Question on Sheet Music terminology

[Brian Fleming]

Hi, I'm teaching myself to play. I've been learning from a book, making
progress. Playing and practicing fills in those times when I want to take
a break from whatever I'm doing.

Anyway, one of my minor goals to was learn to play Fur Elise. Once I
reached a certain section of the book I've been learning, I decided to try
to take on a watered down version of Fur Elise. But I ran into a bit of
music terminology from the sheet music to Fur Elise.

What are:

dim.

Ped. simile (simile is in my tutor book... "play the same way").

dim. e poco rit. (I'm guessing the rit. means ritardando (spelling on
that), which means to slow down, like at the end of a piece, but the
rest??).

Thanks for any help, advice, etc etc etc..

-brian

[spxam_...@rocketmail.com]

dim. is short for the Italian "diminuendo", meaning "progressively
softer". As you know, directions on scores were generally written in
Italian, with Schumann (in German) and Debussy (in French) as two
notable exceptions.

As for the rest, other people have already answered.

Andrew.

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