What does crescendo and diminuendo mean in music?

Expression & tempo

Crescendo and diminuendo

Italian, "growing" and "diminishing" · Also: cresc., dim., decrescendo, hairpin

A crescendo is a gradual increase in volume and a diminuendo a gradual decrease, written as the words or as opening and closing hairpin symbols.

The essential detail is that both are gradual and both have a destination. A crescendo that reaches its target volume in the first bar and then sits there has not been executed; the shape should be paced across its whole written length, usually arriving only at the final note.

String players build a crescendo by increasing bow speed and arm weight together while drifting the contact point toward the bridge, the reverse for a diminuendo. Planning where in the bow to start matters too: a long crescendo begun at the tip on an up-bow has the frog's natural weight arriving exactly when it is needed.

Dynamics: Dynamics are the markings that indicate volume, running from pianissimo (very soft) through mezzo-forte to fortissimo (very loud).
Phrase: A phrase is a complete musical thought, typically four or eight bars ending in a cadence, and it is the unit that shapes how music is performed.
Up-bow and down-bow: Down-bow moves the bow from frog to tip and is marked with a bracket symbol; up-bow moves from tip to frog and is marked with a V.
Articulation: Articulation is how a note is started, sustained, and released, the markings that distinguish smooth, separated, accented, and shortened notes from one another.

Every term in this glossary is taught in context somewhere in Arco's curricula, on the staff, on the keyboard, and on your own fingerboard at the same time.

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