Dynamics (music)

In music, the dynamics of a piece is the variation in loudness between notes or phrases. Dynamics are indicated by specific musical notation, often in some detail. However, dynamics markings still require interpretation by the performer depending on the musical context: for instance, a piano/p (quiet) marking in one part of a piece might have quite different objective loudness in another piece or even a different section of the same piece. The execution of dynamics also extends beyond loudness to include changes in timbre and sometimes tempo rubato.
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. never indicates a precise level of loudness, it merely indicates that music in a passage so marked should be considerably quieter than . 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 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 "piano" will likely be louder than a guitar playing "fortissimo", while a high-pitched instrument like the piccolo playing in its upper register can usually sound loud even when its actual decibel level is lower than that of other instruments.
Dynamic markings.
The two basic dynamic indications in music are:
More subtle degrees of loudness or softness are indicated by:
Use of up to three consecutive s or s is also common:
Changes.
Three Italian words are used to show gradual changes in volume:
Signs sometimes referred to as "hairpins" are also used to stand for these words (See image). If the angle lines open up (), then the indication is to get louder; if they close gradually (), the indication is to get softer. The following notation indicates music starting moderately strong, then becoming gradually stronger and then gradually quieter:
<score lang="lilypond">
 \relative c" {
 \time 4/4
 \override DynamicLineSpanner.staff-padding = #2.5
 a4._\mf\< gis16 a\! c4.\> b8\! a4
</score>
Hairpins are usually written below the staff (or between the two staves in a grand 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 (at most a few bars), while ', ' and "" are generally used for changes over a longer period. Word directions can be extended with dashes to indicate over what time the event should occur, which may be as long as multiple pages. The word "morendo" ("dying") is also sometimes used for a gradual reduction in dynamics (and tempo).
For greater changes in dynamics, ' and ' are often used, where the "molto" means "much". Similarly, for more gradual changes ' and ' are used, where "poco" translates as "a little", or alternatively with "poco a poco" meaning "little by little".
Sudden changes in dynamics may be notated by adding the word "subito" (meaning "suddenly") as a prefix or suffix to the new dynamic notation. "Subito piano ("abbreviated "") ("suddenly soft") indicates that the dynamics quickly, almost abruptly, lower the volume to approximately the range. It is often purposefully used to subvert the listener's expectation and will signify an intimate expression. Although it uses the "piano" dynamic symbol, the performer has slight freedom in their interpretation, causing it to vary based on the preceding loudness or character of the piece.
Accented notes can be notated "sforzando", "sforzato", "forzando" or "forzato" (abbreviated , , or ) ("forcing" or "forced"), or using the sign >, placed above or below the head of the note.
"Sforzando" (or "sforzato", "forzando", "forzato") indicates a forceful accent and is abbreviated as , or . 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 indicates a "forte" followed immediately by "piano". By contrast, is an abbreviation for "poco forte", literally "a little loud" but (according to Brahms) meaning "with the character of forte, but the sound of piano", though rarely used because of possible confusion with "pianoforte".
Extreme dynamic markings.
While the typical range of dynamic markings is from to , some pieces use additional markings of further emphasis. Extreme dynamic markings imply an extreme range of loudness, or, alternatively, imply an extremely subtle distinction between very small differences of loudness within a normal range. This kind of usage is most common in orchestral works from the late 19th-century onwards. Generally, these markings are supported by the orchestration of the work, with heavy forte markings brought to life by having many loud instruments like brass and percussion playing at once.
In Holst's "The Planets", occurs twice in "Mars" and once in "Uranus", often punctuated by organ. Tchaikovsky marks a bassoon solo (6 s) in his "Pathétique" Symphony and uses in passages of his "1812 Overture" and his Fifth Symphony. The baritone passage "Era la notte" from Verdi's opera "Otello" uses , though the same spot is marked in the full score. Igor Stravinsky used at the end of the finale of the 1919 "Firebird Suite". Sergei Rachmaninoff uses in his Prelude in C, Op. 3 No. 2. Gustav Mahler, in the third movement of his Seventh Symphony, gives the celli and basses a marking of (5 s), along with a footnote directing 'pluck so hard that the strings hit the wood'. On the other extreme, Carl Nielsen, in the second movement of his Fifth Symphony, marked a passage for woodwinds a diminuendo to (5 s), and the original piano version of F. W. Meacham's American Patrol begins at and ends at . György Ligeti uses extreme dynamics in his music: the Cello Concerto begins with a passage marked (8 s) and in his Piano Études Étude No. 9 ("Vertige") ends with a diminuendo to (8 s), while Étude No. 13 ("L'Escalier du Diable") contains a passage marked (6 s) that progresses to a (8 s).
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, but dynamics were used sparingly by composers until the late 18th century. 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 was considered to mean "pianissimo" in this period.
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: in 1752, Johann Joachim Quantz wrote that "Light and shade must be constantly introduced ... by the incessant interchange of loud and soft." 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 like J.S. 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 ( to ), Beethoven used also and (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 , "molto piano", and "quasi niente" to express different qualities of quiet. Many Romantic and later composers added ' and ', making for a total of ten levels between and .
Interpretation by notation programs.
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), and MakeMusic's Finale 26 (2018-2021). MIDI specifies the range of key velocities as an integer between 0 and 127:
According to General MIDI recommendations gain in dB = −40 × log10("volume"/127) (that is the square of the volume value is proportional to the linear gain). The velocity effect on volume depends on the particular instrument.
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- and macro scale. 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.