Music Tempo Marks

The Italian word Tempo literally means "RATE OF SPEED".
But the word "Tempo" actually means much more.

In the previous lessons we've learned to read notes and play them according to different dynamic signs. So far so good, but we're still missing something that will help us to understand the concept of the whole picture.

Music is moving through time. The music tempo informs us how fast or slow we have to play and what is the MOOD that defines a musical piece.

Here below, I'm going to add a list of a few MUSIC TEMPO Expressions.
These words describe how fast or slow you have to play and what kind of mood you should be producing.

If you just started playing the piano, here are the first four music tempo marks you should know.

ALLEGRO = Quickly, Happily

MODERATO = Moderately

ANDANTE = Moving along. It literally means "At a walking paste".

ADAGIO = Slowly

You'll usually notice the music tempo of a piece at the beginning above the first staff.

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Here are a few pieces with these four basic music tempos

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Now, if you're a bit confused with the music tempo expressions, here's an example of how a music tempo expression suggests both the rate of speed and the mood of a piece.

Let's take Presto and Allegro for example. Both these tempo expressions direct you to playing pretty fast (When you play presto you have to be a bit faster though).

However the word allegro has an extra meaning. It means you have to play in a joyful manner as well (Allegro means joyful in Italian).

The word presto means that you actually have to play in a virtuosic style.

At first, the rate of speed was indicated only by the Italian tempo expressions but later on this has changed, once the metronome was invented in the first half of the 19th century.

It was then possible to measure music tempos in a more accurate manner and say how many beats we should play per minute.

In other words, the higher the tempo, the larger the number of beats that should be played in a minute, and, therefore, the faster a piece should be played. This term is also called BPM (Beats Per Minute).

However, the Italian words are still written today to state the mood of the piece.

Changes in Music Tempo

The Fermata

The beauty of classical music is that it provides an elastic feeling of time.
That means that the tempo of a piece can occasionally change.

Let's take the FERMATA for example. When the sign of a FERMATE appears above a note you should hold the note longer than its value.

The Fermata gives the note an extra attention as if to let us know how beautiful a certain musical note is in a piece.

Ritardando

The Italian word Ritardando means GRADUALLY SLOWING THE TEMPO.

It is often abbreviated retard. or rit.

When we're expected to RESUME THE ORIGINAL TEMPO we'll see the words a tempo above the place.

Here's a common example of a Fermata sign and a Ritardando sign in the song Happy Birthday to You.

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Here's a list of other Music Tempo Marks which state a change in a tempo.