n — niente (nothing)
Niente means ‘nothing’. At a hairpin's closed end, a small circle or n directs a crescendo from silence or a diminuendo to silence; some instruments can only approximate the literal zero-sound endpoint.
- Dynamics
- Below the note
- Letters
Do not confuse it with
A rest requires no sounded note for a measured duration; niente is the vanishing or emerging endpoint of a dynamic process.
What the sources say
- Dorico SE — Niente markings
Niente markings at the start/end of gradual dynamics indicate that the dynamic either increases from, or decreases to, silence.
- SMuFL — Dynamics
dynamicNienteForHairpin — Niente (for hairpins)
- Expressive marks
Printing hairpins using al niente notation