Basic Music Theory: How to Read, Write, and Understand Written Music

Interlude: Musical Terms

Grow Gradually

In the Romantic era—around 1800—composers began writing music

which contained sections that would grow gradually louder or softer.

Up until this time, dynamic changes were usually abrupt. This new

technique needed a name. What did they do? They used Italian of

course.

To grow gradually louder is to crescendo (kra-SHEN-doe), and to

grow gradually softer is to decrescendo (DEE-kra-SHEN-doe). Below

are the symbols used to show this:

You may also see the abbreviations cresc. or decresc.

Another term for becoming gradually quieter is diminuendo (dim.).

Articulations

Articulation is a fancy way to say note length. Depending on your

instrument, there are many ways to change the length of a note. For

example, with wind instruments the breath and the tongue are used; for

bowed instruments like violin, viola, cello and double bass, the bow is

used; for piano (the instrument, not the dynamic) articulation is

controlled by how long the keys are held down.

Articulations are indicated with a symbol which appears either above or

below the note head. Articulations can also be shown by simply writing

out the whole word under the notes to be affected.

mezzo piano (mp) medium quiet

mezzo forte (mf) medium loud

forte (f) loud

fortissimo (ff) very loud

DYNAMIC MARKING MEANING

crescendo decrescendo