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Post by liutai on May 11, 2007 23:11:28 GMT -5
Xemnas: DO NOT WANT
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Post by xemnas on May 12, 2007 0:46:45 GMT -5
Lexeaus: In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for "time", from Latin Tempus) is the speed or pace of a given piece. It is an extremely crucial element of sound, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.
The plural of tempo in Italian is tempi. Some writers employ this plural when writing in English. Others use the native English plural tempos. Standard dictionaries reflect both usages. The tempo of a piece will typically be written at the start of a piece of music, and in modern music is usually indicated in beats per minute (BPM). This means that a particular note value (for example, a quarter note or crotchet) is specified as the beat, and the marking indicates that a certain number of these beats must be played per minute.
Mathematical tempo markings of this kind became increasingly popular during the first half of the 19th century, after the metronome had been invented, although early metronomes were somewhat inconsistent. Some people consider Beethoven's metronome markings, in particular, to be notoriously unreliable.
With the advent of modern electronics, BPM became an extremely precise measure. MIDI files and other types of sequencing software use the BPM system to denote tempo. As an alternative to metronome markings, some 20th century composers (such as Béla Bartók and John Cage) would give the total execution time of a piece, from which the proper tempo can be roughly derived.
Whether a music piece has a mathematical time indication or not, in classical music it is customary to describe the tempo of a piece by one or more words. Most of these words are Italian, a result of the fact that many of the most important composers of the 17th century were Italian, and this period was when tempo indications were used extensively for the first time.
Before the metronome, words were the only way to describe the tempo of a composition. Yet after the metronome's invention, these words continued to be used, often additionally indicating the mood of the piece, thus blurring the traditional distinction between tempo and mood indicators. For example, presto and allegro both indicate a speedy execution (presto being faster), but allegro also connotes joy (from its original meaning in Italian). Presto, on the other hand, indicates speed as such (while possibly connoting virtuosity, a connotation it did not acquire until the late 18th century).
Additional Italian words also indicate tempo and mood. For example, the "agitato" in the Allegro agitato of the last movement of George Gershwin's piano concerto in F has both a tempo indication (undoubtedly faster than a usual Allegro) and a mood indication ("agitated").
In some cases (quite often up to the end of the Baroque period), conventions governing musical composition were so strong that no tempo had to be indicated. For example, the first movement of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 has no tempo or mood indication whatsoever. To provide movement names, publishers of recordings resort to ad hoc measures, for instance marking the Brandenburg movement "Allegro", "(Allegro)", "(Without indication)", and so on.
In Renaissance music most music was understood to flow at a tempo defined by the tactus, roughly the rate of the human heartbeat. Which note value corresponded to the tactus was indicated by the mensural time signature.
Often a particular musical form or genre (list of tempi typical included) implies its own tempo, so no further explanation is placed in the score. Thus musicians expect a minuet to be performed as a fairly stately tempo, slower than a Viennese waltz; a Perpetuum Mobile to be quite fast, and so on. The association of tempo with genre means that genres can be used to imply tempos; thus Ludwig van Beethoven wrote "In tempo d'un Menuetto" over the first movement of his Piano Sonata Op. 54, although that movement is not a minuet. Popular music charts use terms such as "bossa nova", "ballad", and "latin rock" in much the same way.
It is important to remember when interpreting these words that not only have tempos changed over historical time, and even in different places, but sometimes even the ordering of terms has changed. Thus a modern largo is slower than an adagio, but in the Baroque period it was faster.
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Larxene
Little Soldier
The Savage Nymph
Live it up!
Posts: 72
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Post by Larxene on May 12, 2007 0:58:06 GMT -5
HAHAA!!111
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RoXaS
Soldier
JailBait the Sequel
...
Posts: 108
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Post by RoXaS on May 12, 2007 6:50:16 GMT -5
Roxas: Wanna see my other keyblade, Sora? It's bigger than yours!
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Rajia
Soldier
I survived the Great Inactivity Purge of 2008!
Posts: 198
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Post by Rajia on May 15, 2007 2:15:23 GMT -5
Xemnas and Saix: We don't care if you win or lose while fighting the brat, as long as you have fun.
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Post by xemnas on May 15, 2007 4:16:57 GMT -5
Lexeaus: Let's have some FINNY FUN[/b]! =D
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Post by Demyx on May 18, 2007 3:33:06 GMT -5
[LOL.]
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Post by ippon4 on Aug 25, 2007 14:40:34 GMT -5
Roxas: No one would miss me.
Axel:Thats so true!I would not miss you.*sobs*
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RoXaS
Soldier
JailBait the Sequel
...
Posts: 108
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Post by RoXaS on Mar 13, 2008 5:30:07 GMT -5
Luxord: I believe in the heart of the cards!
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Post by Axel on Mar 13, 2008 5:46:12 GMT -5
[lmao!]
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Post by Zexion on Mar 13, 2008 23:48:02 GMT -5
Anyone: Sure Vexen, I'd love to spend some quiet alone time with you locked in the Labs. Oh, a drink for me? Thanks! *drinks*
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RoXaS
Soldier
JailBait the Sequel
...
Posts: 108
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Post by RoXaS on Mar 14, 2008 17:40:33 GMT -5
Demyx: "... and the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor; And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor Shall be lifted - nevermore!"
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