Dynamics, tempo and character: what the markings ask for

Composers leave instructions on the page, and those instructions are one of the few parts of a score a listener can follow without reading a note. Dynamics tell you how loud, tempo markings tell you how fast, and character words tell you what mood the music is meant to carry. Learning to recognise them sharpens hearing considerably.

This guide is a tour of the markings you are most likely to meet, with notes on how performers interpret them and why the same marking can sound different in two hands.

Dynamics: how loud

Dynamic marks are relative rather than absolute. A quiet marking in a small ensemble may be softer than the same marking in a large orchestra, and the scale is interpreted by the performer in the context of the hall and the other players. The common signs run from very soft through soft, moderate, loud to very loud, with a sliding mark for gradual change.

Because the marks are relative, a crescendo is really a promise. The listener is being told that the arrival will matter, and a good performance makes good on that.

Tempo: how fast

Tempo words come from Italian and describe both speed and character. A walking pace, a quick step and a very slow tread each have their own term. Metronome numbers, where they appear, give a precise pulse, but many composers left few and performers must judge.

The result is that tempo is the most debated element in performance. Two conductors can follow the same word and produce strikingly different results, and neither is simply wrong.

Character and expression words

• Words describing motion, such as walking or running.
• Words describing feeling, such as tender, sad or animated.
• Words describing attack, such as lively, heavy or lightly detached.
• Articulation marks, telling players to smooth or separate notes.

Character words are instructions about intention rather than technique. They tell a player what the passage means, and the technique follows.

Markings in practice

Why the same marking sounds different

Interpretation involves balancing the marking against the acoustics, the instrument and the ensemble. A slow tempo in a dry room can sound merely sluggish, while the same tempo in a resonant hall sounds spacious. Performers adjust, and the adjustments are part of the art rather than deviations from it.

A useful exercise is to hear the same work twice by different performers and note specifically where the dynamics and speed differ. Comparing two readings teaches more about these markings than any description.

Reading the page from the audience

Most programmes print the movement titles and little else, but some list the tempo markings. Where they do, they are a cheap guide to structure: a group of fast movements around a slow one is the classic layout, and a sudden change of marking inside a movement usually signals a new section.

Where to go next

Take one short piece and follow only its dynamics from beginning to end. Ignore the melody and the orchestration. The changing levels alone will describe the shape of the piece surprisingly precisely.