 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: 2nd Try
Date: 2004-02-13 20:33
If a piece doesn't indicate tempo (quarter = 88), then how do you know at what speed to set your metronome?
Sorry if this is a stupid question. However, I cannot find the answer in any of my books.
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2004-02-13 22:33
Usually the tempo at the beginning gives you a 'roudabout' figure. Andante, allegro, all those italian words mean speeds. At first it's hard, but the more reportoire you play, you start to learn the words and get a general feel for how fast things are meant to be played. What piece are you talking about? (or is it just a general question . . . ) Maybe someone out there can give a variety of ranges for tempos based on the description of it.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: Burt
Date: 2004-02-14 19:04
The tempos I was taught were:
largo 50-60
adagio 60-80
andante 80-100
allegro 120-140
allegro vivace 140-170
presto >170.
Moderato falls in the upper end of andante.
Allegretto falls in the lower end of allegro.
Lento falls in the upper end of largo.
All those numbers seem a bit fast to me.
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Author: Micaela
Date: 2004-02-15 02:16
I think Burt's guidelines are roughly right. However, there's a LOT of variation by piece. If a piece sounds too fast, play it slower! Or vice versa. The numbers are only a rough general outline. For example, the first movement of the Weber Concerto No. 2 is marked Allegro but only goes at 108.
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Author: 2nd Try
Date: 2004-02-15 03:38
Thanks for the replies. I bought a Taktell super mini (Whittner), because of it's portability; it has a few written on the face of it, but I still wanted to be sure.
And, I wasn't speaking about any piece specifically. I have a "song-book" of hymns and none of them have speeds, or indications as to how fast they should be played.
In this case I guess you would have to decide for yourself what sounds right?
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Author: clarinetwife
Date: 2004-02-15 12:23
2nd try wrote: In this case I guess you would have to decide for yourself what sounds right?
I think that depends on how familiar you are with the type of music. For example, I have a book of English folk dances for recorder that has no tempi marked in it, so I have had to do some listening because I am not familiar enough with that type of music. With hymns, given that they are sung, singing them can help establish tempo. Sometimes when we have a new piece in choir we don't set our tempo right away until we are familiar enough with the song to decide what feels right.
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