How to Play Piano with Expression: Dynamics, Articulation, Phrasing, Voicing and Tempo

Play the first four bars of Burgmüller's Arabesque with every note the same length and the same weight, and you get a typing exercise. Play them the way the 1851 first edition marks them, with the opening chords soft and short and each curl of sixteenths joined into one gesture and lifted off its last note, and the same notes turn playful. Nothing changed except the marks you followed.

This guide takes those marks one family at a time (how loud, how each note begins and ends, how notes group into phrases), then voicing, the art of letting one line sing over the rest, and finally how time bends. Every real excerpt below was checked against a 19th-century edition, the sections link the free worksheets that train each skill, and near the end you'll find a short daily routine.

Polina Osetinskaya in recital at Koerner Hall, Toronto, in June 2023. Photo: Roman Boldyrev, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).

Four layers on top of the notes

The notes tell you what to play. Almost everything else on the page tells you how: how loud, how long, how connected, how fast. Most of these instructions are Italian words or small signs, and our Musical terms & signs chart gathers the common ones on two pages. Tempo words sit above the staff at the start of a piece; dynamics and touch marks sit beside the notes they change. They fall into four layers:

• Dynamics: how loud, and how the volume changes.
• Articulation: how each note begins and ends, whether joined, detached, leaned on or struck.
• Phrasing: how notes group into musical sentences that rise and relax.
• Tempo: the speed, and how it bends.

The four layers of expression. Voicing and ornaments sit on top of them.

Dynamics: how loud, and how the volume moves

The basic levels form a ladder of six: pp (pianissimo, very soft), p (piano, soft), mp (mezzo piano, medium soft), mf (mezzo forte, medium loud), f (forte, loud) and ff (fortissimo, very loud). The Dynamic Ladder sets them on one line, and its "Try it" box is the place to start: play the same C six times, one level per repeat, then come back down. If two neighbors sound the same, spread them apart.

The same three notes at six levels, each repeat one step louder. Practice until you hear six volumes, not two.

The levels are relative, not measured. An f at home on an upright is not an f in a concert hall; what matters is that your f is clearly louder than your mf. The ladder sheet's golden rule follows from that:

Save ff for moments that deserve it: a player who is always loud has no loud left.

At the keyboard, as the acousticians Anders Askenfelt and Erik Jansson explain, loudness comes down to one thing: how fast the hammer is moving when it hits the string, which you set by how fast you send the key down. The hammer leaves the key's control 1 to 3 millimeters short of the string and flies the rest of the way free, so the loudness is settled before the note even sounds; after that you cannot make it louder or softer. They also found that a faster blow makes a brighter sound, not only a louder one. Our Voicing and Balance sheet describes the two touches you need. For a singing, fuller note, let a little arm weight sink into the fingertip and go deep into the key; for a soft one, keep the fingers close to the keys and play from the surface, as if only brushing them.

Gradual changes come as words or hairpins. Crescendo (cresc.) means growing louder; diminuendo (dim.) or decrescendo (decresc.) means growing softer; the hairpin signs that open or close say the same thing. A practical tip for any crescendo: start it a little softer than you think, so there is room to grow. Sudden changes have their own marks. Sforzando (sf or sfz) is a sudden, strong accent on one note, fp means forte followed at once by piano, and subito, "suddenly," turns any level into a jump, as in p subito.

Gradual and sudden changes. Top: the crescendo carries the rising scale from p to f, and the diminuendo brings it back. Bottom: sf lifts one note, fp drops to piano right after the first note, and p subito drops halfway through the bar. The cyan line sketches the loudness.

Try the top line yourself, naming the levels as you pass them, p, mp, mf, f, and back down, so the crescendo grows evenly instead of arriving all at once. The bottom line needs the opposite: a change with no ramp at all.

Real music sets these sudden accents among other marks. In Schumann's The Wild Rider almost every note is staccato, and the slurred pairs that open bars 2 and 3 are marked sf. Our study of The Wild Rider says to lean into the first note of each pair and let the second go softly; the very next note is staccato again. Keep every staccato crisp before you speed up.

