Basic crescendo: What is wrong with it?

If we look at intonation in verbal speech, we see that the non- accented syllables in a word cannot exceed the dynamic range of the syllables that have a natural stress. The natural emphasis of certain syllables create what are, in essence, pre-existing dynamic conditions. For example, try to pronounce "The strawberries and raspberries were great" with a truly gradual increase of volume on each and every syllable from beginning to end. The sentence will quickly start to sound like nonsense! Likewise, the skinny notes, even those in a crescendo, cannot sound louder than the preceding fat notes. Subordination of the skinny notes to the fat notes is a dynamic reality of musical speech, which must be preserved at all times.

The problem with pre-existing dynamic conditions in a musical measure is not settled by just the recognition of dynamic differences between fat and skinny notes. Both dynamic groups—fat and skinny notes—are capable of migrating from one category to the other. The fat note becomes skinny, or soft, when finishing a diminuendo phrase. Many fat notes also have to be removed from their class of fellow louder notes with an increase in speed. In these situations, the distances between fat notes shrink, and a high concentration of fat notes may chop the melody, jeopardizing its free flow. Running along with other notes in a fast musical passage, fat notes unregretfully lose weight when a pianist wants them to sound light, and these notes thus effortlessly replenish the skinny population.

While moving the fat notes into the skinny category benefits the free flow of the musical stream, attempts by skinny notes to be upgraded to the rank of fat notes can badly damage the musical development. It seems like fat and skinny notes represent opposite personalities. The fat notes are benevolent - they easily obey the pianists's will and do not mind a loss of dynamic power. The skinny notes, on the other hand, demonstrate tireless efforts to become something that they are not in a selfish need to attract attention, even if their actions ruin a musical phrase. 

The prestigious birthplaces of the fat notes (such as downbeats) do not let the "skinnies," which often originate from the rural quarters of weaker beats, attain their dynamic ambitions. It is truly amazing how the desire of "skinny" notes to become audible, noticeable, and remarkable results in penetration of unwanted loudness practically everywhere, despite the will of the pianist. If the performer does not vigilantly and scrupulously examine the dynamic level of each and every skinny note, the rebellious society of skinnies will destroy the natural arrangement of loudness and softness in a measure or phrase. This excessive loudness can permeate the upbeats, the notes preceding and following fat notes, the shorter notes within a beat, and consolidated groups of skinny notes.

There is, however, one specific situation where skinny notes have the legal right to sound loud. These are loud phrases having crescendo marks in them. The skinny notes, though slightly softer than the fat ones, will sound loud in such a phrase, and they can unfortunately make the phrase chopped and forceful. A solution to this problem comes from the realm of technique. When playing loud skinny notes in a forte phrase with a crescendo, the pianist has to imagine that the fingers do not press each key vertically down, but rather peel off the top layer of the key in a horizontal direction, energetically pulling it towards the goal note of the crescendo. This does not mean a shallow touch—the finger still reaches for the point of double escapement. The feeling of a horizontal pull of the melody changes the speed of application of the arm's weight. This adjustment influences the actions of the piano mechanism and results in a substantial, yet flowing sound that does not stop the flow of the melody.

An arithmetic approach 

The predominance of the skinny notes in a phrase (especially at a fast tempo), along with a necessity to suppress their eagerness to be promoted to the status of fat notes, necessitates a search for reliable notes that are capable of building a proper crescendo. Certainly these should be the fat notes. The often insignificant number of them in a phrase, however, along with their decrease in quantity when tempo increases, can leave us with a relatively small population of fat notes. So what is an optimal and efficient number of notes for making an effective crescendo?

A simple test regarding this matter produces a quite unexpected result: pressing one key several times, increasing the dynamic level of its sound with each stroke, one finds that it takes just five strokes to rise from the softest to the loudest sound. Even six notes of audibly different degree of tone volume make the phrase unnaturally forceful. Therefore, despite the visual expansion of crescendo manifested by its graphic sign, the real difference is created by a maximum of five (and minimum of two) notes.

Six strategies for building a crescendo 

Keeping in mind the pre-existing inequality of fat and skinny notes and the strong limit on the number of notes necessary for crescendo, we can create different arrangements of these notes, depending upon the shape, tempo, length, and expressive needs of the phrase. These arrangements achieve the impression of gradual dynamic growth without inflicting aesthetic damage upon the music.

Skeleton and Shadow: I categorize different combinations of fat and skinny notes into six different types of crescendo. The most frequently used is a "Skeleton" crescendo, and it works for melodies with a wavy shape. We choose up to five fat notes (distant from each other) that form the melodic skeleton, and gradually increase the tone volume from one of them to the next. Skinny notes, meanwhile, are building a "Shadow" crescendo, resembling the shape of growing fat notes. If the second fat note is louder than the previous one, the skinny notes following the second fat note are slightly louder than the skinnies following the previous fat note (see Example 1).

We are actually creating two crescendi: a major one, built by the fat notes, and a supplemental shadow crescendo comprised of skinny notes. This crescendo sounds smooth and solid, despite being double-layered and having many notes.