Doucement

As Printed on a Score

Printed above or below the part as a manner word — doucement, doucement expressif, doucement sonore — at the passage concerned; it lasts until a new manner or dynamic word. It concerns touch and character more than a dynamic level, so it often appears beside p or pp.

How Composers Use It

Gently, softly: the French dolcemente, describing a manner of playing more than a volume, although it implies a soft one. Satie and Lili Boulanger use it to temper another quality (doucement expressif, doucement sonore). Use it where a passage should be tender and unforced; if you mean only quiet, write the dynamic.

Example

Satie, Tendrement, piano, m. 9: “doucement”, at p where the voice’s refrain begins, after “très retenu” in the bar before.

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