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Tempo Terminology
Common Qualifiers
| A poco a poco | little by little |
| Assai, molto | very, much, quite |
| Con | with, as in con brio (with spirit) |
| Meno | less, as in meno vivace (not so fast) |
| Non troppo | not too much |
| Più | more |
| Pochissimo | a very little |
| Poco, un poco | a little, somewhat |
| Quasi | like, almost |
Changing Tempo
| A piacere | Tempo is at the pleasure or discretion of the performer. The same as ad libitum. Similar to rubato except rubato is the discretion of the conductor. |
| Accelerando (accel.) | Quickening; a gradual speeding up of the tempo |
| Ad libitum | Tempo is at the discretion of the performer. The same as a piacere. Similar to rubato except rubato is the discretion of the conductor. |
| Alla breve | Duple time with a half note as the unit; same as Cut time |
| Allargando (allarg.) | Broadening; sometimes interpreted as a combination of ritardando and crescendo |
| ancora | Still more; used generally with tempo indications, as ancora meno mosso (still more slowly) |
| A témpo | In tempo; reestablishes original speed after accelerando or ritardando |
| Cédez | French for poco ritardando; a slight holding back |
| Come Prima | As at first |
| Come Sopra | As above; much the same as come prima |
| Doppio movimento | Twice as fast; usually used in conjunction with Common time changing to Cut time |
| L'istesso tempo Lo stesso tempo |
The same tempo, indicating that the beat remains constant when the meter changes as 2/4 to 6/8 |
| Meno mosso Più lento |
Less motion; slower. May be qualified by poco (a little less) |
| Più allegro Più animato Più mosso |
faster |
| pressez | French term for "quicken"; same meaning as accelerando |
| Rallentando (rall.) | Same as ritardando; a gradual slowing-down of the tempo |
| Ritardando (ritard.) | Slowing down; a gradual holding-back of the tempo |
| Ritenuto (riten.) | Frequently confused with ritardando; means a sudden slowing-down, in contrast to the gradual holding-back of rallentando |
| Rubato | Litterally, to "rob" or steal the time values by holding-back or speeding up at will to color a phrase |
| stringendo (string.) | Pressing forward; sometimes erroneously interpreted as a combination of accelerando and crescendo |
| tempo giusto | In strict tempo (non-rubato) |
| tempo primo (tempo I°) | Original tempo |
| trattenuto (tratt.) | Holding back (same as rallentando) with the addition of a sustained quality (sostenuto) |