Pulse and tempo
Under almost all music there is a steady pulse. The tempo tells you how fast it ticks, in beats per minute (BPM), from slow Largo to fast Presto.
You can start here straight away: you need nothing first.
Why
Why do you start clapping along at a party, even to a song you have never heard before?
Almost all music has a heartbeat: a regular tick that keeps going, even when the melody goes quiet for a moment. You feel that tick in your feet before you even think about it.
That heartbeat is called the pulse. How fast it ticks is the tempo. A lullaby and a dance track differ mostly in that.
See it and hear it
Switch on the metronome and slide the tempo. Watch the pendulum swing and read the Italian word that goes with that tempo.
Andante0.67 seconds per beat
Description of the picture
A metronome with a pendulum. A slider sets the tempo from 40 to 208 BPM. Each tempo shows its Italian word, such as Andante or Allegro, and how many seconds one beat lasts. A light flashes on every beat, more brightly on the first beat of the bar.
Get it
The pulse is the regular beat under the music. You feel it when you tap your foot or clap along. Those counts are also called beats.
The tempo is how fast the pulse goes. Musicians count it in beats per minute, or BPM. At 60 BPM one beat lasts exactly one second, at 120 BPM half a second.
Many pieces have an Italian word at the top for the tempo. Largo is broad and slow, Andante is at a walking pace, Moderato is moderate, Allegro is quick and cheerful, Presto is very fast. The numbers that go with these words are rough agreements, not laws.
A metronome ticks the pulse for you, so you do not speed up or slow down without noticing.
Tempo in BPM = number of beats per minute. One beat lasts 60:
Worked example
A song has a tempo of 120 BPM. How many beats do you hear in 30 seconds?
120 BPM means 120 beats in 60 seconds.
120:
60= 2 That is 2 beats per second. In 30 seconds:
2×
30= 60 - Answer
You hear 60 beats.
Do it
Choose a level. You get a new exercise every time, checked straight away.
Pitfalls
Wrong: The more notes you hear, the faster the tempo.
A melody can put lots of short notes on one beat while the pulse stays calm.
Right: The tempo belongs to the pulse, not to how many notes you hear. Tap your foot along and count those taps.
Wrong: Playing louder means playing faster.
Loud or soft is about volume, fast or slow is about tempo. Those are two different things.
Right: You can play loudly and slowly, or softly and quickly.
Wrong: Andante always means exactly 90 BPM.
The Italian words are old and give a mood and a range, not a fixed number.
Right: Andante lies roughly between 76 and 108 BPM. The musician chooses within that range.
In real life
- Pop songs on the radio are often between 90 and 130 BPM, and fast dance music at a festival like Tomorrowland often goes above that.
- In a CPR course you learn to push at a rhythm of about 100 to 120 compressions per minute: that is a tempo.
- When you practise at home for the music academy (part-time arts school), you switch on a metronome app, slower at first, faster later.
History
In 1815 Johann Maelzel patented a metronome with a pendulum. He built on an invention by Dietrich Winkel from Amsterdam. Beethoven was one of the first composers to write metronome markings in his music.
At the table
Put on a song at home and tap along with the pulse together for one minute. How many beats did you count? That is the tempo in BPM.
A question to talk about together, for parents and children. There is no wrong answer.