A lot of times, a student will finish playing a piece for me, and we will start to analyze the music. One of the most common things I bring up is the dynamics. What does the P mean? Piano or soft. What does the F mean? Forte or loud. So I ask, why didn't you play that, and they will usually respond with "I thought I did."
The Classical guitar is unlike most of the other instruments in their dynamic range. Talking with a trumpet player, I asked him if he could play real soft. Yes. Can you play so loud you can make my ears hurt? Yes (with a chuckle). We don't have that advantage on our guitar. Our instrument has a very (comparatively) narrow range from soft to loud with out destroying our tone. So we have to adjust for this when we play.
Therefore, exaggerate the dynamics and work on the balance from a relative, not decibel standpoint. Leave no doubt to the listeners about the crescendos and decrescendos, and emphasize all the dynamics After all, no matter how well you did the dynamics, if the audience did not hear them, then it never happened.
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