The Wild Rider, pickup and bars 1–4, with the marks of the Peters edition: mf at the start, staccato almost everywhere, and sf on the slurred pairs that open bars 2 and 3.

Articulation: how each note begins and ends

Articulation shapes the edges of a note: how it starts, how long it lasts and how it meets the next one. Six marks cover most of what you will meet:

• Legato (a slur): smooth and connected. Let each key go only as the next one sounds.
• Staccato (a dot): short and detached. Bounce the hand lightly from the wrist, fingers close to the keys.
• Tenuto (a dash): the note's full value with a gentle lean of weight, "not louder, just fuller."
• Accent (>): a strong start, then let the note ring normally.
• Marcato (^): a stronger, sharper accent.
• Fermata: hold the note longer than written, as long as sounds beautiful.

Legato or Staccato? trains your eye for the first two, and its last line is the real test: play a snippet and ask a listener to guess which word you meant. Fermata, Tenuto & Accent has a three-way scale exercise for tenuto, accent and fermata.

One group of three notes under six marks. Play each version slowly and listen for six different sounds.

Pieces combine several marks within a few bars. Burgmüller's Arabesque opens with the left hand alone, playing staccato chords, p. In bar 3 the right hand enters with its curl: four sixteenths slurred into an eighth that carries a staccato dot. Our study of the Arabesque teaches it as one gesture: drop into the first note, roll through the fingers and lift the hand off the eighth. Legg., short for leggiero, means lightly.

Arabesque, bars 1–4, with the marks and fingering of the 1851 first edition, which prints the left hand's staccatos as small wedges. Allegro scherzando means fast and playful. The complete score of Burgmüller's Arabesque is in our sheet music library.

The smallest slur, over just two notes, is a technique of its own. Two-Note Slurs calls it the drop-lift: the arm drops its weight into the first note and the hand floats up off the second, which comes out lighter, softer and slightly shorter. Say "DOWN-up" as you play. In bars 47–52 of Burgmüller's Ballade the first edition draws that shape for you: four times, an A♭ falls to G under a slur and a short diminuendo hairpin. Inside Burgmüller's Ballade calls them sighs: lean on the first note, lift off the second.

Ballade, bars 47–52, with the notes, marks and fingering of the 1851 first edition. In bars 47–48 and 51–52 each A♭ sighs onto G under a slur and a diminuendo hairpin; between them, bar 49 brings cresc. and bar 50 is staccato.

Phrasing: shape the line toward its high point

A phrase is a musical sentence, often four bars long, and phrases tend to come in pairs: a question that stops away from home and an answer that comes back, as Phrase and period shows with Ode to Joy. A phrase mark looks like a slur, only longer, and asks for the same thing: smooth playing, like one breath. Our Phrasing sheet shapes it in three steps. Rise: grow a little toward the high point, usually the highest or longest note. Taper: after it, ease off and let the last note land softly. Breathe: at the end of the curve, lift the wrist and start the next phrase fresh.

Sometimes the composer writes the shape in. In bars 35–42 of the Ballade, the first edition marks cresc. as the tune climbs to its highest note, the A in bar 38, and then a diminuendo hairpin and poco riten. (held back a little) as it falls in bars 41–42. Each slur ending in the figure is a small breath: lift the wrist a little before the next slur begins. When nothing is marked, sing the phrase on "la" first; the note you grow toward is usually its high point. The Phrasing sheet suggests marking it with a small ∧ in your score. Then play the phrase three ways, flat, shaped and overdone, and keep the one that sounds like speech.

Ballade, bars 35–42, right hand, with the marks and fingering of the 1851 first edition. The tune climbs under cresc. to its highest note, the A in bar 38, and tapers under a diminuendo and poco riten. The arc is our sketch of that shape, not a printed mark.

One curve can do two jobs. When it joins two neighboring notes of the same pitch, it is a tie: play the first note and hold it for both values. Any other curve, between different pitches or over notes in between (G–A–G), is a slur: play each note and connect them. Ties vs Slurs turns this into two questions: are both ends the same pitch, and are they next-door neighbors with no other note between them? Two yeses make a tie; any "no" makes a slur.

Left: a tie joins two Es, so you play one note lasting four beats. Right: a slur joins E and D, so you play both and connect them.

