The Complete Idiot''s Guide to Music Theory

Part 2:
Rhythms
Speeding Up—and Slowing Down
Some pieces of music retain the same tempo throughout the entire song (think
most popular music here). Other pieces of music speed up and slow down at
times; often for dramatic effect.
If a tempo change is immediate—that is, you go directly from one tempo to
another, with no gradual transition—you indicate the change by inserting a new
tempo marking of your choice. For example, if you’ve been playing at 120 bpm
and want to switch to a faster tempo—160 bpm, let’s say—all you have to do is
insert a new 160 bpm tempo mark. If you’re using Italian tempo markings, just
insert the new marking where you want the tempo to change.
If you’d rather gradually speed up or slow down the tempo, it’s time to learn a
new set of Italian markings. There are several you can use, but the most com-
mon are 
ritardando 
(to gradually slow down the tempo) and 
accelerando 
(to gradu-
ally speed up the tempo). The following table presents all the tempo-changing
markings you’re likely to encounter:
Indicating Tempo Changes
Indicator
Means …
ritardando (rit., retard.)
Gradually slow down
rallentando (rall.)
Gradually slow down
ritenuto (riten.)
Hold back the tempo
accelerando (accel.)
Gradually speed up
doppio movimento
Twice as fast
a tempo
Return to the previous tempo
tempo primo
Return to the tempo at the beginning of the piece
80
Decreasing the tempo using a ritardando marking.
Hold That Note!
Sometimes you don’t just want to slow down, you actually want to stop. When
you want to ignore the beat and hold a specific note, you use what’s called a 
fer-
mata
, which looks like a little bird’s eye placed on top of a note (or a rest) and
indicates a pause in the music. This means you hold that note (or rest) indefi-
nitely or until the conductor cuts you off; then you start up with the next note
after the fermata, at normal tempo.

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Chapter 7:
Tempo, Dynamics, and Navigation
81
When you see a fermata, hold the note.
Getting Loud—and Getting Soft
You now know how to indicate how fast or how slow a song should be played.
How do you indicate how loud or how soft you should play it?
Dynamic Markings
A song’s 
dynamics 
indicate how loud or soft you should play. In the world of
music notation, there is a set range of volume levels, from very soft to very
loud, that you use to indicate the dynamic level of a piece of music. These
dynamic markings are shown in the following table:
Dynamic Markings