Mezzo Piano (MP) – Literally "half" quiet, moderately quiet

(Pronounced met-soh pee-an-oh)

We can remember this if we deal with each word separately.

Mezzo (M.) – Half

(Pronounced met-soh)

They met to sew (mezzo) exactly half way between their houses.

Note: Mezzo is the Italian word for "half", "middle" or "medium" and is often abbreviated to M.

Now we can learn piano:

Piano (P.) – Quietly

(Pronounced pee-an-oh)

Note: Piano is Italian and in music it means play quietly.

The tiny mouse played the piano so quietly so that she didn't wake anyone up.

Note: often abbreviated to P.

Now we can put the definitions of mezzo and piano together as

Mezzo = half piano = quiet

Mezzo piano = half quiet

Examples of mezzo piano in a sentence

He rarely ventured above a mezzo piano dynamic.

Think of a music so sure of its power that it need not raise its voice above mezzo piano.

The choir master had his choristers sing mezzo piano to conserve their voices.