À mi-voix

As Printed on a Score

Printed over a vocal line at the singer’s entry, or over an instrumental melody, usually beside pp or p and often with a further shade (à mi-voix, très fin). It governs the phrase or passage until another voice-colour word — à pleine voix, en dehors — or a louder dynamic takes over.

Also spelled: a mi-voix, à mi voix

How Composers Use It

For a singer it asks for a lighter vocal production, not merely less volume: the tone half-voiced and intimate. French song composers, Lili Boulanger among them, write it where the text turns inward. For instruments it borrows the same idea — a sound that is present but withheld. Combine it with a dynamic to fix the level, since à mi-voix alone describes colour more than loudness.

Example

Lili Boulanger, Clairières dans le ciel, “Deux ancolies”, voice, m. 3: “à mi-voix, très fin” at pp, two bars into a song headed “Assez vite, souplement”; “sans augmenter” follows in m. 4.

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