These are usually descriptive words and can appear in a variety of languages including English. The Italian names are prevalent in Classical music, but in Jazz they’re usually English. Other genres often use the language of their origin.
Character markings appear above the start of the first stave on the first page, where metronome markings are also written, in Bold type.
We associate Italian character names with tempo, largely because metronomes attach tempo ranges to them, but it’s more about the character than the tempo. The ranges are quite wide, though, and it’s likely that, to achieve the appropriate character, the tempo will end up within the suggested range.
The list below lists the more common tempo markings. Other variations add –issimo to the end of the word to intensify the meaning (Larghissimo means extremely slow, Prestissimo means extremely fast), or –ino or –etto to soften the meaning (Allegretto is slightly slower than Allegro).
If the piece is to be played at a specific tempo, a metronome marking can be written after a character name.
*At the lowest tempi it becomes difficult to count the beats accurately without counting the ”ands”, the next shorter note value. For more on this, please visit 20. How To Read Rhythms 1.
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