Part of our section on Musical Notation where we look at the elements of a music score.
This page follows on from our page on rests


On our sample music score at the top of the Musical Notation page, above the stave at the start of the score there is a crotchet note and ” = 120″. This is a tempo mark.
Tempo means speed and tells us how fast the music should be played. It is not the same as the time signature (for example 4 over 4 above) which tells us how many beats are in a bar but not how fast to play them.
A crotchet note has a solid black note head attached to a vertical stem as shown on our page on note values.
The above tempo tells us to play 120 crotchet beats per minute (bpm) which means 2 crotchets per second. So each crotchet lasts half a second.

Listen to a short passage of crotchet notes played at 120 beats a minute. Does that seem fast or slow to you?
Tempo is often indicated in this way by indicating the speed of the beats, where the beat might be a crotchet as above, but could be a quaver or a minim or another note value.
Tempo can also be shown by one of a number of Italian words such as:
Tempo | Description | Beats per minute | Listen to tempo |
Grave | very slow | 25 – 45 bpm | |
Largo | slow and broad | 40 – 50 bpm | |
Lento | slow | 40 – 60 bpm | |
Adagio | slow and stately | 60 – 76 bpm | |
Andante | at a walking pace | 76 – 108 bpm | |
Moderato | moderately | 108 – 120 bpm | |
Allegro | lively and bright | 120 – 156 bpm | |
Vivace | lively and fast | 156 – 176 bpm | |
Presto | very fast | 176 – 200 bpm | |
Prestissimo | very very fast | over 200 bpm |

As well as setting the tempo we may need to change it from time to time.
One way to do this is to simply set a new tempo with a beats per minute tempo marking, or another Italian word.
But we might want to change the tempo gradually, or just indicate that the tempo should speed up or slow down a little.
Here are some more Italian words that indicate a change of tempo:
- accelerando: gradually speed up
- stringendo: gradually get faster but only a little
- ritardando: gradually slow down and stay slower, not to be confused with ritendo (below)
- rallentando: gradually slow down but intend to return to the original tempo
- a tempo: return to the original tempo/speed (“a” is Italian for “at”)
- stretto: at a faster tempo, immediately
- ritendo: at a slower tempo, immediately, not to be confused with ritardando (above)
- più mosso: faster (“mosso” is Italian for “movement”)
- meno mosso: slower:
- un poco più/meno mosso: a little faster/slower (“un poco” is Italian for “a little”)
- molto: very, used with one of the above as in molto accelerando: get a lot faster quickly
- subito: suddenly, used with the one of the above
- rubato: freely, allowing the conductor or soloist to ignore strict tempo and play the music with expression as they feel it
- morendo: dying away and getting slower

You may also see this marking which is called a “pause” and means just that – the note is held for while in a pause before the music resumes. How long to hold the note is up to the conductor or soloist.
Italian words are very common in music because Italian composers were first ones to use music notation a thousand years ago. The old Italian language of Latin was also the language of the Church and scholarship at that time throughout Europe and remained so for hundreds of years.

Notice that the tempo markings using Italian words are not precise – allegro (fast) can be anything from (approximately) 120 to 156 beats per minute and it is up to the conductor or musicians to decide what tempo they want to play the music at within this range.
A tempo marking like 120 bpm is much more precise, but is still open to interpretation and is only a guide. The conductor and the musicians must play the music in a way and at a tempo that seems right to them.

A music score is only ever a guide. It is the composer’s best attempt at putting the music in their head onto paper. It is up to the conductor and musicians to read the score and try and understand what the composer was thinking, and then make the music come to life.
Composer image courtesy of Flaticon
To help the conductor and musicians better understand what the composer wanted, they can use other Italian words that indicate the style of music or the mood or expression they want.
For example maestoso meaning (play the music) majestically or heroically.
Some of tempo words above are really words that indicate the style of music but have come to be interpreted as tempo markings. For example allegro means lively and bright; largo means broadly; grave means serious; etc.
Other styles include:
- agitato: agitated
- appassionato: passionate
- animato: animated
- cantabile: as if singing
- con brio: with enthusiasm and enjoyment
- delicato: delicately
- dolce: sweetly
- energico: energetically
- espressivo: expressively
- legato: smoothly
- leggiero: lightly, gently
- marcato: emphasised, marked
- pesante: heavily
- ritmico: rhythmically
- scherzando: playfully
- sostenuto: sustained, play full note lengths
- tranquillo: tranquil, calmly
There are lots more! if you come across one you don’t understand, do what everyone else does – either ask the conductor, teacher, or look it up on the internet!

Continue to explore this subject on our page about dynamics
Return to Musical Notation