Tempo and Speed Terms
Ever wondered why some music feels slow and dreamy whilst other pieces make you want to dance? It's all about tempo markings that tell musicians exactly how fast or slow to play.
Adagio means super slow (think of a sad ballad), whilst allegro tells you to play quite quickly with energy. Between these extremes, you've got andante for moderately slow pieces and allegretto for moderately fast ones - it's faster than andante but not as zippy as allegro.
When composers want you to change speed during a piece, they use accelerando (gradually faster) or rallentando and ritardando (both mean getting slower). The term a tempo is like hitting the reset button - it means go back to normal speed.
Quick Tip: Remember that most tempo terms come from Italian, so they might sound fancy but they're just describing speed!
