I have one child in Primary who loves to torment me (why is there always one?). Anyways, he said “Why don’t you teach us actual music?” So I thought “Okay, I will”. So I quickly made up these Dynamics and Italian Terms cards to use whenever I want to revise a song with the children.
I did do them quickly, and added to them as I went so they’re not consistent. Here are the secrets:-
The Dynamics cards are not back to back on each sheet. Rather the first side of page 1 goes with the first side of page 2. The second side of page 1 goes with the second side of page 2…if that makes sense. Etc.
The Italian Terms cards are easier. They’re on the same page.
Cut each little half page out, match it up and laminate. I stuck a giant paddle pop stick onto one side of a page with sticky tape. Then I stuck the matching side on with more tape. Simple but effective.
If I were to print them out again, I would do all the Italian Term cards one colour, and all the Dynamics cards a different colour, but I’m not going to waste paper at this point. Besides, it keeps the children on their toes 😀
Just to avoid confusion, here are what the fronts and backs of each card is supposed to say:-
DYNAMICS:
P – Piano/Soft
F – Forte/Loud
(Rectangle hanging from a line) – Semibreve Rest/Whole Bar Rest
Sfz – Sforzando/Strong Accent
(Looks like a greater than sign) – Crescendo
(Looks like a less than sign) – Diminuendo
ITALIAN TERMS
Staccato – Short and Separate/Detached
Legato – Smoothly, Well Connected
Calando – Gradual decrease in volume and tempo
The children absolutely love these, especially Snr Primary. I generally use two at a time for each verse of a song I want to revise. I might throw in an extra ‘surprise’ in a verse. Use Sfz sparingly.
Here are the pdf’s of the cards:
One response to “Dynamics and Italian Terms for Singing Time”
I love this idea. I was looking for ways to do this and the only thing I could think of was using my arm to go up for crescendo and down for decrescendo. Thanks for posting this.