Bending the tempo
The word at the front sets the tempo. Other words, printed above the staff partway through, bend it — ease forward, hold back, stretch one moment, then snap the original speed back.
The marks
They sit above the staff exactly where the change begins. A gradual one often trails a dotted line — rit. . . . . . — to show how far it reaches.
| Mark | Means | Gradual or at once |
|---|---|---|
| rit. (ritardando), rall. (rallentando) | slowing down | gradual |
| ritenuto (also abbreviated rit.) | held back — a lower speed, straight away | at once |
| accel. (accelerando), stringendo | speeding up | gradual |
| allargando | broadening — slower and weightier | gradual |
| a tempo | back to the tempo you just left | at once |
| Tempo I (Tempo primo) | back to the very first tempo of the piece | at once |
| rubato | flexible time — borrow from one note, pay it back inside the phrase | throughout |
The rit. trap: it abbreviates both ritardando (slow down gradually) and ritenuto
(drop to a slower speed immediately). Usually context tells you: a rit. with a dotted
line over several notes is the gradual one; a bare rit. on a single beat is often the sudden
one. When it's genuinely unclear, the gradual reading is the safer default.
Hear it — a written-out slowing down
abcjs plays at one steady speed, so here a ritardando is spelled out: each note held a little longer than the last. In real music you would just see the word and do this yourself.
Snap it back — rit. then a tempo
The little words that lean on a marking
Rarely does a tempo word travel alone. These modifiers tune it:
| Word | Means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| molto | very | molto rit. — slow down a lot |
| assai | very / quite | Allegro assai — quite fast |
| poco | a little | poco rit. — ease off slightly |
| poco a poco | bit by bit | cresc. poco a poco — over many bars |
| meno | less | meno mosso — less motion |
| più | more | più mosso — more motion |
| ma non troppo | but not too much | Allegro ma non troppo |
| sempre | always | sempre staccato |
| quasi | almost, as if | quasi recitativo |
meno mosso and più mosso are not gradual. Mosso means "moved" — più mosso is a
new, faster steady tempo that starts now and holds; meno mosso a new slower one. They change
the setting; accel. and rit. change it while you play.
Try it
Try
Play the seven-note phrase above at a steady 96. Then play it again and, over the last three notes only, take a little more time on each — the bow travelling the same distance but slower. Land the G, let it ring, then start the phrase once more a tempo — right back at 96, no drifting.
The usual mistake
Thinking a rit. slows the rest of the piece. It lasts until an a tempo or Tempo I
brings the speed back — often just a bar or two later. The other one: making a rit. a sudden
lurch. Ease into it. And in rubato, players stretch the melody but let the pulse
underneath sag too — keep an honest beat in your foot and only the tune flexes over it.