The wedge symbol for a gradual change: opening (<) for crescendo, closing (>) for decrescendo, stretched under the notes it affects.
Reading the markings
Target 1
Six levels, from pp to ff
Composers write dynamics as abbreviations of Italian words, placed below the staff. In the examples on this site they appear as labels under the notes, and playback performs them. Two rules matter when you read them. First, the levels are relative: f on a flute and f for a full orchestra are very different volumes, but both mean “loud for this music.” Second, a marking stays in effect until the next marking.
01
The dynamic scale
The same pitch at all six levels, softest to loudest: pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff. Most music lives between p and f. The extremes are strongest when they are saved for special moments.
One G at each level, from pp to ff. (Playback uses a simple tone, so the steps are approximate.)02
A marking lasts until the next one
Here Haydn’s theme starts p. No new marking appears until measure 3, so measures 1–2 are all soft. The f in measure 3 changes the level from that note on. You never need to repeat a marking on every note.
Haydn, Symphony No. 94, II, mm. 1–4, with markings added to show how they last. (Haydn’s own markings come below.)
Sudden contrast
Target 2
Sudden changes: surprise, a new section, or an echo
A sudden dynamic change jumps straight to a new level. Used intentionally, it does one of a few jobs: it surprises the listener, it announces a new section (Lesson 1), or it creates an echo, where an idea is repeated at a contrasting level. Used without a reason, for example switching levels every few notes, it just sounds unsettled.
01
Haydn’s surprise
Haydn’s Symphony No. 94 is nicknamed the “Surprise.” In the slow movement, the orchestra plays this gentle theme softly, then repeats it even more softly. At the end of the quiet repeat, the full orchestra, with timpani, crashes in with a single ff chord on a weak beat. The shock works because of everything quiet that came before it.
Demonstration of Haydn’s idea: his theme (mm. 1–4) at pp, with a ff chord added on a weak beat (orange). In the symphony, the chord comes at the end of the repeat.02
An echo
An echo repeats an idea at a contrasting level: loud statement, soft reply. The sudden drop tells the listener “same idea, heard from farther away.” It is a simple way to vary a repeated measure without changing a single note.
Course example (original): mm. 1–2 f, then the same notes as a p echo.
Gradual change
Target 3Target 1
Crescendo and decrescendo shape a phrase
A crescendo or decrescendo changes the level gradually, so it creates a sense of direction, much like contour does. In a score it is a hairpin, with a dynamic marking at each end to show where it starts and where it arrives. In these examples it is written as cresc. or decresc., and playback steps through the marked levels.
01
Dynamics that follow the contour
Here is “First Light,” the Unit 1 model, with a dynamic plan. It starts p, crescendos through the rising measures to f at the apex, high C (orange), then decrescendos back to p for the closed ending. The loudest moment and the highest moment are the same moment, so the two reinforce each other.
“First Light” (course model): p, crescendo to f at the apex, decrescendo to p.
Gradual change, large scale
Target 3
A crescendo can shape a whole piece
A crescendo does not have to fit inside one phrase. Stretched across many repetitions, it can become the plan for an entire piece.
01
Grieg: one long crescendo
Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King” (from the music for Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt) is one long crescendo. The theme begins pp in the low instruments and repeats again and again, louder and faster each time, until the whole orchestra plays it ff. The demonstration compresses that growth into two statements.
Grieg, theme (transposed to E minor), pp, then a compressed crescendo to ff. Playback keeps one tempo; Grieg also speeds up.
Worked analysis
Target 1Target 2Target 3
A dynamic plan for “Ode to Joy”
Here are the two phrases of “Ode to Joy” you studied in Unit 1, with a dynamic plan an arranger might write. (These markings are an interpretation for this lesson, not Beethoven’s.) The plan uses both kinds of change: gradual changes inside each phrase and one sudden change between them.
Beethoven, “Ode to Joy,” phrases 1–2 (in C), with an arranger’s dynamic plan.
Where
Marking
Why it is there
m. 1
p, cresc. to mp
A quiet start leaves room to grow as the line rises to the apex
mm. 2–3
mf at the apex, then decresc. to mp
The loudest point of phrase 1 matches its highest note; the level falls with the line
m. 4
p
The open ending sounds tentative, like a question
m. 5
f (sudden)
Phrase 2 answers with confidence; the jump marks the start of a new phrase
mm. 6–8
decresc. to p
The level settles as the melody settles onto the closed ending
Model description: Phrase 1 begins p and crescendos to mf at the apex on G, then decrescendos to a soft, open ending on D, so it sounds like a quiet question. Phrase 2 enters with a sudden f, which marks the new phrase and makes the answer sound confident. It then decrescendos to p as it settles on the home tone. Every marking follows the contour or the phrase structure, so the dynamics make the melody’s shape easier to hear.
Notice what the description does: it names each marking, says whether the change is sudden or gradual, and connects it to something in the music (the apex, an ending, a new phrase). A dynamic with no musical reason is decoration; a dynamic with a reason is a choice.
Check your understanding
Try it before you compose
Pick an answer for each question. You will see right away whether you are correct and why.
0 of 6 correct
1Which list runs from softest to loudest?
Target 1
2A melody is marked p on the first note of measure 1 and f on the first note of measure 5. Nothing else is marked. How loud is measure 3?
Target 1
3Listen only. What happens to the dynamics?
Target 2Target 1
4Listen, then choose which excerpt you heard.
Target 3
1
2
5Why does the ff chord in Haydn’s “Surprise” Symphony work so well as a surprise?
Target 2
6Which description of a dynamic plan is strongest?
Target 3Target 1
Take it to Noteflight
Add dynamics to a melody you wrote
Use a melody you already composed in this course, so the notes are settled and dynamics are the only decision. Mark a starting level, then add one sudden and one gradual change, and judge each by ear.
Your Noteflight task
Apply dynamics to an existing melody. Create one sudden dynamic change and one gradual change, then listen and decide whether each supports the musical idea.
Mark the first note. Every later change is heard against it.
In real musicHaydn, “Surprise” Symphony
SuddenTarget 2
One sudden change
Place it where something new begins, or where you want a surprise or an echo.
In real musicAfter Haydn
GradualTarget 3
One gradual change
A crescendo or decrescendo with a dynamic marking at each end.
In real music“First Light,” mm. 3–4
2While you build
p·f
Target 1
Mark a dynamic on the first note. Remember that it lasts until the next marking, so you only add markings where the level changes.
<
Target 3
Write your gradual change as a hairpin, with a dynamic at the start and one at the arrival point. Aim it at a goal: an apex, an ending, or a new section.
✎
Target 2
Play it back. For each change, write one sentence: what it is (sudden or gradual), where it is, and whether it supports the musical idea. If it does not, move it.
3Check your own work
0 of 6 checked
Finish the Noteflight work above, then mark this lesson done when you finish.