Dynamics - neither loud nor soft

[eheilner]

mezzo-mezzo might avoid any confusion with mezza. It's a bit wordier, but it has a nice symmetry to it. mezzo-piano, mezzo-mezzo, mezzo-forte

[benwiggy]

I tend to think of all dynamics as being varying degrees of either piano or forte. Mezzo is as much a qualifier as --issimo.

[John Ruggero]

One can speak loudly, or softly, or somewhat loudly, or somewhat softly etc.

But one can also speak in a "normal conversational level, which Google AI just informed me as at about 60-70 Db or interestingly right around the middle range of 64 Db that ehellner suggested.

I have often been torn as to how to notate such a dynamic. mf or mp? I usually settle on mf as suggested by RMK, but am rarely happy about It and welcome the new choice of mezzo or whatever one calls it.

mezzo-mezzo seems cumbersome and takes up so much space. What about Mezzo with a capital M and mz for short.

RMK, I am sorry that I haven't answered your two questions directly. I think I have described what I consider a "neutral dynamic". And concerning mf and Beethoven, to the best of my knowledge which is largely limited to the piano rep., he used very few mf 's, nor did Mozart, with the same limitation.

I just look through several works of Chopin and found several pieces in which there is no dynamic indication at the beginning or at important junctures later in the piece. These instances seem to indicate a neutral dynamic. This is not the case with Mozart, who sometimes omitted an initial f or p when he felt it was obvious because of the dynamics that follow.

[David Ward]

Dynamics depend so much on context and instrument that I wonder whether anything so precise as being between mf and mp can really exist in practical terms. Tchaikovsky's marking of pppppp in his sixth symphony is for the bassoon, on which instrument it has doubtful meaning, so it is usually played on a bass clarinet, which can reduce to near inaudibility, although the bass clarinet is not used elsewhere in the symphony.

Most orchestral instruments can achieve very similar levels for p and mp eg both a low flute and a trombone might have a near identical decibel level playing the same pitch at those dynamics. At mf the trombone might begin to get rather louder than the low flute at the same dynamic, and one might expect it to be very much louder at ff. However, this should always depend on context. It is possible for a trombonist to balance with a low flute at any marked dynamic when this is what the music needs.

Hence, my own view FWIW is that having a new dynamic between mp and mf is unnecessary. Performers should be able to adjust their relative dynamics according to context. Absolute dynamics don't exist (in my opinion).