Chapter 7:Tempo, Dynamics, and Navigation 81
When you see a fermata, hold the note.Getting Loud—and Getting Soft
You now know how to indicate how fast or how slow a song should be played.
How do you indicate how loud or how soft you should play it?Dynamic Markings
A song’s dynamics indicate how loud or soft you should play. In the world of
music notation, there is a set range of volume levels, from very soft to very
loud, that you use to indicate the dynamic level of a piece of music. These
dynamic markings are shown in the following table:Dynamic Markings
Marking Dynamic Means ...
ppp pianississimo Very, very soft
pp pianissimo Very soft
p piano Soft
mp mezzo piano Medium soft
mf mezzo forte Medium loud
f forte Loud
ff fortissimo Very loud
fff fortississimo Very, very loudThe dynamic marking, just like the tempo marking, typically appears at the
beginning of the song. If you don’t see a dynamic marking, that means the song
should be played at a medium volume.Use dynamic markings to indicate how loud a song should be played.
Changing Dynamics
Dynamics can—and do—change throughout the course of a piece of music.