 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Musikat
Date: 2016-03-04 18:49
I have an audition piece that I have to turn in this weekend and I am not sure about one of the notations. The piece is adagio and mostly played piano. But at one point it says "poco sf" and twice after that "psf."
What is that? It seems like it would be "a little subito forte" but does that mean not too loud or not too sudden? Or is it something else entirely like sf for sfz? I can't seem to find that notation even when I google it.
Does anyone know?
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Author: kdk
Date: 2016-03-04 19:50
Who is the composer? What period is the music from?
Most of the time when I've seen it, sf means to accent within the overall dynamic. poco would modify the amount of accent - a little less emphatic than sf. But, truthfully, I suspect that sf, fz and sfz are used sloppily enough by composers and arrangers that you have to look less at the context to get any meaning at all from them. Does a little heart grab or a major arm thrust seem appropriate at the spots in question? The answer to "What is that?" is that it doesn't have a set, objective definition, so it's up to you as the player to decide what it's meant to convey.
psf is even more meaningless - you can take it as an acronym for poco sf, or take the p to somehow connect to piano, which would be even more obscure. I think the overall effect is to suggest something subtle, not over the top, and that anything you do as a performer to recognize both the notation and its implied limit would be hard for a judge to argue with.
Karl
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2016-03-04 20:08
We spoke about the "poco forte" at the beginning of the Brahms Sonata in F recently. That notation is meant to be taken within a context, however there is no context at the beginning of a piece. Karl Leister and others have said that Brahms wrote about a sound that is stylistically "more intense" but not really "loud" per se.
I don't know if that's your composer's intent, but it's a start.
Bottom line, you must DO something different where there is a marking of some sort. Given the musical context (taking the accompaniment into account if you have it) YOU must decide WHAT the difference will be. Musical interpretation is usually a "best guess" based on experience.
...............Paul Aviles
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Author: Musikat
Date: 2016-03-04 21:00
Thanks for the input. The piece is an excerpt and we were not given any reference to what it is from or the composer. The style suggests it is a little more modern, and I have never heard it before.
It sounds like as long as I do something that approximates what I think it means I will be okay. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't misinterpreting it badly. My natural inclination is to play it with a little more emphasis.
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2016-03-05 06:21
Anyone have that really thick music dictionary? I lost mine. Maybe there is something in there?
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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