Music would be a real yawner if we could only use one speed. What if all music were written for some boring medium speed that never changed? Are you glad that hundreds of years ago music theorists developed tempo and ways to notate it?

To get a very exact idea of tempo, musicians use a device call a metronome. Today, metronomes are digital devices that keep precise time based on the musician inputs. In 1696, the first metronome was developed. It was based on Galileo’s pendulum and as refined as modern day metronomes but up until then, composers had no objective way to notate tempos. Still today, some musicians prefer to use subjective tempo markings that allow the individual to interpret the music in a way that makes them unique as an artist. Subjective markings, or one that relies on something less than scientific, look like this:

• Larghissimo — very, very slow
• Lento — very slow
• Largo — very slow
• Larghetto — rather broadly
• Grave — slow and solemn
• Adagio — slow and stately (literally, “at ease”)
• Adagietto — rather slow
• Andante — at a walking pace
• Andante Moderato — a bit faster than andante
• Andantino — slightly faster than andante
• Moderato — moderately
• Allegretto — moderately fast (but less so than allegro)
• Allegro moderato — moderately quick
• Allegro — fast, quickly and bright or “march tempo”
• Vivace — lively and fast
• Vivacissimo — very fast and lively
• Allegrissimo — very fast
• Presto — very fast
• Prestissimo — extremely fast

As you can see, these tempo marking don’t include any objective way to interpret the tempo. What exactly does “Andante” mean and how does it translate in to a certain speed? Much like other musical terms, musicians learn how to play in these certain tempos and through experience learn what they sound like and the approximate speed in which music proceeds.

As technology evolved, the metronome changed how we interpret tempos. By using a metronome, a composer can write at exact tempos knowing that a conductor, also with a metronome, could play the music at the exact speed listed if the composer notated that it should be exact. This gives the composer the ability to write certain effects and sounds that can only be achieved at certain tempos. Let’s look at this same list and how it would look with metronome marking included:

• Larghissimo — very, very slow (20 bpm and below)
• Lento — very slow (40—60 bpm)
• Largo — very slow (40—60 bpm), like lento
• Larghetto — rather broadly (60—66 bpm)
• Grave — slow and solemn
• Adagio — slow and stately (literally, “at ease”) (66—76 bpm)
• Adagietto — rather slow (70—80 bpm)
• Andante — at a walking pace (76—108 bpm)
• Andante Moderato — a bit faster than andante
• Andantino — slightly faster than andante
• Moderato — moderately (101-110 bpm)
• Allegretto — moderately fast (but less so than allegro)
• Allegro moderato — moderately quick (112—124 bpm)
• Allegro — fast, quickly and bright or “march tempo” (120—139 bpm)
• Vivace — lively and fast (Ëœ140 bpm) (quicker than allegro)
• Vivacissimo — very fast and lively
• Allegrissimo — very fast
• Presto — very fast (168—200 bpm)
• Prestissimo — extremely fast (more than 200bpm)

By putting these numbers in to a modern, digital metronome or even moving the weight on the pendulum on an older style metronome, a musician can be exact as they practice.

Finally, some genres of music demand exact metronome marking but most leave it to the individual musician to define the speed of the piece. Don’t forget to be an individual and don’t follow a chart to make a piece of music sound great. Charts like these are a guide to give you a basic idea of what these tempo terms translate to.

Keep this chart handy as you look at a piece of music for the first time.