TEMPO

TEMPO

2

Tempo is the speed at
which music is played or
sung.

3

So what is tempo?

Multiple Choice

Tempo is the ____________ at which music is __________ or ___________

• speed, played, written

• speed, sung, acted

• speed, played, sung

• speed, danced, sung

Instead of writing “fast” or“slow” in music,

Italian words to

music composers
describe how fast

use
or how slowmusic

should be played. There are over 20 tempo
terms and signs but we will only be
focusing on seven (7) of them.

4

Multiple Choice

What is the language used to write tempo terms?

• English

• French

• Japanese

• Italian

Largo

Very slow

Adagio

Slow

Moderato

Moderate

Allegro

Fast

Presto

Very fast

I need
to learn
these!

5

Accelerando and Ritardando

6

Although
metronome
markings are used
to

indicate the

speed of the beat,
that speed

can

change throughout a
song.
Composersuse the words
“accelerando” and
“ritardando” to tell
musicians to
gradually change
the tempo.

Accelerando
means getting
gradually faster.
(Just remember the word accelerate.

When musicians

see this word, they
gradually speed up
their playing .

Ritardando means
gradually getting slower.
When musicians see this
word, they gradually slow
down their playing or
singing.

7

A metronome, is a device that
produces an audible click or other
sound at a regular interval that
can be set by the user, Tempo on the metronome is written
in beats per minute (BPM).

to

a

The metronome can be used with
any instrument (including the
voice).

Multiple Choice

This device is a

• clock

• stopwatch

• metronome

• speed reader

Multiple Choice

Ritardando means

• getting faster

• gradually getting slower

• stay the same

• i dont know

Multiple Choice

Metronome speed is measured in

• beats per day

• beats per hour

• beats per week

• beats per minute

Multiple Choice

Accelerando means

• to slow down

• to stay the same

• to gradually get slower

• to gradually get faster