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Tempo is the musical term for the pace of the music. As we mentioned back in day 3, anything that has to do with time has a profound effect on the character of the music. There are hundreds of different terms for tempo in various languages, all indicating specific tempos. On day 3 we learned some of the most common ones:

Tempo is indicated on top of the first measure of the music. The example below is marked allegro molto , meaning very quick .

Besides the traditional terms, a metronome mark is sometimes added as well. The mark consists of two parts. What the unit of measurement for the beat is (whether an eighth, quarter, half note etc.) and how many beats per minute .

The first example below indicates that the tempo is at 80 quarter note beats per minute while the second indicates that the tempo is at 60 half note beats per minute.

In compound meters the unit of measurement is a dotted note. The metronome marking below indicates that the tempo is at 90 dotted quarter notes per minute.

Sometimes metronome marks are written with the approximately equal to (≃ or ≈) symbol. The tempo marking here means that the music is at around a 100 quarter note beats per minute, giving some freedom to the performer.

And this is an alternative. The letter c. is an abbreviation of the word circa , which means approximately.

On paper, the metronome mark is placed just after the tempo. It’s also common for a score to have only the metronome marking. One of the first great composers ever to use the metronome mark was Beethoven.

Once the tempo is established, music rarely remains fixed in it. Tempo changes are called for using various terms. Here we’ll discuss the most common ones.

For getting slower, the terms ritardando (shortened rit. or ritard. ) and rallentando (shortened rall. ) are used. Both are Italian for slowing down.

A dashed line (- - - - ) can be added to the term to show exactly how long it should be applied for.

On the other hand, the term accelerando , meaning accelerating, is used for getting faster. It is shortened as accel . and is used with or without the dashed line.

Just like dynamics, the words molto and poco can be added to these terms. Remember that molto is Italian for a lot so that molto accel. , for example, means accelerating a lot . On the other hand, the word poco is Italian for a little. So poco rit. , for example, means slowing down a little.

The return to normal tempo after a short change is marked by the term A Tempo , Italian for in time. An example is in Tarrega’s Capricho Arabe (example 27.3). Tempo Primo or Tempo I Italian for first ( or original) time , marks a return to the original tempo after a longer digression out of it.

A fermata , Italian for pause, indicates that the note should be held for longer than its written duration. The symbol is half a circle with a dot.

It’ s also commonly referred to simply as a pause . Its precise duration is left up to the performer, or in the case of orchestral music, the conductor. The pause can occur anywhere else in the music as well. In such instances, normal tempo and meter usually resume after the pause is executed.

For wind instruments, the breath mark is an instruction to take a breath. For other instruments, it’s interpreted as a slight pause. The tempo is not altered, but the last note before the mark is shortened slightly to allow some space and time for catching a breath.

The symbol for the breath mark is like an apostrophe. and it is placed just above the music.