Naturale

As Printed on a Score

Printed above the staff as naturale or nat. at the point where a special effect ends — harmonics, sul pont., stopped horn, falsetto or mezza voce. It is a cancelling word and remains in force until the next special instruction.

Abbreviations: nat.

How Composers Use It

A return to the instrument’s or voice’s natural sound. It is particularly common in vocal music, after falsetto or a half-voiced passage, and for harp and strings after harmonics. Because naturale, ordinario and normale all do the same job, use one consistently; and where the effect is a mute or pizz., the specific opposite (senza sord., arco) is clearer.

Example

Warlock, Saudades, “Heracleitus”, voice, m. 9: “naturale”, a bar after “mezzo voce” and “Più lento”.

Related Terms