Largo. Vivace. Adagio. While these words might sound like dishes one could order at an Italian restaurant, they are actually very important pieces of information found in a musical score.
Tempo an Italian word meaning "time" tells us how fast or slow a piece of music should be performed. More importantly, it tells the performers the speed at which they should play a given piece of music. If a composer didn't include a tempo marking in his or her score, the resulting music could sound like chaos.
The Class Notes video "Fast or Slow Means Tempo" explores the concept of tempo, what it means, how it's used, and why it's such an integral element of a score with some help from two bearded lumberjacks.
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