What Are Dynamics In Music?

This video covers the basic terms and notation symbols concerning DYNAMICS in music. Dynamics refers to how loud or soft music should be played.

Thank you!

Suggested listening examples:
Begins piano, slowly builds in crescendo to a fortissimo when the timpani enters, then a sudden pianissimo section followed by a fortissimo fanfare of brass and fluttering strings, ending with a fff section of full orchestra.

This work is one giant crescendo, starting with a melody played piano by plucked cellos and double-basses, gradually building as the piece progresses to thundering fff as the orchestra blast out the main theme, ending with accented punches.

This movement starts with a very simple melody, played once piano, then pianissimo, followed by a very stirring chord played fortissimo. Haydn composed this for a London audience who were huge fans of Haydn’s music but had the tendency to doze off or be distracted during his slow movements, so this was his not-so-subtle way of keeping their limited attention spans.

Piano Concerto No.20, Second Movement by Mozart:
You may recognize this piece if you have seen the film Amadeus as it closes using this lovely movement of Mozart’s 20th Piano Concerto. The piece begins with a soft, delicate melody played by the soloist who is then joined by the orchestra. The two pass the melody around a few times, Mozart using gradual changes in dynamics to bring out the contour of the melody. At 19:45 the piece suddenly has a shift in mood as the soloist plays a furious section, both sometimes using striking, accented chords. The piece then returns to its original, sweet melody as the dynamics mostly calm as well.

Prelude from Cello Suite No.1 by J.S. Bach:
Even though Bach never indicated any dynamics on the original sheet music to this piece, the performer, the great cellist Yo-Yo Ma, interprets this work beautifully by injecting his own dynamics. Notice how he helps shape the music using not only dynamics but changes of speed (tempo.)

The Chess Game from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by John Williams:
In this part of the musical score to the first Harry Potter film, Williams uses many changes in dynamics to convey the building tension and bravery shown during the chess board match. The piece concludes with the orchestra building through an intense crescendo.

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[mannycepeda]

Great instructional video. I am a Music Fundamentals teacher and I was able to use this today with my class. They all enjoyed it and learned from it. I've subscribed to your channel and look forward to more videos like this one.

[maple_syrup]

Great vid! Very informative! I learned from this very greatly :D

[Ok-clrf]

I love learning about music in my music class we always watch this vids

[seemann]

Great video, amazing production quality

[fire_fux]

I wished there were more videos explaining fundamentals of music and music theory.

[samuelgonzalez]

Excellent educational video. Thank You.

[tasosterzis]

Great Video. I really appreciate your work and thanks for that, you help me much

[quaver]

Nice - thank you! Perhaps in a later video you will be able to tell about the German indications that Beethoven began using when he found it difficult to express his wishes in Italian? This video is lovely - clear and easy to follow. Thank you!

[serkanozturk]

In my opinion, the guitar solo in the beginning of "Stairway to Heaven" is not accompanied by mellotron flutes, but by recorders. Because the legatos sound so smooth while there would be no sense of legato while playing with a mellotron flute sound. :)

[johnasti]

Excellent video. You made it interesting enough to keep middle schoolers attention . That in itself makes it a winner!!! I understand that in using Italian words for dynamics translates differently into English. Its just the way it is. Very well done, and I like the listening list which I will use in my students weekly listening. Please let me know of any other of your video. Well done. Thank you for making this available. Appreciate it..

[Flwer-fr]

“Piano, Italian word that means ‘SOFT’”
and then there’s also
“Means the music should be played loud” under the same section

[simplicjusz]

Not an Italian (and I get why the word was used in the context of what you are trying to get across), but shouldn't it be 'bellissima'?

[carlovicentedeleon]

thank you for showing this for me i can review this for my test!

[mitchgulapa]

here because of oc (online class) 💀 but it really helped me ty!

[nathansmith]

Great video...though I do take exception at using the term 'loud' to describe forte. Could not the correct interpretation of 'strong' mean the same thing? And some might say 'strong' is a better definition of forte as it embodies that the 'loud' sound produced also includes control to the tone (Strong = Controlled Loudness)....nothing bad - great production and history lesson, but I just prefer to use/explain forte with the term 'strong.'

[hersheyshin]

mann I'm already at 8th grade and i still dont know this

[sarahstyles]

None of the voice types are dependent on vocal range. You are very wrong about this. Mezzo sopranos voice range is just as wide as any other soprano type. Yes there’s a few. Basically The difference is to do with the colour of the voice. A mezzo is richer in sound than a lyric or coloratura. What you’re referring to is second soprano for amateur singers in local choirs.

[artsdraw]

nah I'm here because of my module🙋🏻‍♀️

[rebeccawilson]

Excellent lecture for students 👍👍but Why?? the pianist in the video has the extreme tattoo, 👎