Musical Dynamics

Musical Dynamics indicate the loudness of music. We use the Italian terms piano and forte to indicate soft and loud. They are usually abbreviated p and f.

We can also add the word mezzo (m) to p and f to create mp (mezzo-piano) and mf (mezzo-forte). Mezzo-piano (mp) is moderately soft and mezzo-forte (mf) is moderately loud.

More than one p or f indicates a softer or louder dynamic, such as pp or fff.

List of Dynamics:

  • fff ---- louder than ff
  • ff ----- fortissimo ------ louder than f
  • f ------ forte -------------- loudly
  • mf --- mezzo-forte ------ moderately loud
  • mp -- mezzo-piano ----- moderately soft
  • p ----- piano -------------- softly
  • pp --- pianissimo ------ softer than p
  • ppp - softer than pp