Dynamics (mezzo forte, mezzo piano) ?

[eda2k]

Hi.

I have a question about mezzo forte and mezzo piano.

Mezzo is the Italian word for "half", "middle" or "medium". We have mezzo piano and mezzo forte, but what is their right place ?

Mezzo forte (musical notation), a musical term meaning "medium-loud" or "moderately-loud"
Mezzo piano, a musical term meaning "medium-quiet" or "moderately-quiet".

So we have like this?

fortissimo
forte
mezzo forte
mezzo piano
piano
pianissimo

or

fortissimo
forte
mezzo forte
piano
mezzo piano
pianissimo ?

or

fortissimo
mezzo forte
forte
mezzo piano
piano
pianissimo

It`s mezzo (half) way up, or half way down, or both of them in the middle ? What is the right place in the dynamics ?

Thanks !

[nystul]

In the middle:

fortissimo
forte
mezzo forte
mezzo piano
piano
pianissimo

[eda2k]

In the middle:

fortissimo
forte
mezzo forte
mezzo piano
piano
pianissimo

Thanks. So i guess that Mezzo for forte it`s DOWN, and Mezzo for piano it`s UP. 

[nystul]

Yeah.  Maybe we have different shirt sizes: small, medium, and large.  Some people are too tiny even for the small, so we make extra-small.  Some people are to big even for the large, so we make extra-large.  Then between medium and large we could have medium-large.  And between medium and small we could have medium-small.

Dynamics are like that.  Except we never just have medium.  It is always either medium loud or medium soft.