Words/phrases indicating changes of dynamics
(In Italian unless otherwise indicated)
- al niente: to nothing; fade to silence
- calando: becoming smaller
- crescendo: becoming louder
- da niente: from nothing; out of silence
- decrescendo or diminuendo: becoming softer
- in rilievo: in relief (French en dehors: outwards); indicates that a particular instrument or part is to play louder than the others so as to stand out over the ensemble. In the circle of Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg (13 September 1874 – 13 July 1951) was an Austrian and later American composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School. He used the spelling Schönberg until after his move to the United States in 1934 (Steinberg 1995, 463), "in deference to American, this expression had been replaced by the letter "H" (for German, "Hauptstimme"), with an added horizontal line at the letter's top, pointing to the right, the end of this passage to be marked by the symbol " ┐ ".
- perdendo or perdendosi: losing volume, fading into nothing, dying away
- morendo: dying away (may also indicate a tempo change)
- marcato: stressed, pronounced
- sotto voce Sotto voce means to speak under one's breath. In music, a dramatic lowering of the vocal or instrumental tone — not necessarily pianissimo, but with a hushed quality. An example of Sotto voce is in the Lacrimosa from Mozart's Requiem Mass in D Minor. The singers lower their volume in order to attain the 'hushed' quality desired: soft, subtle
<<Table of Contents In music, dynamics normally refers to the volume of a sound or note, but can also refer to every aspect of the execution of a given piece, either stylistic or functional (velocity). The term is also applied to the written or printed musical notation used to indicate dynamics | Next>> | Show All>>
