[Sidenote: IMPORTANCE OF DYNAMICS]

Another important factor in the expressive rendition of music is
_dynamics_, _i.e._, the relative loudness and softness of tone. The
composer is supposed to have a fairly large share in this phase of
expression, and in modern music always indicates in the score at least
the most important dynamic changes that he has in mind. But our
observation of musical performances tends to make us feel that in this
aspect, even more than in tempo changes, it is the conductor or
performer who must bear the greater responsibility, and that the
_amount_ of dynamic contrast to be employed certainly depends entirely
upon the taste of the conductor or performer.

It is safe to say that the dynamic factor is easier to control than is
the tempo, and yet in spite of this fact, there is no question but
that the rendition of most choral and orchestral music could be made
much more interesting if it could be given with a greater variety of
dynamic shading. Nor is there, in our opinion, any question but that
the changes from _forte_ to _piano_ and _vice versa_, the gradually
worked up _crescendos_, the vigorous accents on certain important
tones or chords, together with those subtler shadings often referred
to as _dynamic nuances_, may become just as important and powerful a
means of conveying emotional effects as tempo. Joy and triumph and
exuberance are of course expressed by _forte_ and _fortissimo_ effects
(the crowd at a football game does not _whisper_ its approval when its
own team has made a touch-down), but the image of a mother singing a
lullaby would demand altogether different dynamic treatment.

The _crescendo_ is one of the most powerful means of expression that
the composer has at his disposal--especially in writing for the modern
orchestra, but there seems to be a good deal of misunderstanding on
the part of amateur conductors and performers about the real meaning
of the term. _Crescendo_ does not mean _forte_; indeed Weingartner
(_op. cit._, p. 6) quotes von Buelow as remarking that _crescendo
signifies piano_,--meaning of course that a _crescendo_ usually
implies a soft beginning.

It should perhaps be noted at this point that there are two varieties
of _crescendo_; one being produced by performing succeeding tones each
more loudly than the one immediately preceding it; the other by
prolonging the same tone and increasing its power gradually as it
continues to sound. The first type is m