OAA Music

Music Theory

Dynamics

Lesson Objectives

Aspire:

Regonise and evaluate different dynamics within pieces of music

Challenge:

Understand the term dynamics and key characteristics

So what are dynamics? ....

Dynamics means volume

So, in music this would be how loud or how quiet the music is.

A piece of music can have loud parts and quiet parts.

It can also have parts where the music gets gradually louder and where the music gets gradually quieter.

In dynamics, when a part is quiet we say it is soft.

So, in music soft = quiet.

Task One

Write the title Dynamics in your notes.

Write a description on the word dynamics using your own words.

Dynamics continued ...

Dynamics are used to evoke emotion.

Dynamics are used to make the audience feel different emotions at different times of the music.

For example, when you hear music in a scary part of a film. The music could be really soft to make the audience feel uneasy. The music may then get loud really quickly to make the audience jump and feel uncomfortable.

Take a listen to 'Russian Dances' from The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky

The music regularly gets louder and then quieter again. As you get to the middle of the example the music gets even louder. At 0.53 the music quickly gets softer but then gets louder straight away. As the music nears the end it continues to get louder and louder until at the end it is the loudest it has been.

This is used to make the audience feel excited and at the edge of their seat.

Let's have another example

This is a piece called 'In the Hall of the Mountain King' by Edward Grieg.

You may all know it as the theme from Alton Towers Theme Park.

Watch the video (it is only 2 minutes long).

What do you notice about the dynamics?

What did you think? What did the dynamics of the music do throughout?

You're right - the music gets gradually louder throughout the whole piece.

This makes the audience feel excited and interested as to what is going to happen at the end.

Dynamic Words ...

On a musical score (this is music written on paper)

dynamics are written in Italian. The Italian word tells the performer what volume to play the music.

Task Two

Find what the Italian words for the following volumes are:

Soft

Loud

Gradually getting louder

Gradually getting softer

This words are usually shortened on a piece of music. What are the shortened versions of your Italian words?

Dynamic Words Continued ...

Hopefully you managed to find the following Italian words for the different volumes I gave you ....

Piano - This means to play the music softly

Forte - This means to play the music loudly

Crescendo - This means to get gradually louder

Diminuendo - This means to get gradually softer

These words can also be shortened:

Piano = P

Forte = F

Crescendo = Cres

Diminuendo = Dim

The shortened words also have symbols:

Piano/P =

Forte/F =

Task Three

Have a watch of this video to make sure that you are happy with all the information ....

Ready for a quiz?

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