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Sometimes, epecially in my music editor, I stumble upon this need. I have no idea, though, how this need is really valid in real-life music situation.

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2 Answers 2

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You can't, really, except relatively, just as there is no absolute way to specify a volume midway between f and ff.

Inspired by your other recent question (Meanings of "più mf" and "meno mp") and its comments, I would suggest

  • mp followed by più f ma non mf
  • mf followed by meno f ma non mp

Depending on the desired effect and the reason for rejecting mp and mf, other solutions might include beginning the passage mp cresc. and ending it mf or, the other way around, beginning mf decresc. and ending mf.

If your goal is to affect the editor's playback of the piece, I suspect that this will not be effective. In that case you would probably have to see whether the playback function is customizable, for example if you can alter the midi key velocity explicitly.

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  • I see. Thank you.
    – brilliant
    Commented Oct 2 at 16:14
  • Not far off my comment, really.
    – Tim
    Commented Oct 2 at 16:22
  • With "più forte", I put that indication in and adjust MIDI key velocity at the same time.
    – Dekkadeci
    Commented Oct 2 at 16:27
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    @brilliant I would say as a performer and composer this level of granularity seems a bit excessive to me. I would lean more on character markings (e.g., dolce) and artist interpretation. Disclaimer: I’m in the U.S. and here, dynamics are generally interpreted relatively across the piece, not absolutely between pieces. Commented Oct 2 at 16:48
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    @brilliant Then it sounds like you're more interested in how to granularly alter the playback volume in your music editor than how to notate it for a performer. That's within this site's scope, as long as you mention relevant details like what software you're using. Commented Oct 3 at 21:35
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There's mezza voce, sometimes abbreviated to m. v..

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