An overview of the musical terms related to the dynamics, or loudness, of music, including accents.
Dynamics
Sounds, including music, can be barely audible, or loud enough to hurt your ears, or anywhere in between. When they want to talk about the loudness of a sound, scientists and engineers talk about
amplitude . Musicians talk about
dynamics . The amplitude of a sound is a particular number, usually measured in decibels, but dynamics are relative; an orchestra playing
fortissimo sounds much louder than a single violin playing
fortissimo . The exact interpretation of each dynamic marking in a piece of music depends on:
comparison with other dynamics in that piece
the typical dynamic range for that instrument or ensemble
the abilities of the performer(s)
the traditions of the musical genre being performed
the acoustics of the performance space
Traditionally, dynamic markings are based on Italian words, although there is nothing wrong with simply writing things like "quietly" or "louder" in the music.
Forte means loud and
piano means quiet. The instrument commonly called the "piano" by the way, was originally called a "pianoforte" because it could play dynamics, unlike earlier popular keyboard instruments like the harpsichord and spinet.
Typical dynamic markings
When a composer writes a
forte into a part, followed by a
piano , the intent is for the music to be loud, and then suddenly quiet. If the composer wants the change from one dynamic level to another to be gradual, different markings are added. A
crescendo (pronounced "cresh-EN-doe") means "gradually get louder"; a
decrescendo or
diminuendo means "gradually get quieter".
Gradual dynamic markings
Here are three different ways to write the same thing: start softly (piano), gradually get louder (crescendo) until the music is loud (forte), then gradually get quieter (decrescendo or diminuendo) until it is quiet (piano) again.
Accents
A composer may want a particular note to be louder than all the rest, or may want the very beginning of a note to be loudest.
Accents are markings that are used to indicate these especially-strong-sounding notes. There are a few different types of written accents (see
[link] ), but, like dynamics, the proper way to perform a given accent also depends on the instrument playing it, as well as the style and period of the music. Some accents may even be played by making the note longer or shorter than the other notes, in addition to, or even instead of being, louder. (See
articulation for more about accents.)
Common accents
The exact performance of each type of accent depends on the instrument and the style and period of the music, but the
sforzando and
fortepiano -type accents are usually louder and longer, and more likely to be used in a long note that starts loudly and then suddenly gets much softer.
Caret -type accents are more likely to be used to mark shorter notes that should be stronger than unmarked notes.
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