Inspired by another thread where someone mentioned the difficulty of remembering what the Italian words mean I thought I'd share two I can help with...

Andante - I was told by my teacher to think of "holding hands" - "handante" while walking = at a walking pace.

Legato - think "leg wax"= smoothly

(my apologies to any Italian people reading this)

Can anyone add to this tiny list?

Staccato- short and detached- think "detached house"
Legato- smooth and joined- think "terraced houses" (Dotted crotchet- think "house and garage")
Fortissimo-loud, but not as loud as forte- think "forty something"

Isn't fortissimo louder than forte?

You can often make an educated guess at the main word if you remember the following (and if you have a basic understanding of Latin - that very under-rated subject! ). Looking at the score and hearing it in your head also helps sometimes in making a reasonable guess.

-issimo means very something
poco... means a little something
-ando is the Italian equivalent of -ing - so it's "doing something progressive" instruction rather than being a basic indication of tempo - i.e calando, accellerando, etc.
-etto means less so than the word would mean without the -etto at the end.
con means with (so the next word is a noun)
-ato is a past participle (the English word would end in -ed)

I'm sure there are more generalisations - that's what occurs to me now. What really stumps me is the German words! How can you remember something that you can't even pronounce!

I am italian!! It's poulenc with his french thats the problem....and don't get me started on the german words!!

When I was in the sixth form doing A level French I used to teach the piano to the daughter of one of my mother's friends. She was very impressed that I could speak French and Italian!

One of my pupil's parents made me laugh inside a few months ago. I was testing the child's knowledge of Grade 1 Italian words and asked "cantabile." He said that he didn't know you pronounced it like that. He said "cant-a-bile" as it rhymes with "singing style"!


Allegro: popular car when I was younger and it sort of went fast.

Allegretto: an estate allegro so it goes a bit slower.

For lento, one of my daughters always thinks of lentils swimming slowly around the soup . . .

OOps Sorry- yes it is

When you come across 'moto' try thinking of the phrase 'Hello Moto' that often appears in a sponsor for films on TV. I tell my students to think of 'Hello moto', then think that is it normally a flip phone - therefore, they think of movement! Goes around the houses but it works!

Also, Giocoso - think of a pet, then think playful.

For years I used to think 'simile' meant 'smile' !

I used to think that's how it was pronounced The real way sounds much nicer though.

I only know 'allegro' and 'largo' and 'dolce'

It helps if you learn spanish. They're quite similar.

I think that was me...

Who can recognise the instructions-

"Mit Lebhaftigkeit und durchaus mit Empfindung und Ausdruck" and

"Etwas lebhaft und mit der inningsten Empfindung"

I have played these pieces for years without fully understanding these instructions at the beginning!

I always remember andante because it sounds like how you cook pasta (al dente)

Hi there
Yes mit Lebhaftigkeit means with lots of life and with complete sensitivity and expression. The other one means somewhat lively and with heartfelt sensitivity. So I hope you were giving it your all

Sara

Why a pet??! You've lost me with that one!

I am a linguist by training so I tend to just learn what the word means by, um, learning what it means, boringly.

Some of the ideas in this thread may help with a more traditional learning style to supplement the mnemonics

My students think of their pet rabbit, kitten, dog and so on as being playful animals. For me it always worked thinking of a playful kitten!

Oh right. I guess because people had been likening the Italian word to something it sounded like in English I was trying to see that link and couldn't!

Years ago I wrote a poem to use as part of a class project for learning Italian terms. I cannot recall all of it now but may still have a copy somewhere. It contained the following lines:
Slowly and stately goes Largo the elephant, trundling over the jungle he goes, when subito, suddenly he meets Presto the mouse who is being very quick on the tips of his toes. ........Was Dolce the dove who was singing so sweetly high up above.
There was a snake called slur and a frog called staccato too but that is all that I can recall now. Probably just as well! If there are some that you really cannot remember it might help to make a rhyme of some sort to help.

In fact those instructions were none other than our good friend Beethoven, at the beginning of the Op 90 and Op 101 Piano sonatas, then he reverted back to italian for the the last four sonatas.

I found another edition which translates them as :-

'Lively , with feeling and expression throughout' (Op 90)

'Somewhat lively and with deepest feeling' (Op 101)

In fact the second movement of Op 90 says 'Nicht so geschwind und sehr singbar vorzutragen' which translates as 'to be played not too fast and very singfully'