Posted by Aubrey Foard on October 22, 2000 at 22:38:55:
In Reply to: ffff posted by Jay on October 22, 2000 at 09:36:24:
Ahh... I remember the last few measures of 'Mars' from Holsts' 'The Planets' being marked ffff or fffff... a common professional practice is called scaling dynamics. i.e. if pppp is one, then ppp is two, pp is three, p is four, mp is five, mf is six, f is seven, ff is eight, fff is nine, and ffff is ten. This way, you're not giving your all until you reach ten. Also works great with crescendoes. Say you've got a two measure crescendo with eight beats at andante tempo from p to f. As you start, count internally from one to ten (one being quietest, ten being loudest). This creates a very linear crescendo so you won't crescendo too quickly or too slowly.
Aubrey