Italian in Adult Piano Lessons
The Delight of Learning Musical Terms
“I just love those Italian words,” I exclaim to my sister-in-law, a first generation Italian American and also a surgeon. “Smorzando!” I exclaim, drawing out the vowels and giving each syllable of this delicious word its full worth. “Slentando!” I add with gusto, raising my hand. I’ve inherited my corny sense of humor from my father.
My sister-in-law Costanza gives me a perplexed look, then shakes her head as if to say she is too polite to let me know she thinks I’m acting strangely. In Costanza’s perfect English I sometimes detect a hint of the rolling hills and valleys of the Italian language. At first I cannot understand why she doesn’t share my enthusiasm for the musical terms. Then I consider how offbeat it would be if someone were to declare “Fading Away!” and “Gradually Slower!” to me in English in a stilted accent.
A few of my favorite Italian musical terms are:
1) Slentando: means gradually slower. I can sense the slowness in the voluptuous sle of the first syllable.
2) Sotto voce: means quietly, in a soft voice; has a mysterious allure
3) Dolcissimo: means very sweetly. I can picture sweet white cream from a puff pastry in the music.
The Italian instructions have made me more of a dictionary user. Of course, some words, like “poco tranquillo,” are obvious. Despite the fact that I didn’t pay much attention in high school Spanish—I used to shoot rubber bands at the boys in the back—I managed to pick up that poco means little. Poco tranquillo: play this section with a little tranquility.
But other terms such as sostenuto are so indecipherable that they require hauling myself out of the music’s allure, sliding back the piano bench, walking across the room, and thumbing through my Hal Leonard pocket music dictionary. Sos-teh-NOO-toh means sustained, to sustain the pealing melody.
These quirky Italian terms are just one more reason why I find my playing the piano so sustaining.
Nancy M. Williams is an award-winning writer and ardent amateur pianist. She performs despite a genetic hearing loss, and in 2012 she debuted in recital at Carnegie Hall.
Thirty-something Joanna Eng is determined to return to piano practice, even though she doesn’t have a piano at home. Follow the ups and downs of her pursuits in her column.
