What Does “A Tempo” Mean in Music?

You ran into a word in your music and you aren’t quite sure what it means?  Don’t worry, you aren’t the first one to wonder and you won’t be the last!  After all, unless you speak Italian, you can’t expect to know all of the little words you may find written in the music!

So, what does a tempo mean in music?  A tempo is Italian for “in time”.  In music, this means to resume the speed of the song.  Often, a tempo is written after a ritardando, or rit. (meaning “delaying” in Italian which means to slow down), thus a tempo is written to help you know when to resume normal speed again.

A tempo can be written after a song is supposed to speed up as well (often written as accelerando).  Either way, simply resume the speed you were at in the song before you changed the speed with a ritard or an accelerando.

Tempo is a term you may hear in other musical contexts as well.  It’s a common musical term, so let’s take a closer look at it.

Tempo

Tempo, meaning “time” in Italian, tells you how fast or slow a song is supposed to be played.  You will often find a tempo written at the beginning of a piece of music at the top left, right at your first measure.  If tempos change, a new tempo will be written above the measure in which it should be played.

In the original composition of Fur Elise, Beethoven sets a tempo that is not typically seen.  So although you will mostly see the same tempos for most songs, the composer is at liberty to describe a tempo in however he/she desires.  In this case, Beethoven sets the tempo as a “poco moto” meaning “little bike”.  This not only helps the player to know how fast to play, it also sets the tone for the song.  You may see any number of different tempo descriptions written, but it is always important to pay attention for it will help you convey the correct feeling and tempo for the song.

A simple way to tell how fast or slow you should play a song is by comparing it to walking or running.  Since we all are pretty well aware of speeds when it comes to walking or running, you can think of the beats per minute in comparison to this.

Here are some typical tempos you may find in your music along with some simple, if not elementary ways to think of it to help you remember.

As found on Wikipedia, here are some other tempos and a helpful explanation of the speed at which that means:

• Adagissimo – very slowly
• Grave – very slow (25–45 bpm)
• Largo – broadly (40–60 bpm)
• Lento – slowly (45–60 bpm)
• Larghetto – rather broadly (60–66 bpm)
• Adagio – slowly with great expression^[8] (66–76 bpm)
• Adagietto – slower than andante (72–76 bpm) or slightly faster than adagio (70–80 bpm)
• Andante – at a walking pace (76–108 bpm)
• Andantino – slightly faster than andante (although, in some cases, it can be taken to mean slightly slower than andante) (80–108 bpm)
• Marcia moderato – moderately, in the manner of a march^[9][10] (83–85 bpm)
• Andante moderato – between andante and moderato (thus the name) (92–112 bpm)
• Moderato – at a moderate speed (108–120 bpm)
• Allegretto – by the mid-19th century, moderately fast (112–120 bpm); see paragraph above for earlier usage
• Allegro moderato – close to, but not quite allegro (116–120 bpm)
• Allegro – fast, quickly, and bright (120–156 bpm) (molto allegro is slightly faster than allegro, but always in its range)
• Vivace – lively and fast (156–176 bpm)
• Vivacissimo – very fast and lively (172–176 bpm)
• Allegrissimo or Allegro vivace – very fast (172–176 bpm)
• Presto – very, very fast (168–200 bpm)
• Prestissimo – even faster than presto (200 bpm and over)

Beats Per Minute

An important aspect to know about when it comes to tempo, is the beats per minute.  Each tempo tells you how approximately how many beats per minute the song should be played.  In other words, a tempo measures the beats per minute.

A slower tempo has less beats per minute.  A faster tempo has more beats per minute.

Each second of a minute is like a beat.  Thus, 60 beats per minute would be the same timing as a ticking clock.  If you have no other resource around, a ticking clock is a great way to figure out your beats per minute!

A typical walking speed is a little faster than a second.  So anything above 60 bpm is going to be either a walking speed or faster.  Anything below 60 bpm, or a second, would be a really slow walk — more like a grandpa shuffle.  A run is about 120 bpm or higher.

It is helpful to me as I sit down and see a tempo written at the beginning of my music, to begin counting out loud the beats per minute, or the tempo, so I know what how fast or slow to play the song.

You measure a beat depending on the time signature.  For 4/4 time signatures, a quarter note gets on beat.  Thus, 60 bpm would be 60 quarter notes per minute.

A Metronome

A metronome is a device used to help you determine the beats per minute.  The metronome “was developed by the German inventor Johann Maelzel in 1816 (though it was invented two years earlier by Dietrich Winkel).” (https://www.phoenixsymphony.org/uploads/Tempo.pdf)

A metronome can be set to the amount of beats per minute that you would like.  The metronome will then tick at the bpm set.  You can then play a song to the beat of the metronome.  You will find that this may not be easy!  It definitely takes practice and perserverance to master playing with a metronome, but it is highly recommended.  The metronome will help you to keep the correct tempo.

The reason you will want to practice playing a song with a metronome so that you can keep the tempo, is because often times we begin to speed up or slow down, especially when we perform.  Just imagine how unpleasant it would be to start a song too fast in a performance and then inadvertently speed up while performing.  You would not be able to keep up by the time you finished the song!  It could be disastrous.

You may not think that would happen to you, but it is common.  Most musicians perform a song faster when they are nervous, such as a performance.  So practicing maintaining a speed is important for those times you are on display, so that you won’t play faster than is intended.

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