simpson composed his Seventh Symphony in 1977, the same year he completed his Sixth Symphony. Composition was begun 26 September and concluded 23 October in Chearsley. The work is dedicated to Hans Keller and his wife, Milein Keller, and was first performed by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Brian Wright at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool on 30 October 1984. It is a one-movement work of approximately 28 minutes duration, and since its first performance it has become one of Simpson's most frequently heard symphonies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">String Quartets, Op. 20 (Haydn)</span> Six string quartets by Joseph Haydn

The six string quartets Op. 20 by Joseph Haydn are among the works that earned Haydn the sobriquet "the father of the string quartet". The quartets are considered a milestone in the history of composition; in them, Haydn develops compositional techniques that were to define the medium for the next 200 years.

Le festin d'Ésope, Op. 39 No. 12, is a piano étude by Charles-Valentin Alkan. It is the final étude in the set Douze études dans tous les tons mineurs, Op. 39, published in 1857. It is a work of twenty-five variations based on an original theme and is in E minor. The technical skills required in the variations are a summation of the preceding études.

Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 3 in A minor, Op. 28 (1917) is a sonata composed for solo piano, using sketches dating from 1907. Prokofiev gave the première of this in Saint Petersburg on 15 April 1918, during a week-long festival of his music sponsored by the Conservatory.

<i>Prelude and Fugue on a Theme of Vittoria</i> Solo organ composed by Benjamin Britten

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Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet is a solo instrumental work by Igor Stravinsky. The work was composed in 1918. It was published in 1919, shortly after the completion of his Suite from L'Histoire du Soldat, as a thank-you gift to the philanthropist and arts patron Werner Reinhart, who was also an amateur clarinetist. The Three Pieces is perhaps the most well-known work for unaccompanied clarinet in the repertoire. It is also notable for being one of the few clarinet solo pieces that calls for clarinets in both B♭ and A.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imperial Edward</span>

"Imperial Edward" is an American military march composed in 1902 by John Philip Sousa, and dedicated to Edward VII, King of the United Kingdom. Sousa received permission to dedicate the march to Edward VII during a conversation with the royal family after his command performance concert at Sandringham on December 1, 1901. The march was premiered by Sousa's band in Montreal on May 21, 1902. Sousa would later conduct the piece for King Edward in January 1903, during a performance at Windsor Castle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Dauntless Battalion</span> American Military March from 1922

"The Dauntless Battalion" is an American military march by John Philip Sousa, published in 1922 and dedicated to the faculty and cadets of the Pennsylvania Military College (PMC) in Chester, Pennsylvania, known since 1972 as Widener University. Sousa received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the college in February 1920. Ohio senator and future president Warren G. Harding was also honored with an honorary degree.

References

  1. ↑ Thiemel, Matthias. "Dynamics". Grove Music Online (subscriber-only access). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  2. ↑ Read, Gardner (1969/1979). Music Notation: A Manual of Modern Practice, p.250. 2nd edition. Crescendo Publishing, part of Taplinger Publishing. ISBN   0-8008-5453-5.
  3. 1 2 Randel, Don Michael (2003). The Harvard Dictionary of Music (4th ed.). Cambridge, MA, US: Harvard University Press Reference Library.
  4. ↑ "Piano". Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary. Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
  5. ↑ "Forte". Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary. Archived from the original on 20 October 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
  6. 1 2 "Dynamics". Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
  7. ↑ Kennedy, Michael and Bourne, Joyce: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music (1996), entry "Hairpins".
  8. ↑ Gerou, Tom; Lusk, Linda (1996). Essential Dictionary of Music Notation: The Most Practical and Concise Source for Music Notation. Van Nuys, CA: Alfred Music Publishing. pp. 37–38. ISBN   978-0882847306.
  9. ↑ An Enigmatic Marking Explained, by Jeffrey Solow, Violoncello Society Newsletter, Spring 2000
  10. ↑ Holst, Gustav (1921). The Planets. London: Goodwin & Tabb. pp. 29, 42, 159. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  11. ↑ Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyitch (1979). Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Symphonies in Full Score. New York: Dover Publications. First movement, just before Allegro vivo. ISBN   048623861X. OCLC   6414366.
  12. ↑ Nikolayev, Aleksandr (ed.). P.I. Tchaikovsky: Complete Collected Works, Vol. 25. p. 79. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  13. ↑ Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyich (1979). Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Symphonies in Full Score. New York: Dover Publications. pp. 18, 65 [on PDF]. ISBN   048623861X. OCLC   6414366.
  14. ↑ See imslp- p.88, Andante non tanto.
  15. ↑ (1965). The Musical Times , Vol. 106. Novello.
  16. ↑ Rachmaninoff, Sergei (1911). Thümer, Otto Gustav (ed.). Album Book I. Op. 3, Nos. 1–5. London: Augener. p. 5. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  17. ↑ Mahler, Gustav (1909). Symphonie No. 7. Leipzig: Eulenburg. p. 229. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  18. ↑ Nielsen, Carl. Fjeldsøe, Michael (ed.). Vaerker, Series II, No.5. p. 128. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  19. ↑ Ferneyhough, Brian (1982). Lemma-Icon-Epigram. London: Edition Peters 7233.
  20. ↑ "Extremes of Conventional Music Notation".
  21. ↑ Kirzinger, Robert. "György Ligeti – Cello Concerto". allmusic. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  22. ↑ "György Ligeti – Études for Piano (Book 2), No. 9 [3/9]". YouTube. 6 April 2015. Event occurs at 3:34. Archived from the original on 2 November 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  23. ↑ "György Ligeti – Études for Piano (Book 2), No. 13 [7/9]". YouTube. 2 September 2015. Event occurs at 5:12–5:14. Archived from the original on 2 November 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  24. ↑ Donington, Robert: Baroque Music (1982) WW Norton, 1982. ISBN   0-393-30052-8. Page 33.
  25. ↑ "Logic Pro X: Use step input recording techniques" . Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  26. ↑ Spreadbury, Daniel; Eastwood, Michael; Finn, Ben; and Finn, Jonathan (March 2008). Sibelius 5 Reference. Edition 5.2. Sibelius Software.
  27. ↑ "Handbook 3.0, Dynamics".
  28. ↑ MakeMusic, Inc. Finale (Version 26), Expression Dialog Box, Note Expression Selection. Finale (26.1.0.397) Software.
  29. ↑ Musitek Corp. Smartscore X2 Software.
  30. ↑ Musitek Corp. Smartscore 64 Software.
  31. ↑ Katz, Robert (2002). Mastering Audio. Amsterdam: Boston. p. 109. ISBN   0-240-80545-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  32. ↑ Deruty, Emmanuel (September 2011). "'Dynamic Range' & The Loudness War". Sound on Sound. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  33. ↑ Elowsson, Anders; Friberg, Anders (2017). "Predicting the perception of performed dynamics in music audio with ensemble learning" (PDF). The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 141 (3): 2224–2242. Bibcode:2017ASAJ..141.2224E. doi:10.1121/1.4978245. PMID   28372147. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 January 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
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