Have you ever listened to Dorico playback a passage and thought that a dynamic marking of f made the passage a little too soft but ff made it a little too loud? I will show how to access thirteen dynamic levels between ppp and fff, and how to immediately go from one level to another.
Dorico assigns a numerical level to each dynamic marking as shown in the following table:
Dynamic │ Level
────────┼──────
ppp │ -3
pp │ -2
p │ -1
mp │ -1/2
mf │ 1/2
f │ 1
ff │ 2
fff │ 3
When playback is started from the beginning of a flow and no dynamic marking is given, the initial level is zero (halfway between mp and mf).
If you select a note and enter poco f in the dynamics popover, Dorico increases the current dynamic level by 1/2. For each additional f you enter in the popover, the level increases by an additional 1/2. You can enter poco followed by more than six fs to increase the level by more than three, but only the word poco will appear in the score or part. For an extreme example, to go from ppp to halfway between ff and fff, you could enter poco fffffffffff in the popover.
If you select a note and enter poco p in the dynamics popover, Dorico decreases the current dynamic level by 1/2. For each additional p you enter in the popover, the level decreases by an additional 1/2.
Of course, entering poco followed by more than one p or f in the popover is not meant to be performed by real musicians, but to provide greater control over the loudness of Dorico’s playback, and such intensity markings can be hidden using the properties panel.
In case you were wondering, replacing poco with piu or meno changes the level with each p or f by one, and replacing poco with molto changes the level with each p or f by two.
7 Likes
Thanks John, that’s a problem I often have.
This will help a lot.
Is poco f something that real musicians will generally recognise (I didn’t)?
It’s a marking I have seen, but I can’t find an example at the moment.
“poco f” is occasionally seen and it’s not uncommon in the repertoire — this example is from Martinů (“Sinfonietta La Jolla”):
I’ve found it to be most useful with instruments that are inherently “strong/loud” (trumpets, cymbals, lots of high energy overtones) — poco f communicates “play strongly, but be mindful of the surroundings/context; don’t overdo it”. Like the cymbal accent here: even if it’s a “solo”, it shouldn’t be too loud. But marking it “mf” would likely leave it too subdued.
But it’s definitely a “Catch-22” dynamic. If you’re wondering if you should use it or not, then the answer is no.
3 Likes
Am I correct in understanding that ‘true neutral’ level zero can be accomplished both by meno p and meno f?
meno p increases the dynamic level by one.
meno f decreases the dynamic level by one.
meno mp increases the dynamic level by 1/2.
meno mf decreases the dynamic level by 1/2.
How to change to a dynamic level of zero (halfway between mp and mf) depends on what the current level is. If the current level is mp, then meno mp will change to zero, but meno p will change to mf.
1 Like
Ah, they aren’t absolute, got it.
I am returning to this topic to add to the original post, where I showed how to access thirteen dynamic levels between ppp and fff, and how to immediately go from one level to another. What that post did not cover was how to use a gradual dynamic to go from one level to another.
The original post showed that dynamic changes can be made by using absolute dynamics shown in the table in that post, and by using relative dynamics which typically start by entering poco in the dynamics popover followed by a string of one or more ps or fs. When using a relative dynamic to immediately go from one level to another, the change in level is relative to the current dynamic level. However, when using a relative dynamic to specify the level at the end of a crescendo or diminuendo, the change is relative to level zero (halfway between mp and mf).
For example, to immediately go from p (level -1) to halfway between f and ff (level 1 1/2), you could enter poco fffff, because increasing the dynamic level by 1/2 five times would go from the current level of -1 to 1 1/2. But to crescendo from p to halfway between f and ff, you would need to enter poco fff at the end of the crescendo, because increasing the level by 1/2 three times would go from level zero to 1 1/2.
Applying this information covers every case except when a gradual dynamic should end at level zero, because there is no absolute dynamic which corresponds to level zero and no relative dynamic which does not change the level. This case is sufficiently complicated to need a separate post.
2 Likes
If you enter a crescendo or diminuendo and do not specify an absolute or relative dynamic at the end of that gradual dynamic, the level changes by one. You can alter the amount of change in level for a gradual dynamic by adding a modifier using the dynamics panel in the right zone in write mode. If you enter a gradual dynamic without an ending dynamic and click the poco or molto button under Gradual Dynamics in the dynamics panel, the level changes by 1/2 or two, respectively. Note that using the Prefix or Suffix property to enter poco or molto in the lower zone does not alter the amount of change in level.
For example, to gradually change from p to level zero, simply enter a crescendo. To gradually change from mp to level zero, enter a crescendo and click the poco button in the dynamics panel. To gradually change from pp to level zero, enter a crescendo and click the molto button.
To gradually change from level -1 1/2, -2 1/2 or -3 to level zero, two crescendos are needed: a crescendo and a poco crescendo to go from level -1 1/2 to zero, a molto crescendo and a poco crescendo to go from level -2 1/2 to zero, or a molto crescendo and a crescendo to go from level -3 to zero. To have the level changes caused by two consecutive gradual dynamics be cumulative, go to Library > Playback Options > Dynamics > Humanize and uncheck the option Reset dynamic level for short consecutive gradual dynamics of same direction.
By opening the dynamics editor in the lower zone, you can see the effect of using relative dynamics with or without gradual dynamics. By carefully adjusting the height of the dynamics editor, three horizontal lines will appear in the editor representing dynamic levels of -3, 0 and 3. The following example demonstrates a gradual dynamic change from level -1 1/2 to zero using two crescendos:
In order to make the overall dynamic change linear, the unmodified crescendo takes two thirds of the duration of the dynamic change, and the poco crescendo takes the remaining third.
