Technique: music symbols explained

40 symbols and terms, each explained in a sentence or two — the same dictionary the free Artform score reader uses when you tap a marking on a real score.

Con pedale

With the sustain pedal, at your discretion rather than as marked.

Senza pedale

No pedal. The joins have to come from the fingers.

Tre corde

Three strings: release the soft pedal and return to the full tone.

Una corda

One string: press the left pedal. The hammers shift and the colour changes more than the volume does.

Mano destra

Right hand. Printed where the reader would otherwise take a note with the wrong one.

Mano sinistra

Left hand. Same purpose: it is a fingering instruction, not a musical one.

Arpeggiando

Rolled. Spread the chord from the bottom rather than striking it together.

Tremolando

Trembling: repeat or alternate the notes as fast as evenly possible.

Glissando

Slide from one note to the other across everything in between.

Pizzicato

Plucked rather than bowed. On a piano score it appears in reductions and means a dry, short attack.

arcoArco

With the bow again, cancelling pizzicato.

Con sordina

With the mute. On a piano, the left pedal; on a string or brass instrument, the mute itself.

Senza sordina

Mute off. In Beethoven it means the dampers up: pedal held.

Sordino

The mute itself, or the damper on a piano string.

Sul ponticello

Bow at the bridge: thin, glassy and full of overtones.

Sul tasto

Bow over the fingerboard: soft, hollow, almost without edge.

Col legno

With the wood of the bow. A dry tap rather than a tone.

Spiccato

A bouncing bow stroke: short, springing notes off the string.

Portamento

A carried slide between two notes, thinner than a glissando and used as expression.

Vibrato

A small wobble in the pitch that warms the tone. Not available on a piano, which is why pianists chase it with the pedal.

Sourdine

The mute. Avec sourdine on a piano is the left pedal.

Pédale

Pedal. Sans pédale means the fingers do the joining.

Main droite

Right hand.

Main gauche

Left hand.

Laissez vibrer

Let it ring. Do not damp the sound: hold the pedal or let the string be.

Détaché

Separate bow strokes, one note each, without shortening the notes.

Dämpfer

Mute or damper. Mit Dämpfer: mute on.

Practice tempo

The speed at which you can play it correctly, which is the only speed worth repeating. Everything else is rehearsing mistakes.

Hands separately

Learning one hand at a time. It is not a beginner's crutch: it is how a difficult passage gets solved at any level.

Fingering plan

Deciding which finger takes which note and writing it in. An unplanned fingering is a different fingering every time, which is why the passage never settles.

Thumb under

The move that makes a scale continuous: the thumb passes beneath the hand while the other fingers keep playing.

Hand position

Where the hand sits and which five notes fall under it. Reading is much faster once you read positions rather than individual notes.

Weight transfer

Playing from the arm rather than the fingers, letting the weight move from note to note. The source of a singing tone.

Voicing a chord

Playing one note of a chord louder than the rest, usually the top. It is what makes a melody survive the accompaniment underneath it.

Half pedal

Pressing the sustain pedal partway, so some of the ring is kept and some of the blur is cleared.

Syncopated pedal

Changing the pedal just AFTER the new chord is struck, so the harmony joins without a gap. The standard technique, and the one that has to become automatic.

Damper noise

The sound of the felts landing when the pedal is released. Audible, and part of why a pedal change is timed rather than thrown.

Sight-reading

Playing music you have not seen before, straight through, without stopping. A separate skill from learning a piece, and it is trained by reading things that are too easy.

Chunking

Reading a group of notes as one shape instead of note by note. The whole difference between a slow reader and a fast one.

Eyes ahead

Reading a beat or a bar in front of where your hands are. Uncomfortable at first, and the only way to keep going.

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