Tempo Is Not a Number: Finding the Right One for You and Your Piece - PHH 153

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Welcome to the Practicing Harp Happiness Podcast. I'm Ann Sullivan, a harpist on a mission to empower every harpist to experience more harp happiness. Over my decades long harp journey, I've had lots of successes and more than a few failures. And I know firsthand what it's like to feel that playing the harp the way you want me may not be possible for you. Now, I play and teach all over the world, and I know what most harpists are never taught the secrets to gaining the skills and confidence you need to play the harp with beauty, freedom and joy. That's what the Practicing Harp Happiness Podcast is all about. Showing you simple steps to help you play the music you want the way you want. If you're an experienced harpist looking for that next level, or a harp newbie anxious to avoid the pitfalls, or a harpist who just wants more fulfillment and a little encouragement, you're in the right place, my friend. So let's get started.

Welcome to the show. Today's podcast is all about tempo. And I have to start by saying that tempo is a funny thing. We define it with numbers, or with those familiar Italian words, or less familiar French or German ones. And and it still seems elusive. Much of the time. We try to pin a piece of music down to a number, a mathematically precise ratio of beats per minute. Perhaps the composer put it there as a guide for the performer, or perhaps it was added by an editor, an arranger, or a teacher. But it still doesn't necessarily satisfy us. In fact, everything about this idea feels wrong. How is it possible to limit a piece of music, a creation that that lives in a single moment, to one number?

