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DYNAMICS
You knew they’d come along sometime!!!
Dynamic Marks, or the abbreviations of those marks, indicate the graduations of loudness
or softness with which music is performed. Dynamic Marks were not used by composers
until the early seventeenth century, but by the middle of the eighteenth century all the
present-day marks were in common use.
Here are the Dynamic Marks we come across fairly frequently, they are usually written in
Italian.
Abbreviation or Sign Term Meaning
ppp Pianississimo As softly as possible
pp Pianissimo Very softly
p Piano Softly
mp Mezzo – Piano Moderately softly
mf Mezzo – Forte Moderately loudly
f Forte Loudly
ff Fortissimo Very loudly
fff Fortississimo As loudly as possible
sf sforzando sharply accented
cresc. Crescendo Gradually louder
decresc. Decrescendo Gradually softer
dim. Diminuendo Gradually softer
