Expressive Elements in Music Performance
Senior 3 · Music
Expressive Elements in Music Performance
Lesson 3 of 4
25 min
Ask five classmates to clap a "medium" beat at the same moment, without listening to each other. You will hear five different speeds. Words like slow and fast are not precise, so composers use two tools: an Italian tempo term that describes the speed and the mood, and a metronome mark that gives the exact number of beats per minute.
Definition
Tempo: the speed of the beat in a piece of music. Example: Allegro means fast and lively.
Metronome mark: a note value followed by a number, such as ♩ = 84, meaning 84 crotchet beats per minute (bpm). It is sometimes written M.M. ♩ = 84, after Maelzel's Metronome.
Metronome: a device that clicks a steady beat at a chosen number of beats per minute.
| Term | Meaning | Approximate bpm |
|---|---|---|
| Largo | broadly, very slow | 40–60 |
| Adagio | slow, at ease | 60–76 |
| Andante | at a walking pace | 76–108 |
| Moderato | at a moderate speed | 108–120 |
| Allegro | fast and lively | 120–168 |
| Presto | very fast | 168–200 |
Smaller words change these: Allegretto (a little allegro, rather fast), molto (very: molto allegro), poco (a little), non troppo (not too much). The numbers are only a guide; the tempo term also describes the character, so an Adagio should feel calm as well as slow.
| Term | Short form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| accelerando | accel. | gradually faster |
| ritardando / rallentando | rit. / rall. | gradually slower |
| a tempo | return to the speed before the change | |
| tempo primo | Tempo I | return to the first tempo of the piece |
| rubato | freely, stretching and pushing the beat for expression |
Worked example 1: how long is one beat at ♩ = 120?
Worked example
Worked example 2: how long is a song? A choir song has 32 bars of four-four at ♩ = 96, with no repeats.
Groups drift: they rush in loud, exciting passages and drag in soft or difficult ones. Practise with a metronome or a free metronome app, first slower than the marked tempo, then a few beats per minute faster each day until you reach it. In a choir or band, everyone follows one leader: the conductor's beat or the drummer's pulse.
Class activity. Set a metronome to 60, then 92, then 132. Walk around the room on the beat and name the Italian term that fits each speed. Then sing one verse of a song you know at an Andante tempo, with a rit. in the last line.
Video: "How to Decipher Tempo Markings in Music", Odd Quartet. A short crash course on beats per minute and the Italian tempo words. Compare the speeds it gives with the table above: different books give slightly different numbers.
Tip
Find 60 without a metronome: a clock's second hand ticks at 60 bpm. Twice as fast as the seconds is 120, an Allegro.
Warning
Common mistakes. (1) Starting a rit. too early and too hard, so the music almost stops: slow down gradually across the whole dashed line. (2) Forgetting a tempo: after a ritardando or accelerando, go back to the original speed when it appears.
Practice
Remember
Sources and credits
