"Crescendo" is a musical term. What does it mean?

The words crescendo and diminuendo, like most musical terms, are of Italian origin. "Crescendo" is a word for "amplify sound", "diminuendo" - on the contrary, "loosen". Both concepts belong to the category of means of musical expression from the section "Dynamics".

Why change the dynamics?

If the musicians performed all the same sound, listening to them would be of little interest. The amplification and attenuation of sound is used to convey various emotional states.

To reflect the joy, triumph, passion, delight, excitement, the apotheosis of the struggle, it is customary to use the nuance of forte (loudly). When want to convey tenderness, sadness, melancholy, peace, often use the nuance of the piano (quietly).

The need for a crescendo and diminuendo usually arises from a transition from one state to another. Crescendo can transmit a gradual increase in emotion, an increase in the intensity of emotions, the tension of emotions, or the effect of approaching something.

With the help of this nuance in his 7th Symphony Shostakovich portrays the horror of the approaching fascist invasion. The meaning of the word "crescendo" is also well illustrated by Mussorgsky's play "Bydlo" (cycle "Pictures from the Exhibition"), where by this method the approach of a cart drawn by oxen is transmitted. The subsequent weakening of sonority on diminuendo creates the effect of removing the wagon.

An image of the crescendo nuance in the sheet music

Usually it is represented in the notes by the word crescendo or abbreviated cresc. In addition, everyone who learns music, since childhood knows: the crescendo is a "fork" with an extension. To illustrate the nuance of reducing the strength of sound, use the word diminuendo or dim. And also a "fork" with an oppositely directed extension.

It is often necessary that the sound is not amplified sharply, but gradually. In this case, next to the nuance of crescendo add another Italian musical term - poco a poco, which means "little by little."

How is the sound amplification created?

How to strengthen the sound in singing, everyone can imagine. Approximately the same mechanism operates when the sound is amplified while playing the wind instruments.

All the musicians who play the instruments of the string-bow band know that the crescendo is the acceleration of the bow movement without strangling the strings.

The orchestra conductor, wishing to increase the dynamics of sound, uses the gradual consolidation of gestures, spreading his hands to a wider distance, as if increasing the visual volume of the enclosed space.

In all of these cases, it is quite possible to change the strength of the sound, remaining on a single note. That is, gradually increase or decrease the sound without changing the pitch.

The use of crescendo and diminuendo on the piano is not the same as on other instruments. Here everything is much more complicated, and there are subtleties.

Increasing the sound of keyboard instruments

The mechanics of the keyboard instruments that existed before the advent of the piano did not allow them to gradually increase or weaken the strength of sound.

The design of the organs included a variety of levers for switching registers. This gave a variety of timbres and influenced the volume.

To increase the dynamics, additional manuals (keyboards) were created, which reproduced sounds with octave doubling, enriching their overtones and creating the illusion of changing the volume.

However, even such, not too significant, gradations could arise only suddenly, while a crescendo is a gradual increase. Such a miracle became possible only with the appearance of the hammer mechanism of the pianoforte.

On a modern piano, you can play a huge number of timbres and dynamic gradations, depending on the degree and quality of touching the keys. However, there are limitations. The mechanics of the piano are arranged in such a way that any extraction of sound instantly causes its degradation.

Sound attenuation begins immediately after his birth, so to create the crescendo illusion the duration of the notes must be such that one sound does not have time to die out before taking the next one.

On a single sound or chord, it is impossible not only to make a crescendo, but also to keep the dynamics at one level. The inevitable diminuendo occurs "by default".

There is only one small trick: immediately after taking a chord or sound "pick up" his right pedal. Enrichment with overtones for a short time will create a small "fork" crescendo.

However, do not be upset. The piano has enough advantages that he can afford this small weakness.