32
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What is it called to play a music with flowing tempo in piano?
Rubato. This specifically means compensating for each slow-down with a speed-up. If there was a click track, you'd come out on the right beat at the end!
'Rubato' doesn't instruct you to play the ...
- 90.6k
29
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Is it true that cut time means "play twice as fast as written"?
It would be more accurate to say that cut time "will sound twice as fast as the same notes played in 4/4 at the same tempo". That's essentially what they're trying to get across.
But even that ...
- 4,797
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Do I have to be a virtuoso pianist to compose faster music?
The simple answer is no. Think of it this way: Does a composer write pieces only for instruments he can play? No, he does not. He might compose pieces for instruments that he has never touched in his ...
- 31.3k
22
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Is it good practice to speed up and slow down where not written in a song?
I think it depends very much on the genre, style, and period of the music.
For some styles, heavy use of rubato is normal and suits the way the music is written, while for others it would spoil the ...
- 1,382
22
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What is the meaning of "M. M." in this tempo mark?
It stands for...
M.M. Metronome Marking. Formerly "Mälzel Metronome."
Named after the Inventor Johann Mälzel who is the person who first manufactured a metronome for widespread use (...
- 14.8k
21
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What does a straight horizontal line above a few notes, after a changed tempo mean?
This line refers to the I, not to the "Allegro".
As OP mentioned in the comments, the I stands for the first position, i. e. the first fret on the guitar. So the line means, that all notes under it ...
- 363
21
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Is it true that cut time means "play twice as fast as written"?
That sentence "Played twice as fast as written" indicates that someone must have a misunderstanding. Someone who probably thinks that quarter notes are supposed to be played at a certain speed. That ...
- 4,500
18
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How to convert a dotted quarter note tempo to BPM?
No, it is not 150 bpm.
A tempo indication is an indication of beats per minutes. A tempo of 100 means 100 beat in a minute. It's how a metronome plays beats. Your watch moves the second at a bpm of 60,...
- 1,184
18
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Why are measures (aka "bars") important?
Please count 1-2-3-4,1-2-3-4, then at the same tempo (speed/ bpm) count 1-2-3-1-2-3.
If you can't feel or tell the difference, then, you're right, there's no need for bars. If you can, then how will ...
- 190k
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Strange Tempo Marking
This is a kind of shortcut for tempo primo. You probably had something like a tempo change in recent bars and are now supposed to fall back to the earlier tempo. (So the 1° actually is the ...
- 10.9k
18
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Is this tremolo too fast for strings?
Short answer: It's kinda sorta barely okay.
First of all, the triple slashes are normally interpreted as an unmeasured tremolo; i.e., each player will simply bow as fast as seems comfortable, and the ...
- 15.9k
17
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Is it good practice to speed up and slow down where not written in a song?
It's not bad per se, but it's dangerous.
Making this a habit will impair your ability to play with others.
As an expressive device, varying the tempo can be distracting. (That's why it's notated ...
- 5,850
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Is there any way for my to become a better judge of my playing? Especially while I'm playing
This is a terrific, and very important, question!
Have you ever heard a recording of yourself speaking? Did it come across as odd to you? Did you ever think "that's not how I sound!"? The same is ...
- 84k
16
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How to indicate a tempo change during a repetition?
Just use text. I would put this information with the D.C. (or D.S.) marking and with the original tempo marking. But I would put it inside a bracket.
So for instance, at the beginning:
"Allegro (...
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16
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What's the difference between "con brio" and "con fuoco"?
There’s not much (if any) difference in the tempo they imply, but there’s a difference in character.
Literally, con brio means with spirit, while con fuoco means with fire.
Regarding tempo, both are ...
- 919
16
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Playing ONE triplet (not three)
Of course, playing only one of them with no other context wouldn't sound like triplets, no matter what the note lengths were.
As already mentioned, playing the 1st & 3rd triplet gives you a swing ...
- 27.7k
14
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Is it good practice to speed up and slow down where not written in a song?
Depends. Some people use 'expressive rubato' as an excuse for bad time-keeping. In particular an excuse for playing the tricky bits slower than the easy bits! Flexible time is probably a bad idea ...
- 90.6k
13
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Accepted
Why did Shostakovich use such long note values for such fast notes?
First of all you should note that this is notated alla breve, so comparing the time to quarters per minutes serves little purpose. Could this have been notated in 2/4? Yes, absolutely! Writing it like ...
- 18.8k
12
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Why are measures (aka "bars") important?
One bar tends to be the smallest time after which there is some repetition in multiple voices. This is quite a bit of an oversimplification, but it is often observable, in approximate form, in many ...
- 35.3k
12
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Is it good practice to speed up and slow down where not written in a song?
As Lawrence said, you are describing "Rubato". My professor in college recommended playing the piece first at a more "rigid" tempo and then using your own discretion. You want rubato to feel tasteful ...
- 121
11
votes
Is it possible to have "Perfect Tempo"
I know a professional conductor who can pretty much nail it right on.
It's just like perfect pitch, in that it's something you learn to do by being exposed to a ton of music and having reference ...
- 22.3k
11
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Why are measures (aka "bars") important?
To offer a different perspective from the other excellent answers here, I'll draw an analogy between a piece of music and a piece of prose.
Barlines are separators, just like paragraphs and chapters. ...
- 241
11
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Speed of playing notes in different octaves
The first thing I suggest you think about is the fact that a musical note is not a single frequency. Depending on the timbre of the instrument, there can be hundreds of frequencies present in a sound ...
- 56.3k
11
votes
Notation question: Adding half a beat to a bar?
Here's some possibilities.
If the note grouping is as clear as in my example, maybe the metric modulation is unnecessary in A.
D is acceptable in today's music. But you will find it a challenge to ...
- 90.6k
11
votes
Accepted
What does the marking "Tempo" mean in the middle of a piece of music?
Since the "tempo" marking comes each time after a ritardando and occurs at a place where one would expect an "a tempo" marking it can only be an abbreviation of "a tempo"....
- 19.7k
10
votes
Do I have to be a virtuoso pianist to compose faster music?
I think it is a common misconception that playing fast makes you great at your instrument. Playing slow music correctly and in time, with good interpretation is to me much more of a skill tester than ...
- 14.8k
10
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Definition of Accelerando and Ritardando in mathematical terms
There is no mathematical definition, as they can depend on different composers, conductors or orchestras.
So you cannot state it is linear or exponential or anything fixed or defined. Please listen ...
- 36.8k
10
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What does "con piu fuoco possibile" mean?
Word by word:
con - with
più - more
fuoco - fire
possibile - possible
In Italian, "possibile" stuck on the end of a phrase means "as much [preceding thing] as possible".
So translated as a phrase: "...
- 22.3k
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