In musical terminology This is a list of musical terms that are likely to be encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian , in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special musical meanings of these phrases differ from the original or current Italian meanings. Most of, tempo (Italian Italian ( italiano , or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken as a native language by about 70 million people in Italy, San Marino and parts of Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia and France. In addition, it is spoken by an additional 120 to 150 million people as a non-native language. Most native speakers are native bilinguals of both for time, plural: tempi) is the speed or pace of a given piece A piece of music exists in the form of a written composition in musical notation or as a single acoustic event . If composed before being performed, music can be performed from memory, through written musical notation, or through a combination of both. Compositions comprise musical elements, which vary widely from person to person and between. It is a crucial element of composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.

Measuring tempo

The tempo of a piece will typically be written at the start of a piece of music, and in modern music is usually indicated in beats per minute (BPM). This means that a particular note value (for example, a quarter note or crotchet) is specified as the beat, and the marking indicates that a certain number of these beats must be played per minute. The greater the tempo, the larger the number of beats that must be played in a minute is, and, therefore, the faster a piece must be played. Mathematical tempo markings of this kind became increasingly popular during the first half of the 19th century, after the metronome had been invented by Johann Nepomuk Mälzel, although early metronomes A metronome is any device that produces regular, metrical ticks . These ticks represent a fixed, regular aural pulse; some metronomes also include synchronized visual motion (e.g. pendulum-swing). The metronome dates back to the early 19th century. Though the metronome was conceived as a tool for music, some musicians consider it to be a highly were somewhat inconsistent. Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (pronounced /ˈluːdvɪɡ vɑːn ˈbeɪtoʊvən/ or /ˈlʊdvɪɡ væn ˈbeɪt.həʊvən/ (UK); German: [ˈluːtvɪç fan ˈbeːt.hoːfn̩] ( listen); baptised 17 December 1770 – 26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is considered to have been the most crucial figure in the transitional period between the was the first composer to use the metronome, and in 1817 he published metronomic indications for his (then) eight symphonies. Some of these markings are today contentious, such as those on his "Hammerklavier" Sonata Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, Op. 106, known as the Große Sonate für das Hammerklavier, or more simply as the Hammerklavier, is widely considered to be one of the most important works of the composer's third period and one of the great piano sonatas. It is considered Beethoven's single most difficult composition for and Ninth Symphony The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 "Choral" is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire. It is considered one of Beethoven's most highly regarded masterpieces seeming to many to be almost impossibly fast, as is also the case for many of the works of Schumann Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic^{[citation needed]}.^[1]

With the advent of modern electronics, BPM became an extremely precise measure. MIDI files MIDI , pronounced /ˈmɪdi/) is an industry-standard protocol defined in 1982 that enables electronic musical instruments such as keyboard controllers, computers, and other electronic equipment to communicate, control, and synchronize with each other. MIDI allows computers, synthesizers, MIDI controllers, sound cards, samplers and drum machines to and other types of sequencing software use the BPM system to denote tempo.

As an alternative to metronome markings, some 20th century composers (such as Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (pronounced /ˈbɑrtɒk/ , Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈbeːlɒ ˈbɒrtoːk]) (March 25, 1881 – September 26, 1945) was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered to be one of the greatest composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as his country's greatest composer (Gillies 2001). Through and John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, philosopher, poet, music theorist, artist, printmaker, and amateur mycologist and mushroom collector. A pioneer of chance music, electronic music and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde. Critics have lauded him as one of the most) would give the total execution time of a piece, from which the proper tempo can be roughly derived.

Tempo is as crucial in contemporary music as it is in classical. In electronic dance music Electronic dance music is electronic music that is produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment. The music is largely created for use by disc jockeys and is produced with the intention of it being heard in the context of a continuous DJ set[citation, accurate knowledge of a tune's BPM is important to DJs A disc jockey is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, disk referred to phonograph records, while disc referred to the Compact Disc, and has become the more common spelling. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the source for the purposes of beatmatching Beatmatching is a disc jockey technique of pitch shifting or timestretching a track to match its tempo to that of the currently playing track i.e. the kicks and snares in two house records hit at the same time when both records are played simultaneously. Beatmatching is a component of mixing which employs beatmatching combined with equalization,.

