Un poco

As Printed on a Score

Appears inside directions above or below the staff — un poco più mosso, un poco cresc., un poco marcato — and lasts as long as the word it qualifies.

How Composers Use It

Un poco softens the instruction that follows; in practice it means much the same as poco, perhaps a shade gentler. Its value is precision of degree: un poco animando tells the performer the change should be noticed but never dominate. Place it directly before the word it modifies; if you need even less, use pochissimo or pochettino.

Example

Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6 (“Pathétique”), first movement, piccolo, m. 67: “Un poco animando”, at f, the dynamics rising to ff two bars later.

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