Piano for Beginners 6th ED - 2016 UK

Understanding theory

A

nother aspect of music that helps bring

the notes to life is tempo. The word

comes from the Latin word ‘tempus’

meaning ‘time’, and indicates to the

musician how fast or slow the music should be

played. It can also direct the mood or feel.

You’ll see the tempo marked at the top of the first

stave, and it’s effective throughout the piece unless

the composer states otherwise.

There are two ways that tempo can be expressed.

The first is in beats per minute (or BPM). This is a

rather precise measurement, and you can use a

metronome to help you keep in perfect time. As a

time signature tells you the number of beats in each

bar, the tempo tells you the speed at which to play

these beats. At the top of the stave, you will see a

particular type of note (eg a crotchet/quarter note)

with the BPM value next to it. This means that the

crotchet/quarter note is specified as the beat, and

the number (eg 12 0) is the number of beats that

must be played per minute.

The other way of directing tempo is by a series of

Italian phrases which are much more interpretive.

Just like the Italian phrases that deal with a music’s

dynamics, you will come across many phrases that

indicate the pace or mood for the music. Check out

the table below-right for the most common terms.

Set and change

the tempo

Ensure your jigs are jolly and your ballads are slow and beautiful by

learning the essentials of musical tempo

Speed it up or slow it down

Some key tempo phrases and symbols that you should know

01 Beats per minute

To determine which type of note signifies one beat, you can generally look

at the bottom number of the time signature. Here, in 6/8 time signature, one

quaver/eighth note equals one beat, so there needs to be 140 of these a minute.

03 Back to the start

As well as instructions, there are also tempo phrases to direct you. In this

example you can see the words ‘a tempo’. This means that from that point you

should continue to play the music at the original speed.

02 Written directions

Here you can see the directions ‘rit.’ and ‘accel.’ which are abbreviations of the

Italian words ritardando (getting slower) and accelerando (getting faster). These

give an approximate flavour of the intended speed at which to play.

04 Te m p o s y m b o l s

There are some symbols that are tempo directions. This eye-like example is a

fermata. It appears above a particular note and instructs the player to hold the

note for as long as the interpretations of the musician or conductor allows.