Dynamics, hairpins, and accents

Dynamics tell the reader how loud each passage is and how the volume changes over time. alphaTab renders the standard set — from ppp to fff, plus hairpins and per-note accents — below the notation staff.

Static dynamics

Dynamic markings — ppp, pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff, fff — are the italic Italian labels a composer uses to fix a passage's loudness. alphaTab renders them in the dynamics font below the staff at the beat where the volume changes.

Crescendo and decrescendo hairpins

Crescendo (<) and decrescendo (>) hairpins draw the "grow louder" and "grow softer" contour between two dynamic marks — the standard way to score a swell or a fade. alphaTab renders each hairpin below the staff, spanning every beat between its start and end.

Accents

Single-note accents mark one note as louder or longer than its neighbours — the sudden punch on a syncopated beat, the tenuto sustain on a legato line. alphaTab renders them as marks above or below the notehead and supports three levels: normal accent (>), heavy accent (^), and tenuto (—).

Show it in code

Dynamics are score-wide visible by default. To hide them — a common request for print layouts — set the stylesheet policy on the score model in a scoreLoaded handler:

import * as alphaTab from '@coderline/alphatab';

const container = getAlphaTabContainer();
const api = new alphaTab.AlphaTabApi(container, {
  core: { file: '/scores/song.gp' },
});

api.scoreLoaded.on((score) => {
  score.stylesheet.hideDynamics = true;
  api.render();
});

getAlphaTabContainer() is a placeholder for the platform-specific render target — a <div> on Web, an AlphaTab control on .NET, or an AlphaTabView on Android.

Where to look next

• Hiding dynamics — the score-wide toggle in detail, with a live checkbox.
• Toggling notation elements off — hide accents or hairpins independently via notation.elements.
• hideDynamics on the RenderStylesheet reference.
• notation.elements and NotationElement — the map and enum, including EffectDynamics and EffectCrescendo.