Improve Your Singing – Music Terminology Review

My first glance of music terminology and symbols led me to believe that I was once again watching reruns of Sesame Street and reliving my night-marish (I know, not a word) school days in math class.  Music terminology is certainly a language of its own. Can you tell what the letter “p”, or “pp”, or the words “mezzo”, “forte” or “crescendo” mean? If you are a relatively seasoned music aficionado then you will , however, as a beginner or one that is just wanting to learn the basics of singing and music, then this article should make your singing and music learning experience more enjoyable.

Ask yourself the definition of piano. I know, it’s the instrument with the black and white keyboard that made Beethoven famous. The number 1 definition of piano in the dictionary is “to play or sing softly.”  Silly me.It is denoted by the letter p. Other piano related terms include “Mezzo Piano” for moderately soft and  denoted by the symbol mp. While “pianissimo” means playing or singing very softly and is denoted by the letters pp.

On the other hand, when one needs to sing louder, it will be denoted by an f in the music score. This stands for “Forte” meaning to play or sing loudly. “Fortissimo” is denoted by ff and means to play or sing very loudly. To sing between Forte and Fortissimo, one is said to be singing “Mezzo Forte”, which is moderately loud and is denoted by the symbol mf. The symbols are to let the singer know how loudly they can sing in order to have the desired result in how the music is expressed. You will be surprised how just knowing these basic terms will help you to improve your singing.

Now onto some “math” symbols. Decrescendo and Crescendo are music symbols that are denoted by the signs “>” and “
Author: David Kahan