Musical vocabulary for tempo

Whether a music piece has a mathematical time indication or not, in classical music Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times. The central norms of this tradition became codified between 1550 and 1900, which is known as the common practice period it is customary to describe the tempo of a piece by one or more words. Most of these words are Italian Italian ( italiano , or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken as a native language by about 70 million people in Italy, San Marino and parts of Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia and France. In addition, it is spoken by an additional 120 to 150 million people as a non-native language. Most native speakers are native bilinguals of both, because many of the most important composers A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media[clarification needed]. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright[specify] and the of the 17th century were Italian, and this period was when tempo indications were first used extensively.

Before the metronome, words were the only way to describe the tempo of a composition. Yet after the metronome's invention, these words continued to be used, often additionally indicating the mood of the piece, thus blurring the traditional distinction between tempo and mood indicators. For example, presto and allegro both indicate a speedy execution (presto being faster), but allegro also connotes joy (from its original meaning in Italian). Presto, on the other hand, indicates speed as such.

Additional Italian words also indicate tempo and mood. For example, the "agitato" in the Allegro agitato of the last movement of George Gershwin George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known's piano concerto in F has both a tempo indication (undoubtedly faster than a usual Allegro) and a mood indication ("agitated").

Understood tempo

In some cases (quite often up to the end of the Baroque Baroque music describes a style of European classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1750. This era is said to begin in music after the Renaissance and was followed by the Classical era. The word "baroque" came from the Portuguese word barroco, meaning "misshapen pearl", a strikingly fitting characterization of the period), conventions governing musical composition were so strong that no tempo had to be indicated. For example, the first movement of Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March 1685 [O.S. 21 March] – 28 July 1750) (often referred to simply as Bach) was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose ecclesiastical and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 The Brandenburg concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach are a collection of six instrumental works presented by Bach to Christian Ludwig, margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, in 1721 (though probably composed earlier). They are widely regarded as among the finest musical compositions of the Baroque era has no tempo or mood indication whatsoever. To provide movement names, publishers of recordings resort to ad hoc measures, for instance marking the Brandenburg movement "Allegro", "(Allegro)", "(Without indication)", and so on.

In Renaissance music Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance. Defining the beginning of the musical era is difficult, given the gradually adopted "Renaissance" characteristics: musicologists have placed its beginnings from as early as 1300 to as late as the 1470s most music was understood to flow at a tempo defined by the tactus In music and music theory, the pulse or tactus consists of beats. The beat is a series of identical, yet distinct periodic short-duration stimuli perceived as points in time occurring at the mensural level, roughly the rate of the human heartbeat. Which note value corresponded to the tactus was indicated by the mensural time signature The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat.

Often a particular musical form The term musical form is often loosely used to refer to particular musical genres or styles , which may be determined by factors such as harmonic language, typical rhythms, types of musical instrument used as well as historical and geographical origins. In the vocabulary of art-music, however, it has a more extended meaning, referring to the type or genre There are several approaches to genre. In his book Form in Tonal Music, Douglass M. Green lists the madrigal, the motet, the canzona, the ricercar, and the dance as examples of genres . According to Green, "Beethoven's Op. 61 and Mendelssohn's Op. 64 are identical in genre - both are violin concertos - but different in form. Mozart's Rondo implies its own tempo, so no further explanation is placed in the score. Thus musicians expect a minuet A minuet, also spelled menuet, is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in 3/4 time. The word was adapted from Italian minuetto and French menuet, meaning small, pretty, delicate, a diminutive of menu, from the Latin minutus; menuetto is a word that occurs only on musical scores. The name may refer to the short steps, pas menus, to be performed at a fairly stately tempo, slower than a Viennese waltz Viennese Waltz is the genre of a ballroom dance. At least three different meanings are recognized. In the historically first sense, the name may refer to several versions of the waltz, including the earliest waltzes done in ballroom dancing, danced to the music of Viennese Waltz; a Perpetuum Mobile A well-known example is the presto finale of Frédéric Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2: to be quite fast, and so on. Genres can be used to imply tempos; thus Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (pronounced /ˈluːdvɪɡ vɑːn ˈbeɪtoʊvən/ or /ˈlʊdvɪɡ væn ˈbeɪt.hoʊvən/ (UK); German: [ˈluːtvɪç fan ˈbeːt.hoːfn̩] ( listen); baptised 17 December 1770 – 26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He was a crucial figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras in wrote "In tempo d'un Menuetto" over the first movement of his Piano Sonata Op. 54, although that movement is not a minuet. Popular music Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal", and stands in contrast to art music, and traditional music which was disseminated orally. Although popular music sometimes is known as "pop music", the "two terms are not interchangeable. Popular music is a generic term for music of all ages charts use terms such as "bossa nova", "ballad", and "Latin rock" in much the same way.

