Lesson Sequence

 

 

1. Play Boom Boom as students are finding their seats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. During our last lesson about rhythm in music we talked about beat, which refers to the underlying pulse of the music.  Today we are

    going to continue learning about rhythm by talking about Tempo.  Ask students to write the definition in their CNW.

 

 

Definition: Tempo refers to the speed of the beat.

 

 

    I am sure we've all heard songs that go fast, or slow, or somewhere in between.  This speed is the Tempo of the music.  Please listen

    to the songs I am going to play and tap the steady beat for each.  Once each song is over, we will discuss whether you think the

    tempo was slow, medium, or fast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Many times a song's tempo is written at the very beginning of the music so a musician knows how fast or slow the song should be

    played. Typically, this tempo marking indicates the number of beats per minute (bpm).  For example, a tempo marking of 60 beats per

    minute means there should be one beat per second, while a tempo of 120 bpm is twice as fast, meaning there should be one beat

    every 0.5 seconds. 

 

 

Fun Fact!  Our heart rate is also measured by the number of beats per minute.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Musicians also have a lot of "understood" terms that indicate a specific bpm.  This means that instead of a composer/songwriter

    marking their song with a tempo with 120 bpm, they would instead write a term that is understood to mean 120 beats per minute.  

    While there are many, many of these terms used by musicians, we will learn six of them.

 

• Largo (40-60 bpm)

• Adagio (66-76 bpm)

• Andante (76-108 bpm)

• Moderato (108-120 bpm)

• Allegro (120-168 bpm)

• Presto (168-200 bpm)

 

    There are three things you should notice about the above tempo terms: (1) each term designates a bpm range rather than one specific

    number, (2) each term's bpm overlaps the term above and below, and (3) the terms are not written in English but rather Itialian. Why

    Italian?  Well, when these tempo marking terms became widely used during the 17th century, the most important composers were

    from Italy so they got to choose the language.  

 

 

 

5.  While it might be easy to hear whether a song's tempo is slow, medium, or fast, deciphering a specific tempo bpm is incredibly

    difficult when just listening or playing.  To help, musician's often will use a metronome, which is a device that produces an audible

    beat, through a click or other sound, at regular intervals that can set in beats per minute (bpm). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Let's listen to the song excerpts again and see if we can determine the specific tempo bpm using the metronome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. There are two other understood terms that I want to cover today.  These are Accelerando and Ritardando.  Both of these tempo

    markings denote a tempo change within a piece of music.

 

 

Definition:  Accelerando is gradually speeding up the tempo, while Ritardando is gradually slowing down the tempo.

 

 

    Let's listen to what this would sound like by tapping the steady beat for each (you should notice that one song's tempo will gradually speed

    up, while the other song's tempo will gradually slow down).