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Tempo

Tempo is an Italian word which describes the speed of a particular piece of music. Often, the tempo marking will also indicate the charactor of the piece. Tempo markings are usually found at the beginning of a composition in the top left corner but they can be found anywhere in the music. 'A tempo' means to return to the original tempo. Most tempo markings are in Italian because Italian was the language that most important composers spoke when the terms were first used. Here are some of the most common tempo markings. They are listed here in order from the fastest to the slowest. If you want to challenge yourself, go to the B# Fun Facts section of this site and test your knowledge of these vocabulary words.

Presto - very fast
Vivace - lively and fast
Allegro - fast and bright
Allegretto - moderately fast (but not as fast as Allegro)
Moderato - moderately
Andante - at a walking pace
Adagio - slow and stately
Grave - slow and solemn
Largo - very slow (like Lento)
Lento - very slow (like Largo)

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