It is important to remember when interpreting these words that not only have tempos changed over historical time, and even in different places, but sometimes even the ordering of terms has changed. Thus a modern largo is slower than an adagio, but in the Baroque period it was faster^[2].

Beats per minute

Beats per minute (BPM) is a unit typically used as a measure of tempo in music.

The BPM tempo of a piece of music is conventionally shown in its score as a metronome A metronome is any device that produces regular, metrical ticks . These ticks represent a fixed, regular aural pulse; some metronomes also include synchronized visual motion (e.g. pendulum-swing). The metronome dates back to the early 19th century. Though the metronome was conceived as a tool for music, some musicians consider it to be a highly mark, as illustrated to the right. This indicates that there should be 120 crotchet A quarter note or crotchet (British) is a note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note (or semibreve). Quarter notes are notated with a filled-in oval note head and a straight, flagless stem. The stem usually points upwards if it is below the middle line of the stave or downwards if it is on or above the middle line. However, this beats (quarter notes A quarter note or crotchet (British) is a note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note (or semibreve). Quarter notes are notated with a filled-in oval note head and a straight, flagless stem. The stem usually points upwards if it is below the middle line of the stave or downwards if it is on or above the middle line. However, this) per minute. In simple time signatures The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and what note value constitutes one beat it is conventional to show the tempo in terms of the note duration on the bottom. So a 4/4 would show a crotchet A quarter note or crotchet (British) is a note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note (or semibreve). Quarter notes are notated with a filled-in oval note head and a straight, flagless stem. The stem usually points upwards if it is below the middle line of the stave or downwards if it is on or above the middle line. However, this (or quarter note), as above, while a 2/2 would show a minim In music, a half note or minim (British) is a note played for half the duration of a whole note (or semibreve) and twice the duration of a quarter note (or crotchet). In time signatures with a denominator of 4, such as 4/4 or 3/4 time, the half note is two beats long (or half note In music, a half note or minim (British) is a note played for half the duration of a whole note (or semibreve) and twice the duration of a quarter note (or crotchet). In time signatures with a denominator of 4, such as 4/4 or 3/4 time, the half note is two beats long).

In compound time signatures the beat consists of three note durations (so there are 3 quavers An eighth note or a quaver (other English-speaking countries) is a musical note played for one eighth the duration of a whole note, hence the name (eighth notes An eighth note or a quaver (other English-speaking countries) is a musical note played for one eighth the duration of a whole note, hence the name) per beat in a 6/8 time signature), so a dotted form of the next note duration up is used. The most common compound signatures: 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8, therefore use a dotted crotchet (dotted quarter note) to indicate their BPM.

Exotic time and particularly slow time signatures may indicate their BPM tempo using other note durations.

Beats per minute became common terminology in disco because of its usefulness to DJs A disc jockey is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, disk referred to phonograph records, while disc referred to the Compact Disc, and has become the more common spelling. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the source, and remain important in the same genre and other dance music.