Voicing: let the melody sing

A piano can sound many notes at once, but a listener should hear the melody first. Voicing and Balance puts it simply: voicing means choosing which note sings out, and balance means keeping everything else softer underneath. Often that means two dynamics at once, mf in the hand with the tune and pp in the other. Those are the two touches from the dynamics section, now in different hands at the same time. When one hand plays chords with the tune on top, as in hymns and ballads, play all the notes together but lean the hand slightly toward the little finger, keep the fifth finger firm, and let the other fingers press only as deep as they must to make a sound.

Askenfelt and Jansson note that when a pianist is said to have a "beautiful touch," it may mean just this: a melody lifted above its accompaniment, which they attribute mainly to the timing and strength of some notes against others. Voicing and Balance builds it in four steps: the melody alone, sung as you play; the accompaniment alone, as soft as it can be with every note still sounding; both together, listening only to the tune; then the gap exaggerated.

Schumann's The Happy Farmer turns the usual layout upside down: for its first eight bars the tune is in the left hand, and the right hand's light chords never fall on beats 1 or 3. The Peters edition prints f at the start, beside the left-hand pickup: the tune must carry over the chords. Our study of The Happy Farmer suggests forte and legato in the left hand, the arm's weight sinking into each key, and piano in the right, short and light. Its test is a good one: if someone in the next room can whistle the tune back to you, the balance is right.

The Happy Farmer, pickup and bars 1–4, with the marks of the Peters edition. The tune is in the left hand, on the lower staff; the right hand's chords never fall on beats 1 or 3. Klauser's 1867 edition starts mf instead. The complete score of The Happy Farmer is in our sheet music library.

Tempo: words, bends and pauses

Tempo words set the speed, and often the character, before the first note: Allegro scherzando (fast and playful) for the Arabesque, the German Frisch und munter (fresh and lively) for The Happy Farmer, and Adagio sostenuto (slow and sustained) for the first movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, where Beethoven adds a whole sentence on how to play it. Inside Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata translates it; its senza sordino, without dampers, asks for the damper pedal, a topic of its own on The Damper Pedal.

The Moonlight Sonata in its first edition (Vienna: Cappi, 1802). Above the first system, Beethoven asks for the whole movement to be played "delicatissimamente e senza sordino": very delicately, and without dampers. Image: public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Inside a piece, a few words bend the beat. Ritardando (rit.) and rallentando (rall.) mean gradually slower, most often at phrase endings and in the last bars; accelerando (accel.) means gradually faster, and a tempo back to the original speed. Ritenuto (riten.) holds back more suddenly than a ritardando. Rubato, literally "stolen" time, is flexible time, the beat bent for expression. And a fermata stops the clock altogether, as it does on the Arabesque's last chord.

In bars 18–19 of the Arabesque, the first edition writes dimin. e poco rall. under the falling line: get softer and slow down a little. In bar 20 the opening curl returns, marked In Tempo. (in time, the same as a tempo) and p. Ritardando & Accelerando gives the secret of that moment: keep the old tempo alive in your head during the rit., so you can find it again. Its metronome drill makes the point: click on for the a tempo bars, off for the bends, and see whether you land back exactly on the click.

Arabesque, bars 18–21, with the marks and fingering of the 1851 first edition: dimin. e poco rall. under bars 18–19, then In Tempo. and p as the opening curl returns. The complete score of Burgmüller's Arabesque is in our sheet music library.

Ornaments in one paragraph

Ornaments are small signs that stand for a quick flurry of notes. A grace note, printed tiny with a slash through its stem, is crushed quickly into the main note. A trill (tr) alternates fast with the note above; the short trill is one quick bite, note, note above, note; the mordent, with a stroke through the sign, bites the note below; the turn loops around the note. Where an ornament starts, on the beat or before it, on the written note or the one above, depends on when the music was written, so learn the recipes on our Ornaments and Grace Notes sheets before you decorate Bach or Mozart.

Five decorations on one C: grace note, trill, short trill, mordent and turn. Signs only; the recipes, and how they change with the period, are on the Ornaments and Grace Notes sheets.

