Part 3: Giving Life To Your Notes With Musical Expression

Apart from rhythm and pitch, composers add several other marks, symbols and instructions to their written music so that their intentions for what it should sound like are as clear as possible.

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to recognize what the markings on this score, and many others, mean.

Audio Example 25.1: Beethoven: Piano Sonata no.32, 1st movement, measures 1, 2

This is the last section of the book and it consists of five lessons:

Day 25: Dynamics–how loud or soft a note should be played.

Day 26: Articulation–instructions for how notes should sound.

Day 27: Tempo–a variety of effects on the pace of the music (such as slowing down).

Day 28: Bar lines and repeat signs.

Day 29: Expression marks specific to the piano.

Note : In order to save memory on your device, the many picture and audio examples for these 5 chapters are listed in our (free) companion course instead of here.