Tempo Marking
A tempo marking is the word or metronome number at the top of a piece saying how fast to play it — Andante, Allegro, or something like ♩ = 96.
The Italian words describe a character as much as a speed: Andante is "walking", Allegro is "cheerful" as much as "fast". A metronome number removes the ambiguity, which is why modern editions usually give both.
How To Spot Tempo Marking
Above the staff at the very start, in italics or with a note symbol and a number.
Find It In Thirty Seconds
Set a metronome to the marked tempo and listen before you play. If it is faster than you can play accurately, halve it — the marking is the destination, not the starting point.
Open any piece of sheet music on this site and do it now. Reading is a recognition skill, and recognition is built by finding things, not by reading about them.
Related Topics...
How to Read Sheet Music: Learn how to read sheet music using interactive lessons from Chordzy. Or browse our various reading music topics.
Music Notation Glossary: Every symbol on a page of piano music, explained in one sentence each — clefs, note values, rests, accidentals, dynamics and repeat marks.
Dynamics: Dynamics are the letters under the staff telling you how loud to play: p is soft, f is loud, and mp and mf are the moderate versions of each.
Measure (Bar): A measure — also called a bar — is the space between two bar lines. The time signature says how many beats each measure holds.
More in This Section
Tie: A tie is a curved line joining two notes of the same pitch. You play the first one and hold it through the second, rather than playing it again.
Time Signature: The time signature is the pair of numbers after the clef. The top number says how many beats are in each measure; the bottom says which note value gets one bea…