Common tempi in classical music include (from slowest to fastest):

I guess Andante and Allegro are the two most common that I see.

Movements in classical music are often characterized by their tempo. For example, Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata is broken down into three movements: I. adagio sostenuto, II. allegretto, III. presto agitato.

Tempo was the Apple internal codename of MacOS 8.0. Most of Apple's projects have a musical background to them.

In fact, old Macintosh models had error messages that corresponded to a pitch of a musical note that played when the machine failed to turn on. Fortunately, that did not continue past the older models.

In music notation, the tempo indicates the speed of the music. It is written just above the staff. Some tempo is specified at the start of the piece, usually just above the first clef, but it can be changed at any point.


Allegro

    /\                                                     
---| /---------------------
   |/                                                      
---/-----------------------
  /|      4                                                 
-/-|/\---------------------
|  |  |   4                                                 
|--|--|--------------------
 \ |  |                                                    
--\|_/---------------------
   |                                                       
  \|                                                       

Some contemporary songs are specified with a tempo using plain English: "march tempo", "driving rock", and so forth. However, a set of Italian words has long been established as an international standard notation. They include, but are not limited to:

These words indicate only a general sense of the speed of the piece. They do not refer to a specific number of beats per minute, only a range which can be broadly defined.

In addition, these words are used mid-piece when the tempo is to change gradually, and are placed above the staff the same as other tempo indicators wherever needed:

In chess, tempo is a concept used to describe which of the two players currently has the initiative, and is therefore able to dictate the pace and nature of play. When a player forces the other player to make a move they did not otherwise plan to make by attacking or threatening an attack, the attacking player is said to "gain a tempo" while the player who was forced to make an unwanted move is said to "lose a tempo." Making a move "with tempo" refers to making a move that forces the other player to respond with an unwanted move. Making a move with tempo thus gains the attacking player the initiative by forcing the other player to waste time.

In some cases, a player can "lose a tempo" due to an unforced error, when they make a bad move and then have to undo the move by retreating the piece they just moved back to its original square.

Because white always moves first in standard chess, white starts the game with a one-tempo advantage, and thus white is considered slightly "better" at the start of the game.

Tem"po (?), n. [It., fr. L. tempus. See Tense, n.] Mus.

The rate or degree of movement in time.

A tempo giusto (j&oomac;s"t&osl;) [It.], in exact time; -- sometimes, directing a return to strict time after a tempo rubato. -- Tempo rubato. See under Rubato.

 

© Webster 1913.

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