Smaniato

Angrily, with fury.


In a musical score, Smaniato (smah-nee-AH-toh) is a directive to play a passage furiously and with vehemence.

Smaniato is an Expressive card, and there are times when anger is best expressed. But pure anger is a response that quickly fades. What continues are our habitual play-outs: indignance, self-righteousness, self-pity, irritability. Anger can be invigorating, toothy—sometimes we like it. Smaniato, however, is a check on anger: ours or another’s. Is it there, is it justified, is it expressed, should it be expressed, are we just running with it, is it serving an end, is it toxic? Are we having anger, or is anger having us?

<PREVIOUS       NEXT>