Metronome markings vs. tempo markings (BPM vs. words)

Question

The images are starting part of two different songs in Guitar Pro 6. My question is about the things that I circled in red.

I get that they indicate bpm. But what does the word Moderate mean there? Why the other song doesn't have the word Moderate?

Answer 1

Moderate or Moderato is a convention from back before the invention and widespread use of the quartz-powered metronome. Tempo markings are a relatively recent invention, and they are used for their simplicity and accuracy. However, many composers choose to omit them because the "idea" of the tempo of the piece is more important than an absolute value.

Other uses will indicate a range of metronome markings (BPM), or add a word like "Moderato" to give the player an idea of the "flavor", or style of the piece of music. In this case, (and in my opinion), Moderate indicates "Don't go nuts with the tempo!" here, since the classical tempo equivalences tend to put "moderato" around q=110, and q=158 to be somewhere in the zone of vivace, presto, or allegro vivace.

Answer 2

The word Moderate indicates the name for the tempo; each tempo has a different name. Here is a list of the names:

adagio:         very slow.
allegretto:     fairly quick, slightly slower than allegro.
allegro:        lively, rather quick.
andante:        rather slow, at a moderate, walking pace.
andantino:      this used to mean a little slower than andante, but now it usually means a little faster than andante.
con moto:       with movement, or a certain quickness.
grave:          extremely slow and solemn.
largamente:     broadly.
larghetto:      less slow than largo.
largo:          slow and broad.
lentamente:     slowly.
lento:          slow.
moderato:       moderate pace.
prestissimo:    as quick as possible.
presto:         very quick.
rapido:         rapid.
veloce:         with velocity.
vivace:         quick and lively.

As you can see, Moderate (in Italian Moderato) means that the speed of the song is a moderate pace

Answer 3

It's actually pretty pointless putting 'moderato' there, as a proper tempo is written. This gives exactly the speed of the piece, in beats per minute, each beat being shown as a crotchet.Back in the Classical days, composers would put the Italian words, which gave a rough to fairly good idea as to the pace of the piece.

Nowadays, it's more usual to put the actual tempo, in b.p.m and indicate what constitutes 'a beat'.

If 158bpm is 'moderato', then 81 bpm will be nearly half that speed, given that each uses a crotchet as the 'beat'.By the way, the number of beats in each bar will have no bearing on the speed the piece gets played.

On one metronome I have, 'moderato' is 108 to 120 bpm, so why that's marked as such on guitarpro, I don't know.