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At a low volume.
Used in English directions as a dynamic word (soft, very soft, soft and distant), printed below the staff like p and in force until the next dynamic. It also describes beaters in percussion instructions (soft sticks, soft felt striker), where it belongs to the stick instruction rather than the dynamic.
Plain-English piano. The signs p and pp are more precise and read instantly, so keep the word for nuances a sign cannot carry: soft but clear, soft and distant. In percussion parts, soft refers to the beater and changes colour as much as volume, so specify it whenever the attack matters.
Soft is one of 1755 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
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