NOTATION 29: Tempo

The speed of a piece used to be provided by a vague descriptive term in non-English, placed above the beginning of a score.

In modern times we have metronomes so a composer can write the exact speed the music was intended to be played at in bpm (beats per minute).

For all the old pieces here is a guide to help you translate the terms into bpm.

Turns out Moderato could mean anything from 90-110. There is a big difference.

Try playing Day Tripper and varying the tempo by 20bpm.

Actually, if you tap along you’ll discover they speed up and down as the song progresses in the way live bands do, responding to the tension and drama. This has a term, Rubato.

Of course, we also have recordings to guide us these days so it’s not such a big deal.

In Jazz notation the terms were usually in English but no more precise, although in this genre the music is generally designed to be more open to creative interpretation anyway.

Tempo can change over a track and even temporarily, so these can be indicated with bpm at the appropriate bar, but also using the old-school terms accelerando and rallentando (acc. and rall.) meaning speed up and slow down, but this would get mixed results from each performer.

In recording studios the metronome (click track) can be programmed with tempo changes.