Piano Terms Every Musician Should Know

Before following an instructor’s instructions, students learning to play the piano must understand fundamental concepts. Children learn their alphabet before reading words, toddlers crawl before walking, and an EMT learns CPR on a dummy before executing it on a human.

The vocabulary serves as the foundation for all the learner performs after that. What are some words that every piano student should be familiar with? Six of them will be discussed in this post.

• Forte

When the letter f comes in a musical composition, the musician is supposed to fire the music. Anything after the f sign on the piece should be played at full volume. The phrase forte comes from the Italian word meaning loud.

• Fortissimo

If forte means loud, then fortissimo implies extremely loud. Composers use the ff sign in composition to alert musicians that the loudness has to be increased. Today, a composer can add as many f symbols as they like after the first one to indicate the volume at which they want the composition to be performed.

• Accent

When a player sees the circumflex accent character above a note, it indicates that they should stress that note when playing. You play this note louder than the ones before and after it. The circumflex accent character appears as an upside-down V above or below the note that has to be emphasized by the performer.

• Pianissimo

Pianissimo means “softly.” When the volume should be reduced, look for the sign pp in the piece.

• Tempo

The tone of the composition is determined by the pace of the music. This information is shown to musicians at the start of the composition, and it tells them how quickly or slowly they should perform. This is commonly referred to as the piece’s speed. Tempo is measured in beats per minute by musicians. Beats per minute are higher in fast tunes.

• Chord

A chord is formed when a musician plays numerous notes at the same time. Most chords are major or minor, with three tones in each. The major chord comprises the major scale’s root, third, and fifth notes. A minor chord, on the other hand, comprises the major scale’s root, flat third, and fifth notes.

Before studying the piano, students need to be familiar with these words. Study these words while you wait for expert piano movers to deliver the instrument to your home. Learning to play the piano gets simpler with this information.

However, keep in mind that these are just a few of the numerous phrases that a musician may encounter during their studies. Never give up. Knowing how to play this instrument is a talent you will cherish for the rest of your life.

Contact Forte Piano Movers at 412-756-6399 if you want the services of skilled piano movers.