Tempo: Difference between revisions

{{redirect|Beats per minute}}

{{More citations needed|date=March 2012}}

 

Tempo may be separated from [[articulation (music)|articulation]] and [[meter (music)|meter]], or these aspects may be indicated along with tempo, all contributing to the overall [[texture (music)|texture]]. While the ability to hold a steady tempo is a vital skill for a musical performer, tempo is changeable. Depending on the genre of a piece of music and the performers' interpretation, a piece may be played with slight [[tempo rubato]] or drastic variances. In ensembles, the tempo is often indicated by a [[conducting|conductor]] or by one of the instrumentalists, for instance the [[drummer]].

[[File:Electronic-metronome(scale).jpg|upright|thumb|Wittner electronic metronome]]

{{Listen

Although tempo is described or indicated in many different ways, including with a range of words (e.g., "Slowly", "Adagio", and so on), it is typically measured in beats per minute (bpm or BPM). For example, a tempo of 60 beats per minute signifies one beat per second, while a tempo of 120 beats per minute is twice as rapid, signifying two beats every second. The [[note value]] of a beat will typically be that indicated by the denominator of the [[time signature]]. For instance, in {{music|time|4|4}} time, the beat will be a crotchet, or [[quarter note]].

 

This measurement and indication of tempo became increasingly popular during the first half of the 19th century, after [[Johann Nepomuk Maelzel]] invented the [[metronome]]. [[Beethoven]] was one of the first composers to use the metronome; in the 1810s he published metronomic indications for the eight symphonies he had composed up to that time.<ref><!-- Is this really relevant to THIS article? -->Some of these markings are today contentious, such as those on his [[Piano Sonata No. 29 (Beethoven)|"Hammerklavier" Sonata]] and [[Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)|Ninth Symphony]], seeming to many to be almost impossibly fast, as is also the case for many of the works of [[Robert Schumann|Schumann]]. See "metronome" entry in {{harvnb|Apel|1969|p=523}}.</ref>

 

 

The speed of a piece of music can also be gauged according to measures per minute (mpm) or bars per minute (bpm), the number of [[bar (music)|measure]]s of the piece performed in one minute. This measure is commonly used in [[ballroom dance]] music.<ref>{{Citation

 

==Musical vocabulary==

In [[classical music]], it is customary to describe the tempo of a piece by one or more words, most commonly in Italian, in addition to or instead of a metronome mark in beats per minute. Italian is typically used because it was the language of most composers during the time these descriptions became commonplace in the Western musical lexicon.<ref>[[Don Michael Randel|Randel, D.]], ed., ''The New Harvard Dictionary of Music'', Harvard University Press, 1986, "Tempo"</ref> Some well-known Italian tempo indications include "Allegro" (English "Cheerful"), "Andante" ("Walking-pace") and "Presto" ("Quickly"). This practice developed during the 17th and 18th centuries, the [[baroque music|baroque]] and [[classical music period|classical]] periods. In the earlier [[Renaissance music]], performers understood most music to flow at a tempo defined by the [[Pulse (music)|tactus]] (roughly the rate of the human heartbeat).<ref name=Haar>{{cite book|last=Haar|first=James|title=The Science and Art of Renaissance Music|date=14 July 2014|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-40-086471-3|page=408|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0lMABAAAQBAJ}}</ref> The [[mensural]] [[time signature]] indicated which note value corresponded to the tactus.

 

 

====French tempo markings====

 

* ''Au mouvement'' – play the (first or main) tempo.