Pressez

As Printed on a Score

An imperative printed above the staff where the hurrying begins — Pressez, Pressez un peu — or in the gerund en pressant, often en pressant peu à peu. It is a gradual change that lasts until a tempo word (a tempo, au Mouvt) or a cédez stops it. Sans presser warns against hurrying.

Also spelled: pressant, presser, en pressant

How Composers Use It

Hurry on: the French stringendo or affrettando, with a sense of urgency driven by the text or the line. Debussy uses en pressant in La Chevelure to drive the voice forward together with a crescendo. Give it a goal — a cadence, a climax, a new tempo — and say how much (un peu, peu à peu). The negative, sans presser, is just as useful wherever performers instinctively rush.

Example

Debussy, Trois Chansons de Bilitis, “La flûte de Pan”, voice, m. 25: “Pressez un peu”, in the same bar as “Presque sans voix”; “a Tempo” follows at m. 27.

Related Terms