The words crescendo and diminuendo, like most musical terms, are of Italian origin. “Crescendo” is a word meaning “to strengthen the sound”, “diminuendo” - on the contrary, “to weaken”. Both concepts belong to the category of musical expressiveness from the "Dynamics" section.
Why are changes in dynamics necessary?
If the musicians performed everything with the same sound, listening to them would be of little interest. Amplification and attenuation of sound is used to convey various emotional states.
To reflect joy, triumph, passion, enthusiasm, excitement, the apotheosis of the struggle, it is customary to use the nuance of forte (loudly). When they want to convey tenderness, sadness, melancholy, peace, they often use the nuance of the piano (quietly).
The need for crescendos and diminuendos usually arises in the transition from one state to another. A crescendo can convey a gradual increase in emotion, an increase in the intensity of feelings, tension of emotions, or the effect of approaching something.
With the help of this nuance, in his 7th symphony, Shostakovich portrays the horror of an approaching fascist invasion. The meaning of the word "crescendo" is also well illustrated by Mussorgsky's play "Cattle" (cycle "Pictures from the Exhibition"), where with the help of this technique the approximation of a cart drawn by oxen is transmitted. Subsequent attenuation of sound on the diminuendo creates the effect of removing the wagon.
Image of crescendo nuance in notes
Usually it is depicted in notes by the word crescendo or abbreviated cresc. In addition, everyone who studies music has known since childhood: crescendo is a “little fork” with an extension. The word diminuendo or dim is used to represent the nuance of reducing sound power. As well as a “plug” with an oppositely directed extension.
Very often it is necessary that the sound is amplified not sharply, but gradually. In this case, next to the crescendo nuance, another Italian musical term is added - poco a poco, which means little by little.
How is sound amplification created?
How to enhance the sound in singing, everyone can imagine. Approximately the same mechanism works when amplifying sound while playing wind instruments.
All musicians playing the instruments of the string-bow group know that crescendo is an acceleration of bow movement without pinching the strings.
The orchestra conductor, wanting to increase the dynamics of sound, uses the gradual enlargement of gestures, spreading his hands to a wider distance, as if visually increasing the volume of the space covered.
Moreover, in all these cases it is quite realistic to change the strength of sound, remaining on a single note. That is, gradually increase or decrease the sound without changing the pitch.
The use of crescendo and diminuendo on the piano is not the same as on other instruments. Everything is much more complicated here, and there are subtleties.
Increasing Keyboard Sound
The mechanics of keyboards that existed before the appearance of the piano did not allow them to gradually increase or weaken the strength of sound.
The design of the organs included a variety of levers for switching registers. This gave a variety of tones and affected the volume.
To increase the dynamics, additional manuals (keyboards) were created that reproduced sounds with octave doubling, enriching them with overtones and creating the illusion of a change in volume.
However, even such, not too significant, gradations could arise only suddenly, while crescendo is a gradual increase. Such a miracle became possible only with the advent of the hammer mechanism of the piano.
On a modern piano, you can play a huge number of tones and dynamic gradations, depending on the degree and quality of touching the keys. However, there are limitations. The mechanics of the piano are designed in such a way that any sound extraction instantly causes its degradation.
Sound attenuation begins immediately after its birth, therefore, to create the illusion of a crescendo, the duration of the notes should be such that one sound does not have time to decay before taking the next one.
On a single sound or chord, it is impossible not only to make a crescendo, but also to maintain the dynamics at the same level. The inevitable diminuendo occurs "by default."
There is only one small trick: immediately after taking a chord or sound, “pick up” it with the right pedal. Enrichment with overtones for a short time will create a small “fork” of crescendo.
However, do not be upset. The piano has enough advantages to allow itself this little weakness.