9. Dynamics and articulation

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Dynamic marks are the score's: ppp pp p mp mf f ff fff, and sfz, fp.

Inside a bar, a mark sits on the note it starts with a colon, with or without a space (p:c4 or p: c4), and does not count as a beat. Before brackets, it starts with the group's first note: p:[c4< g4]. In f:f4 the first f is forte and the second is the note:

melody = | p:c4 e4 g4 c5 | f:g4 _ _ _ |

Hairpins are written as in a score: < crescendo, > diminuendo, from the beat after them to the next mark.

melody = | p:c4< d4 e4 f4 | f:g4> f4 e4 d4 | p:c4 _ _ _ |

For a whole part, one line changes its level:

piano: mf
piano: cresc to ff over 4 bars
drums: dim to p over 2 bars
all: fade out over 8 bars

A level line takes the whole part to the dynamic it names: melody: cresc to ff over 4 bars starts from what is written and reaches ff in the fourth bar, even when the line is written in p. Accents stay above the other notes, and fade out takes the part to silence.

Each mark stands for a fixed velocity: ppp 16, pp 33, p 49, mp 64, mf 80, f 96, ff 112, fff 127. An accent adds to the current one. A hairpin with no mark after it moves one step (from mf to f, say) by the end of the line.

Marcato and ghost notes. s! is marcato, stronger than upper case. (s) is a ghost note, barely touched, as drum notation writes it; it works on notes too: (c4).

Ornaments. They go after the note, with a colon. c5:tr is a trill: the note and the one above in the key, every eighth of a beat, starting and ending on the note; :tr# and :trb raise or lower the one above. c5:mord is a mordent: the note, the one above and the note again, an eighth of a beat each (less on a short note); c5:mordi uses the one below. :trill, :trinado, :trino, :mordent and :mordente work too. The neighbour follows the key of key: and its changes (C major when there is none).

Grace notes, flams and drags. A backtick before a note makes it a grace note: it takes no beat and sounds an instant before the next one (`d5 c5). There may be several (`b4 `c5 d5), glued or not, and from one bar into the next. On a drum, the backtick puts a lighter stroke of the same drum just before: `s is a flam, ``s a drag.

key: G major
melody = | g4 b4 `c5 d5 _ | d5:mord c5 b4 a4 | a4:tr _ _ _ | g4 _ _ _ |
sd = - `S - ``S