- Attributed to Martin Mull
Perhaps, but...
I use words for music all of the time when I am learning and performing. I got the idea from a Jane Magrath workshop. One of her handouts was a list of 68 words that Czerny had written to describe the range of effects that Beethoven conveyed when playing his own music at the piano.
Since this list inspired me so much in my own playing I decided to add to it and ask my students to contribute as well and here is our word list - the ones in italics are Czerny's original:
Agitated, Alarming, Angry
Bewitching, Bittersweet
Calm, Capricious, Carefree, Careful, Charming, Child-like, Chill, Chorale-like, Clownish, Complaining, Confident, Crazy
Dancing, Dangerous, Dark, Dejected, Delicate, Determined, Dramatic, Dreamy, Drowsy
Elegant, Empty, Energetic, Exalted, Excited, Expressive
Fantastic, Fierce, Firm, Flattering, Fleeting, Foreign, Funny
Galloping, Gentle, Gloomy, Glowing, Good-natured, Graceful, Grand, Great, Gripping
Happy, Haunting, Heroic, Humourous, Hypnotic
Intense, Intimate
Jazzy, Jocose, Joyous, Jumpy
Kind
Light, Lively, Lofty, Lulling
Mad, Marked, Mechanical, Melancholic, Mellow, Melodic, Merry, Metallic, Mischievous, Missing, Moody, Mournful, Murmuring, Mysterious
Naive, Noisy
Odd, Old, Old-fashioned
Pathetic, Peaceful, Pious, Playful, Pleading, Pleasant, Powerful, Profound, Proud
Quiet
Regal, Relaxing, Religious, Remembering, Resolute, Roaring, Rough, Royal
Sad, Scary, Secretive, Sensitive, Serene, Serious, Shimmering, Simple, Singing,
Sleepy, Sneaky, Soft, Solemn, Sombre, Sparkling, Speaking, Spicy, Stormy, Strong,Surreal, Sweet
Teasing, Tender, Thoughtful, Touching, Tragic, Tricky, Twinkling
Unaffected, Unruly, Uplifting
Virile
Warm, Weighty, Weird, Witty
Zingy
