Tempo means the speed at which a piece of music should be played. As with many other musical terms, Italian words are used to describe different tempos of music. The tempo is written above the ...

Usually the appreviation is used to show dynamics in a piece of music. Below you can see how mezzo forte has been abbreviated to mf. Two additional terms are used to describe changing dynamics.

The name is also a nod to whale’s father and the high-pitched songs that have led these mammals to be dubbed the “canaries of ...