Why Are p and f Not Fixed Volume Levels?

When adults see p, they often decide to play “a bit softer”; at f, they switch to “louder”. That creates a basic contrast, but it also turns dynamic markings into fixed settings. The score gives no decibel value, and the same p does not carry the same perceptual weight in a solo melody, an inner accompaniment voice and a final coda.

Research on piano expression shows that performed dynamics vary continuously with melodic pitch, intervals, metric position and style. Recent interview research on performance spaces also suggests that pianists adjust to a room’s loudness, reverberation and clarity. These studies cannot prescribe one correct volume for a particular work. They support a narrower boundary: dynamics are relational and environmental, not merely names for how hard the hand works.

In practising a phrase that grows from p to f and returns to p, I listen for three things. Does the opening retain a clear attack? Does the growth pass through several audible stages? Does the return to softness preserve the direction of the phrase? If the opening is already too faint, there is nowhere to grow. If f arrives as a sudden blow, the preceding crescendo loses its meaning. Melody and accompaniment must also be proportioned separately rather than rising and falling as one wall of sound.

Practising dynamics therefore means building a repeatable contour, not memorising how much force belongs to each symbol. On another piano or in another room, the absolute level may change, while the structural relation between p, crescendo and f should remain.

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1269715/full
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1909431/full

If page turns or finding your place keep interrupting practice, <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/scoreflow/id6796205656">ScoreFlow</a&gt; can keep the score cursor aligned with your playing, leaving more attention for whether the phrase’s dynamic contour is genuinely audible.