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Music Terminology Reference
Tempo & Dynamics
WCPE's evening program is called "Allegro"... have you ever wondered what that term means? This page is designed as a sort of primer to some basic terminology found in classical music.
Many of the terms used by composers are Italian. Although some have deliberately used their native tongues to give performance direction (i.e., Brahms, Wagner), the practice of using Italian terms continues to this day. Below is a brief list of them and the corresponding meaning.
Fast or slow?
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Tempo | Time/Number of beats per minute |
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Largo | Very slow |
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Adagio | Slow |
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Andante | Moderate (neither slow nor fast) |
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Allegretto | Between moderate and fast |
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Allegro | Fast |
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Presto | Very fast |
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Prestissimo | Too fast! (Actually, the best translation is "as fast as possible".) |
Loud or soft?
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Piano | When used in music score, it means "soft". (symbol is "p") |
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Forte | Loud (symbol is "f")
(Little known trivia fact: the piano [instrument] was actually known by the more formal name of 'fortepiano' because, as the combination of those two Italian words suggests, it could be loud and soft at the same time; as contrasted with the harpsichord.) |
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Mezzo-piano | Moderately soft (symbol is "mp") |
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Mezzo-forte | Moderately loud (symbol is "mf") |
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Sforzando | Suddenly loud (symbol is "sfz") |
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Pianissimo | Very soft (symbol is "pp") |
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Fortissimo | Very loud (symbol is "ff") |
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Pianississimo | As soft as possible while still making a sound (symbol is "ppp") |
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Fortississimo | As loud as possible (symbol is "fff") |
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