Musical Signs and Symbols
Dynamic Marks
ppp pianississimo – extremely quiet
pp pianissimo – very quiet
p piano – quiet
mp mezzo piano – moderately quiet, louder than piano
mf mezzo forte – moderately loud, quieter than forte
f forte – loud
ff fortissimo – very loud
fff fortississimo – extremely loud
sfz sforzando – suddenly loud
fp fortepiano – begin loudly, then immediately become quiet
Articulation Marks
Staccato – the note should sound detached and bouncy
Staccatissimo – even more detached than staccato
Tenuto – this note should be emphasized or stressed
Fermata / Pause – hold his note longer than its written value
Accent – play this note louder and with more attack
Marcato – even more attack than an accent
Accidentals
Flat – play the note a semitone lower than written
Sharp – play the note a semitone higher than written
Natural – cancels out any sharps or flats indicated by previous accidentals or the key signature
Double flat - play the note 2 semitones lower than written
Double Sharp – play the note 2 semitones higher than written
Octave Signs
Ornaments
Slur – looks like a tie but joins one or more notes of different pitches together. It means that the notes contained in the slur should be played smoothly (legato)
Glissando – Move from the bottom note to the top note, playing all of the pitches in between very quickly
Arpeggiated Chord – play the notes of this chord separately and quickly
Trill – start on the next highest note according to the signature, and alternate between the 2 notes very rapidly
Upper Mordent – rapidly play this note followed by the next highest note according to the key signature, followed by this note again
Lower Mordent – rapidly play this note followed by the next lowest note according to the key signature, followed by this note again
Turn – this note is played with this pattern:
Grace Notes
Appoggiatura – this grace note is played on the beat, quickly followed by the main note which lands after the beat
Acciaccatura – this grace note is played before the beat, quickly followed by the main note which lands on the beat
Tempo
Larghissimo – extremely slow, slowest type of tempo (24 bpm and under)
Grave – very slow, very slow and solemn (24-40 bpm)
Largo – slow and broad (40–66 bpm)
Larghetto – rather slow and broad (44–66 bpm)
Adagio – slow with great expression (44–68 bpm)
Lento – slow (52–108 bpm)
Andante – at a walking pace, moderately slow (56–108 bpm)
Andantino – slightly faster than andante, slower than moderato (80–108 bpm)
Moderato – at a moderate speed (86–126 bpm)
Allegretto –moderately fast (76–120 bpm)
Allegro moderato – close to, but not quite allegro (96–120 bpm)
Allegro – fast and bright (100–156 bpm)
Molto Allegro or Allegro vivace – very fast and bright (124–160 bpm)
Vivace – lively and fast (136–160 bpm)
Presto – very fast (168–200 bpm)
Prestissimo – extremely fast (200 bpm and over)
Repeat Marks
When a passage of music is enclosed in by repeat marks, you need to play it twice. If there is no left repeat mark, then you go back to the beginning.
In this example, the repeat marks are surrounded by 1st and 2nd time bars.
You would repeat the music, but the second time round you would skip the bar bracketed with a 1 and go straight to the bar bracketed with a 2.
D.C. al Fine means to go back to the beginning of the music and play again, until you reach the Fine sign. So, you would play bars 1, 2, 3, and 4. Then you would repeat bars 1 and 2, ending the piece here.
