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 We've
seen "dynamics and articulation"
so what would come next? What is another
way to generate interest in a song? How
about changing the tempo? There are 3 common
ways that composers change tempo in a song.
They are:
- ritardando
(rit. or ritard)
- A
tempo
(a tempo)
- accelerando
(accel.)
"Ritard"
tells the player to gradually and smoothly
slow down. "A tempo" tells the player
to return to the original tempo after a slow
down or a speed up. "Accel." tells
the player to gradually and smoothly speed
up. In the figure above, "a tempo"
and "ritard' is shown. Notice the wavy
line after rit.? As with dynamic line markings,
this tells the player what measure(s) or what
part of the song to slow down. The wavy line
is the length of the ritard. In the example
above the ritard is expressed over roughly
5 quarter notes.
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