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.
Questions & Answers
A golfer on a fairway is 70 m away from the green, which sits below the level of the fairway by 20 m. If the golfer hits the ball at an angle of 40° with an initial speed of 20 m/s, how close to the green does she come?
A mouse of mass 200 g falls 100 m down a vertical mine shaft and lands at the bottom with a speed of 8.0 m/s. During its fall, how much work is done on the mouse by air resistance
Chemistry is a branch of science that deals with the study of matter,it composition,it structure and the changes it undergoes
Adjei
please, I'm a physics student and I need help in physics
Adjanou
chemistry could also be understood like the sexual attraction/repulsion of the male and female elements. the reaction varies depending on the energy differences of each given gender. + masculine -female.
Pedro
A ball is thrown straight up.it passes a 2.0m high window 7.50 m off the ground on it path up and takes 1.30 s to go past the window.what was the ball initial velocity
2. A sled plus passenger with total mass 50 kg is pulled 20 m across the snow (0.20) at constant velocity by a force directed 25° above the horizontal. Calculate (a) the work of the applied force, (b) the work of friction, and (c) the total work.
you have been hired as an espert witness in a court case involving an automobile accident. the accident involved car A of mass 1500kg which crashed into stationary car B of mass 1100kg. the driver of car A applied his brakes 15 m before he skidded and crashed into car B. after the collision, car A s
can someone explain to me, an ignorant high school student, why the trend of the graph doesn't follow the fact that the higher frequency a sound wave is, the more power it is, hence, making me think the phons output would follow this general trend?
Nevermind i just realied that the graph is the phons output for a person with normal hearing and not just the phons output of the sound waves power, I should read the entire thing next time
Joseph
Follow up question, does anyone know where I can find a graph that accuretly depicts the actual relative "power" output of sound over its frequency instead of just humans hearing
Joseph
"Generation of electrical energy from sound energy | IEEE Conference Publication | IEEE Xplore" ***ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7150687?reload=true
A string is 3.00 m long with a mass of 5.00 g. The string is held taut with a tension of 500.00 N applied to the string. A pulse is sent down the string. How long does it take the pulse to travel the 3.00 m of the string?
