Performance marks: how loud, how fast and where to go

The notes tell you which sounds to play. The marks around them tell you how: soft or loud, slow or fast, short or smooth. Some marks are even arrows that send you back or ahead, like a map. Press the buttons to hear each mark, then follow the map with your finger.

Reviewed 7 October 2026

In this lesson

Dynamics: how loud

How loud or soft you play is called dynamics. The two main letters are p for piano (soft) and f for forte (loud). Put m in front, for mezzo (half), and you get the middle steps: mp is moderately soft and mf is moderately loud. Double the letter to go further: pp is very soft and ff is very loud.

So the ladder from soft to loud is pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff. These are not fixed numbers on a sound meter. They are compared with each other: a trumpet's p is still louder than a guitar's p. What matters is that p is softer than mf, and f is louder.

A short tune played softly.
The same tune played loudly.
One chord climbing the ladder: pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff.

Try it: say "good morning" at p, then at mf, then at f. Same words, three dynamics.

Getting louder and softer

Music often changes its loudness little by little. Crescendo (cresc.) means get louder bit by bit. Decrescendo or diminuendo (decresc., dim.) means get softer bit by bit. Instead of words, the music can show a long wedge under the notes, often called a hairpin: one that opens (like a stretched <) for louder, one that closes (like a stretched >) for softer.

Do not mix the long wedge up with the small > sign on a single note. That small sign is an accent, and you will hear it further down. The other Italian loudness words are in the "Italian terms" lesson.

The tune starts soft and grows louder to the end.
The same tune starts loud and fades away.

Tempo: how fast

A tempo word at the start tells you how fast the beat goes. Largo is very slow and broad, Andante is a walking pace, Moderato is medium, Allegro is fast and bright, and Presto is very fast. Many pieces also print a number such as ♩ = 92, which means 92 beats per minute (BPM).

Here are rough guides: Largo about 40–60 BPM, Andante about 76–108, Moderato about 108–120, Allegro about 120–156, Presto about 168–200. Books and metronomes give slightly different numbers, and each piece has its own feel. Below, the same short phrase is played at four speeds. The faster ones play it more than once so you can hear it settle in.

Some words change the speed along the way. Ritardando (rit.) means slow down gradually, like a bicycle rolling to a stop, and a tempo means go back to the speed from before. The full list is in the "Italian terms" lesson.

The phrase at 50 BPM: slow and broad.
The same phrase at 92 BPM, a walking pace (played twice).
The same phrase at 138 BPM: fast and bright (played twice).
The same phrase at 184 BPM: very fast (played three times).
Played twice: the second time, the last bar slows down gradually.

Try it: set the metronome to 60, then 92, then 138, and walk on the spot to each one. Which one feels like Andante?

Short or smooth: staccato and legato

A small dot above or below a note means staccato: make the note short and detached, with a little silence after it, like popping bubbles one by one. A curved line over several different notes is a slur: play them legato, smoothly connected with no gaps, like drawing a line without lifting the pencil.

A slur looks like a tie, but it is not the same. A tie joins two notes of the same pitch into one longer sound (see the "Rhythm" lesson). A slur joins different notes and tells you to connect them smoothly. Listen to the same tune played both ways.

Every note flows into the next, with no gaps.
The same tune with short, bouncy notes and tiny silences.

Accents and the fermata

An accent, a small > above or below a note, means play that note stronger than its neighbours, like saying one word louder in a sentence. Accents can change how a line feels. In the example, eight quick notes in each bar get accents on notes 1, 4 and 7, so you hear them in groups of 3 + 3 + 2.

The fermata 𝄐, a curve with a dot under it, means hold this note (or rest) longer than written. How long is up to the player or the conductor. It is like pausing a video on your favourite moment, then pressing play again.

Quick notes, all at the same strength.
The same notes, with accents on 1, 4 and 7 of each bar.
A tune played straight through in time.
The same tune: the high note in bar 2 is held longer, then the beat goes on.

Repeat signs and 1st and 2nd endings

To save paper, music does not print the same bars twice. A repeat sign, two dots next to a thick double bar line (𝄇), says: go back and play this part again. You go back to the matching start sign (𝄆), or to the very beginning if there is none.

Sometimes the part ends differently the second time. Brackets marked 1. and 2. show the 1st and 2nd endings. The first time, play the 1st ending and go back. The second time, skip the 1st ending and jump straight to the 2nd. In the example, the map is: 𝄆 bar A, bar B, [1. ending 1] 𝄇 [2. ending 2]. So you hear A, B, ending 1, then A, B, ending 2.

A, B, 1st ending (it leads back), A, B, 2nd ending (it closes).

D.C., D.S., Fine and Coda: follow the arrows

D.C. (da capo) means go back to the beginning. D.S. (dal segno) means go back to the sign 𝄋. They come with a word that tells you where to stop: al Fine means play until the word Fine and stop there. al Coda means play until "To Coda" 𝄌, then jump ahead to the Coda, the ending section that starts with the same sign.

Example 1, D.C. al Fine. The map has four bars: 1, 2 (Fine), 3, 4 (D.C. al Fine). You play 1, 2, 3, 4, go back to the beginning, play 1 and 2 again, and stop at Fine. Example 2, D.S. al Coda. The map is: intro, 𝄋 bar 2, bar 3 (To Coda 𝄌), bar 4 (D.S. al Coda), then the Coda. You play intro, 2, 3, 4, back to the sign for 2 and 3, then jump to the Coda.

One habit to know: when you go back with D.C. or D.S., players usually skip the repeat signs the second time through and play only the last ending, unless the music or the conductor says otherwise.

Bars 1, 2, 3, 4, then back to the start for 1 and 2, and stop at Fine.
Intro, 2, 3, 4, back to the sign for 2 and 3, then jump to the Coda.

Try it: before playing a new piece, trace the route with your finger. Find every repeat sign, ending bracket, 𝄋, Fine and 𝄌 first, then press play and follow the arrows.

Piano sound: Salamander Grand Piano by Alexander Holm (CC BY 3.0).