Dies ist eine alte Version des Dokuments!
tempo
In ancient music, the speed at which a piece of music should be played was essentially a matter of experience and feeling. The musician independently searched for the „tempo giusto“ (the „right tempo“). Therefore, the „middle tempo“ of „normal“ music did not have to be recorded separately; it resulted from the score.5) Odd bar types, which often came from dance music, were generally played faster than even ones. The well-known speed of certain genres served as approximate tempo indication (e.g., „tempo di minuetto“ = „at minuet tempo“, „tempo di marcia“ = „at march tempo“). If other tempi were wanted, starting from the 17th century, Italian tempo expressions were added to the piece.
Until the Classical period, it was also common to change the tempo of a time signature to the degree of movement, i.e. adapt to the fastest note values occurring therein; e.g., 6/8 time was played a bit slower when there were sixteenths in it. Tempo and time indications were at that time not meant as fixed conducting information.6)
Since the invention of the metronome in the early 19th century many pieces of music are preceded by exact tempo indications in beats per minute so that „a piece is performed precisely in the measure movement as the composer thought it to be.“7) At that time the practice to determine the tempo of a measure by the character of the piece also ended. Since then, the speed of a single beat remains unchanged even if the time signature changes in a multipart piece.
Tempo and expression
Tempo indications should not be considered independent of the meaning of the piece. Especially for solo performances, as Aguado, Dionisio has stated, the performer is free and responsible for the appropriate expression:
When playing solo, the expression in certain short passages allows a slight change in the measure, be it through acceleration or deceleration; in this case it seems, at least for a moment, to be absent, only to follow it afterwards with as much exactitude as before.
Tempo expressions
Tempo expressions
In general, the following values are characteristic of the regulation of the tempo:
tempo | bpm |
Langsam | |
---|---|
Largo (Lento) | 40–60 |
Larghetto | 60–66 |
Adagio | 66–76 |
Mäßig | |
Andante | 76–108 |
Moderato | 108–120 |
Schnell | |
Allegro | 120–168 |
Presto | 168–200 |
Prestissimo | 200–208 |
However, these are only indicative.
Modern dances
Modern dances
The following dances are generally be played with the following tempi:
dance | bpm |
Rhythm & Blues | 60–90 |
Bolero | 80 |
Rap | 80–100 |
Foxtrott | 80–120 |
Hip Hop | 80–120 |
Reggae | 80–120 |
Polka | 80–160 |
Tango traditional | 80–160 |
Slow waltz | 84–90 |
Samba | 96–104 |
Calypso | 104 |
Rumba | 100-108 |
Rock | 100–140 |
Argentinian tango | 108 |
Paso doble | 120–124 |
Cha-cha | 120–128 |
German tango | 132 |
Jive | 168–184 |
Twist | 170 |
Viennese waltz | 174–180 |
Salsa | 180–300 |
Dixieland | 200 |
Quickstep | 200-240 |
Charleston | 200–290 |
Jazz
Jazz
Jazz often uses the following tempo markers:
tempo | bpm |
slow | 48-60 |
medium slow | 60–90 |
medium | 90–140 |
medium fast | 140–180 |
fast | 180–240 |
up-tempo | 240–340 |