Practice expression in four passes

Don't try to play every mark at once. Our repertoire studies build each piece step by step, and the marks can go on the same way, one layer per pass:

1. Notes and touch. Learn the notes with the printed fingering, slurs and staccatos together, slowly. A staccato learned legato has to be learned twice.
2. Dynamics and balance. Add the printed levels and hairpins, then set the melody above the accompaniment.
3. Shape. As on Phrasing, sing each phrase, find its high point, rise toward it and taper after it; breathe between phrases.
4. Time. Add the tempo word's character and the fermatas, then the rit. and a tempo, drilled on Ritardando & Accelerando.

In every pass, exaggerate first. Two-Note Slurs puts it best: too much lean, too much float, then dial it back to elegant. Voicing and Balance does the same with volume: melody f over a ppp accompaniment, then relax to mf over pp, and the gap stays. Then record yourself and play it back. Could a friend sing the melody from your recording? Listen for one layer at a time: six distinct levels, short staccatos, one high point per phrase, a tune floating over its chords, and an a tempo that lands on time.

The four passes, one layer at a time. Exaggerate each one before you refine it.

Ten minutes a day keeps the touches ready:

1. Ladder, 2 minutes: one key at six levels, up and back down, from The Dynamic Ladder.
2. Touch, 2 minutes: a five-finger scale legato, staccato, tenuto and accented, then with a fermata on the top note, as on Fermata, Tenuto & Accent.
3. Sighs, 2 minutes: the line on Two-Note Slurs, saying "DOWN-up."
4. Balance, 2 minutes: the four steps on Voicing and Balance.
5. Your piece, 2 minutes: one layer only, then record it.

Free worksheets for this lesson

• The Dynamic Ladder — six levels from pp to ff, with audio
• Musical terms & signs — dynamics, tempo words, touch marks and ornaments
• Legato or Staccato? — name the marks, then add them yourself
• Fermata, Tenuto & Accent — hold, lean and punch
• Two-Note Slurs — the drop-lift, "DOWN-up"
• Phrasing — rise, taper and breathe, with audio
• Phrase and period — question and answer, and the cadences that end them
• Ties vs Slurs — two look-alike curves, with audio
• Voicing and Balance — the tune on top, the accompaniment underneath
• Ritardando & Accelerando — slowing down, speeding up and snapping back
• Ornaments — trill, short trill and turn, written out
• Grace Notes — tiny notes with no beat of their own
• The Damper Pedal — when to press the right pedal and when to lift it
• Inside Burgmüller's Arabesque — staccato chords and slurred curls, with audio
• Inside Burgmüller's Ballade — a story with a left-hand tune and sighs, with audio
• Inside Schumann's The Wild Rider — staccato and sf, with audio
• Inside Schumann's The Happy Farmer — a tune in the left hand, with audio
• Inside Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata — a melody floating on triplets, with audio

Read the marks, then make them sound

Expression is a set of instructions you can read and a set of touches you can practice: six levels of loud and soft, a handful of marks for the edges of notes, phrases that rise and taper, a melody that sings over its accompaniment, and time that bends on purpose. Pick one layer in one piece this week. A Tissimo piano teacher can listen in a live lesson and tell you which layers already come through and which still sound flat.

Sources

• Dynamics (music) — Wikipedia
• Articulation (music) — Wikipedia
• Tempo — Wikipedia
• Tempo rubato — Wikipedia
• Glossary of music terminology — Wikipedia
• From touch to string vibration (Askenfelt & Jansson, Five Lectures on the Acoustics of the Piano, 1990) — KTH
• Album for the Young — Wikipedia
• 25 Études faciles et progressives, Op. 100 (Burgmüller; Paris: Benoît aîné, 1851) — IMSLP
• Rob. Schumann's Werke für Pianoforte solo, vol. 1 (Leipzig: C. F. Peters) — Internet Archive
• Erstes Album für die Jugend, Op. 68 (Leipzig: J. Schuberth, ed. Karl Klauser, 1867) — Internet Archive
• Sonata quasi una fantasia, Op. 27 No. 2, first edition (Vienna: Cappi, 1802) — Wikimedia Commons