Common Words and Symbols

Tempo and volume also play an important role in music. A song's tempo (how fast or slow it should be played) is often written at the beginning in English or Italian. Here are the common terms in both languages:

English	Italian
Very slow	Lento; Largo
Slow	Adagio
Walking pace	Andante
Medium	Moderato
Fast	Allegro
Lively	Vivace
Very fast	Presto Molto Allegro

Common symbols indicating volume (how loud or soft a song should be played) are as follows:

Symbol	Italian	English
ppp	Pianississimo	As soft as possible
pp	Pianissimo	Very soft
P	Piano	Soft
mp	Mezzo-piano	Moderately soft
m	Mezzo	Medium
mf	Mezzo-forte	Moderately loud
f	Forte	Loud
ff	Fortissimo	Very loud
fff	Fortississimo	As loud as possible
pf	Piu forte	Louder
fp	Fortepiano	Quickly move from loud to soft
	Crescendo	Gradually louder (this symbol will appear over several notes at once)
	Diminuendo	Gradually softer (this symbol will appear over several notes at once)
Additional Symbols