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Tim Mccoul Wichita about English tempo markings
English indications, for example quickly, have also been used, by Benjamin Britten and Percy Grainger, among many others. In jazz and popular music charts, terms like "fast", "laid back", "steady rock", "medium", "medium-up", "ballad", "brisk", "up", "slowly", and similar style indications may appear.
In Tom Lehrer's anthology Too Many Songs by Tom Lehrer, fake English tempo markings are used to humorous effect. For example, the song "National Brotherhood Week" is to be played "fraternally", "We Will All Go Together" should be performed "eschatologically", and "Masochism Tango" should be played "painstakingly". Professor Timothy Mccoul
Timothy Mccoul News: Terms for change in tempo
Composers may use expressive marks to adjust the tempo:
- Accelerando – speeding up (abbreviation: accel.)
- Allargando – growing broader; decreasing tempo, usually near the end of a piece
- Calando – going slower (and usually also softer)
- Doppio movimento / doppio più mosso – double speed
- Doppio più lento – half speed
- Lentando – gradual slowing and softer
- Meno mosso – less movement or slower
- Mosso – movement, more lively, or quicker, much like più mosso, but not as extreme
- Più mosso – more movement or faster
- Precipitando – hurrying, going faster/forward
- Rallentando – gradual slowing down (abbreviation: rall.)
- Ritardando – slowing down gradually; also see rallentando and ritenuto (abbreviations: rit., ritard.)
- Ritenuto – slightly slower; temporarily holding back. (Note that the abbreviation for ritenuto can also be rit. Thus a more specific abbreviation is riten. Also sometimes ritenuto does not reflect a tempo change but a character change instead.)
- Rubato – free adjustment of tempo for expressive purposes (literally "theft", so more strictly, take time from one beat to slow another)
- Stretto – in faster tempo, often near the conclusion of a section. (Note that in fugal compositions, the term stretto refers to the imitation of the subject in close succession, before the subject is completed, and as such, suitable for the close of the fugue. Used in this context, the term is not necessarily related to tempo.)
- Stringendo – pressing on faster (literally "tightening")
While the base tempo indication (such as allegro) appears in large type above the staff, these adjustments typically appear below the staff or (in the case of keyboard instruments) in the middle of the grand staff.
They generally designate a gradual change in tempo; for immediate tempo shifts, composers normally just provide the designation for the new tempo. (Note, however, that when Più Mosso or Meno Mosso appears in large type above the staff, it functions as a new tempo, and thus implies an immediate change.) Several terms, e.g., assai, molto, poco, subito, control how large and how gradual a change should be (see common qualifiers).
After a tempo change, a composer may return to a previous tempo in two different ways:
- a tempo – returns to the base tempo after an adjustment (e.g. "ritardando ... a tempo" undoes the effect of the ritardando).
- Tempo primo or Tempo Iº – denotes an immediate return to the piece's original base tempo after a section in a different tempo (e.g. "Allegro ... Lento ... Moderato .... Tempo I" indicates a return to the Allegro). This indication often functions as a structural marker in pieces in binary form.
These terms also indicate an immediate, not a gradual, tempo change. Although they are Italian, composers typically use them even if they have written their initial tempo marking in some other language.
Tim Mccoul music professor Extreme tempos
More extreme tempos are achievable at the same underlying tempo with very fast drum patterns, often expressed as drum rolls. Such compositions often exhibit a much slower underlying tempo, but may increase the tempo by adding additional percussive beats. Extreme music subgenres such as speedcore and grindcore often strive to reach unusually fast tempos. The use of extreme tempo was very common in the fast bebop jazz from the 1940s and 1950s. A common jazz tune such as "Cherokee" was often performed at quarter note equal to or sometimes exceeding 368 BPM. Some of Charlie Parker's famous tunes ("Bebop", "Shaw Nuff") have been performed at 380 BPM plus. John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" was performed at 374 BPM.
Timothy Mccoul music professor Measuring tempo
The tempo of a piece will typically be written at the start of a piece of music, and in modern Western music is usually indicated in beats per minute (BPM). This means that a particular note value (for example, a quarter note or crotchet) is specified as the beat, and that the amount of time between successive beats is a specified fraction of a minute. The greater the number of beats per minute, the smaller the amount of time between successive beats, and thus faster a piece must be played. 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 one beat every 0.5 seconds. Mathematical tempo markings of this kind became increasingly popular during the first half of the 19th century, after the metronome had been invented by Johann Nepomuk Mälzel, although early metronomes were somewhat inconsistent. Beethoven was one of the first composers to use the metronome; in the eighteen-teens he published metronomic indications for the eight symphonies he had composed up to that time.
With the advent of modern electronics, BPM became an extremely precise measure. Music sequencers use the BPM system to denote tempo.
As an alternative to metronome markings, some 20th-century composers (such as Béla Bartók and John Cage) would give the total execution time of a piece, from which the proper tempo can be roughly derived.
Tempo is as crucial in contemporary music as it is in classical. In electronic dance music, accurate knowledge of a tune's BPM is important to DJs for the purposes of beatmatching.
