More Terms and Signs

Grade 2 expands the list of Italian (and a few other) terms and signs you must recognise. Most musical directions are written in Italian, and they tell a performer about speed, changes of speed, loudness and the mood or character of the music. Learning them in small groups by meaning makes them much easier to remember.

Terms for speed (tempo)

• Grave — very slow and solemn. Largo — slow and stately. Adagio — slow.
• Andante — at a walking pace. Andantino — slightly quicker than andante. Moderato — at a moderate speed.
• Allegretto — fairly quick. Allegro — quick and lively. Vivace — lively and fast. Presto — very fast.

Changing the speed

• Accelerando (accel.) — getting gradually faster.
• Rallentando (rall.) and ritardando (rit.) — getting gradually slower.
• Ritenuto (riten.) — held back at once. A tempo — return to the original speed.

Useful helper words

These words change the meaning of another term: molto (very, much), poco (a little), poco a poco (little by little), sempre (always), con (with), senza (without), meno (less), piu (more), ma (but), non troppo (not too much). So poco rall. means slow down a little.

Loudness and mood

• mezzo forte (mf) — moderately loud. mezzo piano (mp) — moderately quiet.
• Crescendo (cresc.) — getting louder. Diminuendo (dim.) — getting quieter. Sforzando (sf) — a sudden strong accent.
• Cantabile — in a singing style. Dolce — sweetly. Legato — smoothly. Grazioso — gracefully. Leggiero — lightly.

Signs

Watch for the pause (fermata), a curved line with a dot, meaning hold the note longer; the staccato dot, meaning short and detached; the accent mark, meaning stress the note; and the slur, meaning play smoothly. D.C. (da capo) means go back to the beginning, and Fine marks the end.