Playing Music with Flexible Dynamics
Reading Dynamics
Dynamics are a fundamental part of reading and performing music. They guide the volume that we play and they give us a great deal of information about how the music is supposed to feel. However, dynamics are often not quite as detailed and helpful as you may expect.
There are 6 main dynamics that you might find in a piece of music:
pp - pianissimo - very quiet
p - piano - quiet
mp - mezzo piano - moderately quiet
mf - mezzo forte - moderately loud
f - forte - loud
ff - fortissimo - very loud
You may also see additional “p”’s added to “pp” to make the music even quieter, or more “f”’s added to “ff” to make the music even louder. There is also “crescendos” and “diminuendos” written into music to gradually increase or decrease the volume of the music.
However, the dynamics within a piece of music are not the entire story and often leave a lot up to interpretation. Often dynamics are shown over large sections to tell us the general volume of the section, but within these dynamics we have a degree of freedom to express and shape the music.
2. Shaping the Music
Historically, the volume and the timing that you chose to play the notes in a piece of music help an audience to understand what they are listening to. When we speak, the pitch, volume and speed that we chose to say the words help us interpret the sentiment and ultimately the meaning behind what you are saying. Music is much the same!
If we have a 4 bar phrase of music that has the dynamic “mf” shown for the full 4 bars. This tells us that generally the music is going to be confidently present but not too overly confronting - not too loud, not too quiet. However, within this general feeling that the written dynamic tells us, we can make allowances for what the notes themselves tell us about the volume that we should play.
Often as the pitch of the music rises, the volume will rise with it. Similarly, as the pitch of the music falls the volume will fall with it. The changing of texture in the music (how many notes and how spread out those notes are) can also inform subtle changes in volume. You can also taper off dynamics as a phrase is ending to show that the sentence has finished. Like the tapering and moment of silence we leave in speech between sentences.
The key is that the dynamic is implying a feeling rather than a strict volume to play and within that dynamic we can shape the music to show and highlight the features of the music itself.
3. The Non-Typical Situations
The romantic period of music (c.1830-1900) and beyond is much more descriptive in terms of the dynamics shown. This is because composers had a very clear idea of what sound they were trying to create and moved away from relying on performers interpretation of the music as much.
In earlier music (baroque and classical) more descriptive sections of the music are often used when the dynamics defy expectation. Let’s say we have a section of the music where it is ascending in pitch and getting thicker in texture. In this situation, our natural instinct would be to grow in volume. However, if we have a moment in the music where we are defying expectations and instead the composers want us to get quieter instead. This would be shown clearly and descriptively with the dynamics.
This is to say that, just because sections of the music have dynamics that don’t change for several bars doesn’t mean that the expectation is that the volume doesn’t change. Dynamics determine the overarching feeling and the notes themselves determine your more specific volume within that. Only in sections that defy expectations can we expect to see thorough, written out dynamics, particularly in earlier music…the rest is up to you to interpret and express and this is why we can often see two players playing the same piece in very different ways!
Matthew Cawood
(This is from my “Monday Music Tips“ weekly email newsletter. Join my mailing list to be emailed with future posts.)