I don't have a problem with many of the words for dynamics (piano, fortissimo, cresc., dim., etc.) but I must admit that I have forgotton a lot of musical terms! Peter defines them for me at my lessons but trying to remember them during practice is a bit trickier than expected. Here are some terms from one of the Chopin nocturnes: smorz., legatiss., poco rallent. In two bars of music he gives: senza tempo, cresc., dim., rall. and smorz.! Fortunately I discovered on my bookcase "The concise Oxford dictionary of music."
smorzando: gradually dying away
legatissimo: really legato (which I should have figured out, duh!)
rallentando: gradually slow down (hold back, gradually)
senza tempo: without tempo (which I figured out once I could see that the words went together, there was quite a bit of space between them on the page)
My understanding is that with rallentando you slow down but with smorzando you slow down and get softer at the same time. The dictionary has just suggested that rallentando is the same as ritardando (a term I am familiar with) but different from ritenuto which means to immediately hold back. The problem is that rit. can be the abbreviation for ritardando and for ritenuto, so you need to figure out which one the composer is going for! Chopin put poco rit. in one bar but poco rallent. a couple of bars later, so I will assume that the "rit." in this case is for ritenuto.
They say that both music lessons and language lessons are good for the brain and ward off dementia, so I should be in good shape for old age!
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3 comments:
I just interpret things how I want and to heck with the composer:) Of course, that's if it's a solo piece. If it's an orchestra or a choir I have the benefit of a director who tells his or her interpretation.
I figure they're all wrong and do what the hell i want
Alison,I feel your pain. I think I know only about 100 of the 500 Italian terms I am supposed to. Remember that Chopin was probably a mutant who had 3 hands
Why am I not surprised that both John and Helen just discard direction and go their own way?:-)
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