Basically, Music (a class on music basics) Class 4: Dynamics and Interpretation There are three dimensions to a song and, so far, we have covered three of them- pitch and tempo. The third is the dynamics of the song or how loud or soft do we sing. Some of the songs have dynamic markings and some are left to the song leader’s interpretation. In the church, singing has evolved mostly to a fast tempo song must be sung loud and a slow tempo song must be sung softly. And there are many time that when a song is marked to sing a phrase softy, it is always slowed down, which starts a domino effect throughout the remainder verses. Dynamic markings found in our songbooks: ¸ piano-pianissimo or very very soft ¹ pianissimo or very soft p piano or soft P mezzo piano of moderately soft F mezzo forte or moderately loud f forte or loud Ä fortissimo or very loud ì forte-fortissimo or very very loud cresc.crescendo or gradually increase in power (go towards louder) Decresc.decrescendo or gradually decrease on power (go towards softer) ^ or >over a note means to accent the note

Basically, Music (a class on music basics) Class 4: Dynamics and Interpretation Interpretation of a song, musically not literately, is a judgment made by the songleader of pitch, tempo, navigation and volume. This can depend on who the songleader is, how the song was learned, where the song is sung in a service. Examples of differences: pitch – Shout to the Lord, I pitch this song with a pitchpipe to standard (A-440), another pitches this song higher. tempo – Consider Him, I sing this song at a moderate tempo but slower than how it was learned and another leads it faster. navigation – Shout to the Lord, we don’t sing this song the way it’s written, we repeat where there are no repeats and we go to the coda past where the coda sign is. I will sometimes start this song in the middle. volume – this is were there is a lot of interpretation, most of the songs don’t have dynamic markings but we’ll lead a verse softer than the others or louder. We may sing the refrain louder that the verses. There are some songs where a crescendo is used due to the structure of the song, example: The Name of God….