I really didnt want to start a whole new topic for such a small question :/ Has anyone thought of a general topic for little questions?
So I know that the > sign in sheet music is used for accenting a note and playing it louder than the others (I'm pretty sure thats the right sign, if its not I hope you know what I'm talking about). Is there another sign that is for the opposite: to play it softly?
An accent doesn't have anything to do with volume. If you want something quieter, specify it with dynamics.
But its only one note, not an entire section of notes. How would I do that?
My knowledge of music theory is scary
If you wanna pm me the sheet, I can take a look at it for you.
If it was me, I'd put accents over all the notes except the one that was quieter, but that's kind of labor-intensive.
Eh, its a fairly quiet song, but there are notes that are even quieter :P Olimar helped me by putting these little liney things (tenutos?)
Tenutos (-) indicate to stress the note. Not play it any louder or softer but give it a more chaotic touch.
(That made no sense, I know. It's like trying to describe colors to a blind man; it just doesn't work)
For your problem, see if there's a dynamic called piano forte. (pf) There's forte piano (fp) which indicates to play the specified note loud then go immediately quiet again.
Basically the opposite of what you're trying to pull.
Thanks for your concern, JDMEK5, but the issue has been resolved. Turns out that in the original, everything was quiet and there were string instruments that crescendoed on held notes. (Something a piano can't do). Instead I suggested that the piece be marked "piano" and play some notes with stress and others in a legato style.
Yeah, that works too.