In this context the beats measured are either crotchets (quarter notes) in the time signature (sometimes called down-beats, although the term is ambiguous), or drum beats (typically bass-drum or another functionally similar synthesized sound), whichever is more frequent. Higher BPM values are therefore achievable by increasing the number of drum beats, without increasing the tempo of the music. House music House is a style of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, USA in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, and Latino American communities; first in Chicago, then in Detroit, New York City, New Jersey, and Miami. It then reached Europe before becoming infused is faster around 120-128 bpm (from regular house music to UK Garage UK garage is a genre of electronic dance music originating from the United Kingdom in the mid-1990s. UK garage is a descendant of house music which originated in Chicago and New York US by African Americans. UK garage usually features a distinctive syncopated 4-4 percussive rhythm with 'shuffling' hi-hats and beat-skipping kick drums. Garage), and Jungle music Drum and bass or is a genre of dance music which emerged from the UK Warehouse/Rave scene in the early 1990s bringing influences from Techno, Dub, and Hip Hop, but mainly focusing on Breakbeat side of Rave rather than the House/Techno side of Rave (Orignally called Jungle Tekno as well as Drum and Bass, Jungle is still accepted but mainly refers generally ranges between 140-150 BPM (with some differences in older compositions). Psytrance is almost exclusively produced at 145 BPM, whereas Speedcore and Gabber music both frequently exceed 160 BPM, with an underlying crotchet tempo of around 150-220 BPM^{[citation needed]}.

Extreme BPM

More extreme BPMs are achievable at the same underlying tempo with very fast drum patterns, often expressed as drum rolls. Such compositions often exhibit a much slower underlying tempo, but may increase the BPM by adding additional percussive beats. Extreme music subgenres such as speedcore and cybergrind often strive to reach excessively high BPM rates. The use of extreme tempo was very common in the fast bebop jazz from the 1940s and 1950s. A common jazz tune such as "Cherokee" was often performed at quarter note equal to or sometimes exceeding 368 BPM. Some of Charlie Parker's famous tunes (Bebop, Sha Nuff, Donna Lee) have been performed at 380 BPM plus. John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" was performed at a BPM of quarter note equal to 374. Another example of extreme BPM is "Fascination MAXX" by 100-200-400.

Beatmatching

Beatmatching Beatmatching is a disc jockey technique of pitch shifting or timestretching a track to match its tempo to that of the currently playing track i.e. the kicks and snares in two house records hit at the same time when both records are played simultaneously. Beatmatching is a component of mixing which employs beatmatching combined with equalization,, a tool amongst DJs, concerns the speeding up or down of a record in order to match the BPM of a previous track so both can be seamlessly mixed.

DJs often beatmatch the underlying tempos of recordings, rather than their strict BPM, particularly when dealing with high BPM tracks. A 240 BPM track, for example, will normally match the beat of a 120 BPM track without slowing down or speeding up, because both are likely to have an underlying tempo of 120 crotchets (quarter notes) per minute. Thus, some soul music Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of funky, secular testifying." Catchy (around 75-90 beats per minute) can be mixed well with a drum and bass Drum and bass or is a genre of dance music which emerged from the UK Warehouse/Rave scene in the early 1990s bringing influences from Techno, Dub, and Hip Hop, but mainly focusing on Breakbeat side of Rave rather than the House/Techno side of Rave (Orignally called Jungle Tekno as well as Drum and Bass, Jungle is still accepted but mainly refers beat (from 150-185 beats per minute).

Normally, the pitch and BPM of a track are linked: spin a disc 10% faster and both pitch and tempo will be 10% higher. Software processing to change the pitch without changing the tempo, or vice-versa, is called time-stretching Time stretching is the process of changing the speed or duration of an audio signal without affecting its pitch. Pitch scaling or pitch shifting is the opposite: the process of changing the pitch without affecting the speed. There are also more advanced methods used to change speed, pitch, or both at once, as a function of time or pitch-shifting Time stretching is the process of changing the speed or duration of an audio signal without affecting its pitch. Pitch scaling or pitch shifting is the opposite: the process of changing the pitch without affecting the speed. There are also more advanced methods used to change speed, pitch, or both at once, as a function of time. While it works fairly well for small adjustments (± 20%), the result can be noisy and unmusical for larger changes.

Measures per minute

Measures per Minute (MPM) or bars per minute is another way to measure the speed of music: the number of measures in one minute. It is commonly used in ballroom dance music.

Italian tempo markings

The definitions of the Italian tempo markings mentioned in this section can be found in the Harvard Dictionary of Music and/or the online Italian-English dictionary, both of which are listed in Sources.

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