Musical Notation Terms Every Musician Should Know

Learning a few of the most common terms will make reading sheet music much easier and help you perform music the way the composer intended.

Tempo markings tell you how fast or slow a piece should be played.

Some of the most common include:

• Largo - very slow
• Adagio - slow
• Andante - walking pace
• Moderato - moderate speed
• Allegro - fast
• Presto - very fast

These markings usually appear near the beginning of a piece but may also change throughout the music.

Dynamics describe how loudly or softly the music should be played.

Common examples include:

• Piano (p) - soft
• Mezzo piano (mp) - moderately soft
• Mezzo forte (mf) - moderately loud
• Forte (f) - loud
• Fortissimo (ff) - very loud
• Crescendo - gradually become louder
• Diminuendo - gradually become softer

Following these markings helps add expression and contrast to a performance.

Some notation terms describe how the music should feel rather than how loud or fast it should be.

You'll often encounter terms such as:

• Dolce - sweetly
• Cantabile - in a singing style
• Marcato - with emphasis
• Con brio - with vigor or energy
• Legato - smoothly connected
• Staccato - short and detached

These instructions help shape the character of the music beyond simply playing the correct notes.

Two of the first notation symbols every musician learns are the sharp and the flat.

A sharp (♯) raises a note by one semitone, while a flat (♭) lowers it by one semitone.

The opposite of a flat is a sharp, while a natural (♮) cancels either a sharp or a flat and returns the note to its original pitch.

Understanding these symbols is essential when reading music in different keys.