English indications, for example quickly, have also been used, by Benjamin Britten and Percy Grainger, among many others. In jazz and popular music charts, terms like "fast", "laid back", "steady rock", "medium", "medium-up", "ballad", "brisk", "up", "slowly", and similar style indications may appear.
In Tom Lehrer's anthology Too Many Songs by Tom Lehrer, fake English tempo markings are used to humorous effect. For example, the song "National Brotherhood Week" is to be played "fraternally", "We Will All Go Together" should be performed "eschatologically", and "Masochism Tango" should be played "painstakingly". Professor Timothy Mccoul
Timothy Mccoul News: Terms for change in tempo
Composers may use expressive marks to adjust the tempo:
- Accelerando – speeding up (abbreviation: accel.)
- Allargando – growing broader; decreasing tempo, usually near the end of a piece
- Calando – going slower (and usually also softer)
- Doppio movimento / doppio più mosso – double speed
- Doppio più lento – half speed
- Lentando – gradual slowing and softer
- Meno mosso – less movement or slower
- Mosso – movement, more lively, or quicker, much like più mosso, but not as extreme
- Più mosso – more movement or faster
- Precipitando – hurrying, going faster/forward
- Rallentando – gradual slowing down (abbreviation: rall.)
- Ritardando – slowing down gradually; also see rallentando and ritenuto (abbreviations: rit., ritard.)
- Ritenuto – slightly slower; temporarily holding back. (Note that the abbreviation for ritenuto can also be rit. Thus a more specific abbreviation is riten. Also sometimes ritenuto does not reflect a tempo change but a character change instead.)
- Rubato – free adjustment of tempo for expressive purposes (literally "theft", so more strictly, take time from one beat to slow another)
- Stretto – in faster tempo, often near the conclusion of a section. (Note that in fugal compositions, the term stretto refers to the imitation of the subject in close succession, before the subject is completed, and as such, suitable for the close of the fugue. Used in this context, the term is not necessarily related to tempo.)
- Stringendo – pressing on faster (literally "tightening")
While the base tempo indication (such as allegro) appears in large type above the staff, these adjustments typically appear below the staff or (in the case of keyboard instruments) in the middle of the grand staff.
They generally designate a gradual change in tempo; for immediate tempo shifts, composers normally just provide the designation for the new tempo. (Note, however, that when Più Mosso or Meno Mosso appears in large type above the staff, it functions as a new tempo, and thus implies an immediate change.) Several terms, e.g., assai, molto, poco, subito, control how large and how gradual a change should be (see common qualifiers).
After a tempo change, a composer may return to a previous tempo in two different ways:
- a tempo – returns to the base tempo after an adjustment (e.g. "ritardando ... a tempo" undoes the effect of the ritardando).
- Tempo primo or Tempo Iº – denotes an immediate return to the piece's original base tempo after a section in a different tempo (e.g. "Allegro ... Lento ... Moderato .... Tempo I" indicates a return to the Allegro). This indication often functions as a structural marker in pieces in binary form.
These terms also indicate an immediate, not a gradual, tempo change. Although they are Italian, composers typically use them even if they have written their initial tempo marking in some other language.
Tim Mccoul music professor Extreme tempos
More extreme tempos are achievable at the same underlying tempo with very fast drum patterns, often expressed as drum rolls. Such compositions often exhibit a much slower underlying tempo, but may increase the tempo by adding additional percussive beats. Extreme music subgenres such as speedcore and grindcore often strive to reach unusually fast tempos. The use of extreme tempo was very common in the fast bebop jazz from the 1940s and 1950s. A common jazz tune such as "Cherokee" was often performed at quarter note equal to or sometimes exceeding 368 BPM. Some of Charlie Parker's famous tunes ("Bebop", "Shaw Nuff") have been performed at 380 BPM plus. John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" was performed at 374 BPM.
Timothy Mccoul music professor Measuring tempo
The tempo of a piece will typically be written at the start of a piece of music, and in modern Western music is usually indicated in beats per minute (BPM). This means that a particular note value (for example, a quarter note or crotchet) is specified as the beat, and that the amount of time between successive beats is a specified fraction of a minute. The greater the number of beats per minute, the smaller the amount of time between successive beats, and thus faster a piece must be played. 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 one beat every 0.5 seconds. Mathematical tempo markings of this kind became increasingly popular during the first half of the 19th century, after the metronome had been invented by Johann Nepomuk Mälzel, although early metronomes were somewhat inconsistent. Beethoven was one of the first composers to use the metronome; in the eighteen-teens he published metronomic indications for the eight symphonies he had composed up to that time.
With the advent of modern electronics, BPM became an extremely precise measure. Music sequencers use the BPM system to denote tempo.
As an alternative to metronome markings, some 20th-century composers (such as Béla Bartók and John Cage) would give the total execution time of a piece, from which the proper tempo can be roughly derived.
Tempo is as crucial in contemporary music as it is in classical. In electronic dance music, accurate knowledge of a tune's BPM is important to DJs for the purposes of beatmatching.