The <dynamics> element

Parent elements: <direction-type>, <notations>

Dynamics can be associated either with a note or a general musical direction. To avoid inconsistencies between and amongst the letter abbreviations for dynamics (what is sf vs. sfz, standing alone or with a trailing dynamic that is not always piano), we use the actual letters as the names of these dynamic elements. The <other-dynamics> element allows other dynamic marks that are not covered here. Dynamics elements may also be combined to create marks not covered by a single element, such as <sf/><mp/>.

These letter dynamic symbols are separated from crescendo, decrescendo, and wedge indications. Dynamic representation is inconsistent in scores. Many things are assumed by the composer and left out, such as returns to original dynamics. The MusicXML format captures what is in the score, but does not try to be optimal for analysis or synthesis of dynamics.

The placement attribute is used when the dynamics are associated with a <note>. It is ignored when the dynamics are associated with a <direction>. In that case the <direction> element's placement attribute is used instead.

Content

Zero or more of the following

Attributes

Name	Type	Required?	Description
color	color	No	Indicates the color of an element.
default-x	tenths	No	Changes the computation of the default horizontal position. The origin is changed relative to the left-hand side of the note or the musical position within the bar. Positive x is right and negative x is left. This attribute provides higher-resolution positioning data than the <offset> element. Applications reading a MusicXML file that can understand both features should generally rely on this attribute for its greater accuracy.
default-y	tenths	No	Changes the computation of the default vertical position. The origin is changed relative to the top line of the staff. Positive y is up and negative y is down. This attribute provides higher-resolution positioning data than the placement attribute. Applications reading a MusicXML file that can understand both attributes should generally rely on this attribute for its greater accuracy.
enclosure	enclosure-shape	No	Formatting of an enclosure around text or symbols.
font-family	font-family	No	A comma-separated list of font names.
font-size	font-size	No	One of the CSS sizes or a numeric point size.
font-style	font-style	No	Normal or italic style.
font-weight	font-weight	No	Normal or bold weight.
halign	left-center-right	No	In cases where text extends over more than one line, horizontal alignment and justify values can be different. The most typical case is for credits, such as: Words and music by Pat Songwriter Typically this type of credit is aligned to the right, so that the position information refers to the right-most part of the text. But in this example, the text is center-justified, not right-justified. The halign attribute is used in these situations. If it is not present, its value is the same as for the justify attribute. For elements where a justify attribute is not allowed, the default is implementation-dependent.
id	ID	No	Specifies an ID that is unique to the entire document.
line-through	number-of-lines	No	Number of lines to use when striking through text.
overline	number-of-lines	No	Number of lines to use when overlining text.
placement	above-below	No	Indicates whether something is above or below another element, such as a note or a notation.
relative-x	tenths	No	Changes the horizontal position relative to the default position, either as computed by the individual program, or as overridden by the default-x attribute. Positive x is right and negative x is left. It should be interpreted in the context of the <offset> element or directive attribute if those are present.
relative-y	tenths	No	Changes the vertical position relative to the default position, either as computed by the individual program, or as overridden by the default-y attribute. Positive y is up and negative y is down. It should be interpreted in the context of the placement attribute if that is present.
underline	number-of-lines	No	Number of lines to use when underlining text.
valign	valign	No	Indicates vertical alignment to the top, middle, bottom, or baseline of the text. The default is implementation-dependent.

Examples

This element is used in the following examples:

<attributes>, <double>, <f>, <ff>, <fff>, <ffff>, <fffff>, <ffffff>, <fp>, <fz>, <grouping>, <humming>, <mf>, <mp>, <n>, <p>, <pf>, <pp>, <ppp>, <pppp>, <ppppp>, <pppppp>, <rf>, <rfz>, <sf>, <sffz>, <sfp>, <sfpp>, <sfz>, <sfzp>, <wedge>, Tutorial: Après un rêve, Tutorial: Chopin Prelude