I remember reading the liner notes to a CD recording by legendary pianist Arthur Rubenstein. This recording was made toward the end of his life. He was already in his 90s. But the producers of this recording wanted to preserve Rubenstein's interpretations of piano masterworks for generations to come who would not have heard him. The producer writes in the liner notes how he was moved to tears by Rubenstein's performance in the recording studio of the first movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. He felt he had witnessed a definitive performance. The next morning, however, Rubenstein returned to the studio for that day's recording session and asked to re record the Beethoven, saying it was too slow. The change in tempo was apparently barely discernible, if discernible at all to a listener. But it made a difference to Rubinstein. So what made that tempo difference important to Rubenstein? Clearly, it wasn't the metronome mark Beethoven didn't include one. This movement is only marked Adagio Sostenuto, and so a range of speeds would seem to be allowable. So from this we can conclude that tempo is more than a metronome marking. But what is it? And how do we know what tempo is right or wrong? Do we have to play a piece at the metronome marking? Particularly if we can't play it at that speed or we don't think it sounds right at that speed? What do we do if there's no metronome marking? How do we know how fast or slow the piece should go? With so many recordings available to us, it's clear that harpists can play the same piece at very different speeds. Does that make some of those correct and the others not correct? Okay, I just threw a bunch of difficult questions at you, but you don't have to come up with the answers. That's my job. I think it's important though that you have a clear idea of what the parameters are for finding your your tempo for a piece, a tempo that you can play that sounds appropriate for the piece of music. In fact, that's the secret right there. But I have lots more ideas and plenty of practical advice for you on this topic, so don't go anywhere. I also want to point out that in the Show Notes, as always, I've added a link to a related blog post from the archives and this one I think might be particularly helpful for you as additional learning to go with this podcast. The blog blog post was called Tempo is Not a Number and you'll find the link right there in the Show Notes. If you can't find the Show Notes on your podcast app or wherever you're listening to this, just pop over to the website and click on Podcast. Click on today's Episode. This is episode 153 and you'll be able to see the show notes. There a couple of things to tell you about things that are happening at Heart Mastery before we dive into all things tempo related. One is that we have opened registration for our fall retreat. This is a retreat in October in the Orlando area. It's in the the house that we like to use. It's a big, big house. 15 bedrooms, all en suite bathrooms. It's a great place to hold a retreat and we enjoy stay and our registration is open now. The last retreat, when we opened the winter one, it filled up very quickly and there are already some rooms booked for this particular retreat. So if you're interested in joining us, please hop over to the retreat page you can find it from the homepage of our website under Upcoming Events, or you can get to that from the show Notes, of course. So you can find out there, you can find out more, find out everything you need, and you can click through and register if you can join us. And I certainly hope you can also. I'll tell you more about this next week, but we are celebrating next month the 10th anniversary of my Harp Mastery. My Harp Mastery is our online membership community. It's a paid community. It's got a monthly subscription, and there is so much that is a part of that membership, and I'll be filling you in on that as well. We go through our special anniversary celebration, but do stay tuned because we've got some parties, we've got some special events, some opportunities for those of you who aren't in our community to pop in and join us for some calls. So we'll be having lots of stuff coming up, and I will be telling you more about that next week. The official party starts Monday, May 6th, and runs for, guess what, 10 business days through Friday, May 15th. So you'll be hearing lots about the number 10 in conjunction with my heart mastery, because 10 years of this community is a milestone. And I want to say a special thank you to those of you who are my Heart Mastery members, especially those of you who have been with My Heart Mastery since its very beginning in 2014. And we have some of those. So. And you'll be hearing from them as part of this launch as well. So, um, thank you again, my Heart Mastery members. Love you all. Um, but it's time that we put that celebration to the side, for right now anyway, and started talking all things tempo. Let's start out with a quick terminology review. As I've mentioned before on this podcast, and certainly to. To my students, tempo and meter and rhythm are three different things, and they're related. Obviously, they all have to do with time one way or another. But. But there are three different manifestations of time in our music, and I really want to be clear which one we're talking about today. Tempo is time. Tempo is the progression of beats, the speed of the progression of beats. Tempo literally means time in Italian. And it's the. The speed of those beats. I mean, we get that right? And generally in the course of a piece, the tempo doesn't change. It generally stays the same, allowing for things like retards or accelerandos. Sometimes a piece has different sections, and those different sections have different speeds, so they would be at different tempos from each other. But of course, the. The tempo is different from the meter of the piece, which would be that time signature 24, 34. And it's different from the rhythm. The meter tells us the pattern of beats. The rhythm tells us what happens on top of those beats, but the tempo tells us how fast those beats go. And what's interesting is that of all of those three, the most musical, the most mood defining, the most influential in terms of how the piece sounds, is actually tempo. I probably don't have to tell you that you probably figured that out for yourself over the course of your musical life. But if a piece goes slowly, it sounds completely different than if it goes faster. So the mood of the piece is really defined by the tempo as much as by anything else. So the tempo is super important. But then you knew that that's not the hard part. The more complicated part is trying to make sense of all the different ways in which we indicate tempo or in which the tempo is indicated to us by those composers or editors or arrangers. Most commonly, we'll see those words, right? Those Italian words like allegro, andante, presto, largo, vivace. Sometimes we French words, sometimes we see German words, you know, certainly not as common as those Italian words, but they're the ones that we see. And of course, we need to understand what's at the heart of those words, right? That essentially, allegro is a fast tempo, but it's not probably as fast as a presto tempo or a vivace tempo. But it's certainly faster than an allegretto, which is kind of a moderate allegro, a little bit slower. And we've got andante, which is that walking tempo. And then, you know, slower tempos would be largo or adagio or grave, things that are quite slow. And once again, there are different degrees of slow. The beauty of these words is that they are very imprecise, which is obviously one of the problems with those words, too. They give us an idea, but they don't tell us how fast the piece should go. A metronome marking, on the other hand, is the very opposite of that. It is exact. It is precise. We're talking about beats per minute. Now, by the way, the first famous composer to use a metronome marking was Beethoven, and This was in 1815. He used it at the beginning of his Cantata Opus 112, which is called in English, Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage. What's interesting is that Beethoven was a personal acquaintance of the German inventor Maelzell, who essentially patented the very first metronome. There were instances of mechanical Musical time keeping things before Maelzel, but he patented it and he's generally credited as the inventor of the metronome. And, and what year did he do that? 1815. So you know, he patented the metronome and Beethoven promptly put a metronome mark on one of his pieces. Bear in mind with the Rubinstein story I told in the opening of this episode, the Moonlight Sonata was written some 13 or 14 years before this. So metronome was not a thing. So just a little bit of history there for your interest and enjoyment. Sometimes a piece doesn't need a tempo indication or a metronome marking because it carries enough information in its title to tell us how fast it should go. Primarily, these would be movements that we would group under the heading baroque dance forms. Things like a gavotte or a minuet. These are dance forms that most musicians would understand to have a certain feel. Now, granted there are faster gavottes and slower gavottes, faster minuets and slower minuets. But you sort of have an idea going into a piece called Minuet, what might be a good tempo for it. A waltz. Same idea. So occasionally we'll see pieces with the tempo written essentially right in the title. And it lets us know. So we don't even need a. Another indication like a metronome marking, for instance. But it's the metronome markings that seem to give us the problem. And that's because of these three different ways to look at or indicate tempo. The metronome mark, as definite as it is, it's truly the least helpful. Why do I say that? Because the metronome marking tells us nothing except for the speed. It doesn't tell us anything about what the music should sound like. And I think that that's the problem most of us have with them. You know, if I, if a student comes to me and they say, well, I can't play this piece at the metronome marking, how fast should it go? They're looking for a number, but a number may not be the answer. And we'll talk about that in just a second. You see those tempo words like allegro or andante, they may be sort of ambiguous, but they provide very subtle distinctions which the numbers don't. For instance, andante and adagio sound very different word wise. Andante we would think about as a walking pace. It kind of goes along, but it's not very fast. And then adagio feels very slow, but it's still kind of stately. It's not super duper slow. So that's Sort of the feeling of those words, but yet they could actually have similar metronome mark ranges. So, you know, if you have one of those metronomes and you look at it and it says, okay, these numbers are adagio, and these numbers are andante, and these numbers are allegro, it may not be your best guide. And here's why. So I looked up one, one metronome, just to sort of see, and then I went to a website that just was giving you basic information about, oh, this is how these tempos might go. And so it had adagio being a slow and stately tempo with a metronome beat per minute range of 66 to 76. But then I looked at andante, which is a walking pace, moderately slow, definitely not stately like the adagio, but they gave a range there of 72 to 80 beats per minute. So there's definitely an overlap here between the andante and the adagio. And in fact, then there's that, that in between tempo, adagiotto, which is a little bit faster than adagio, but still pretty slowly, and that's in the 70 to 80 range, too. So you could pick a metronome marking that would fit any one of those words. That's why metronome marks, although they're so clear, they give us a very clear goal to work for. They may or may not reflect the piece. And those words, those beautiful Italian words, give us a little bit more information as long as we know what the words mean. And if you're not sure that's what Google's for, just don't take your metronome's word for it. So when it comes to choosing the right tempo for a piece, the metronome marking kind of takes it out of our hands, doesn't it? It says, this is the way the piece should go. What's interesting is, I think if you listen to composers playing their own pieces, you'll find some recordings where the composer clearly doesn't stick to their own metronome markings. So, you know, just take that for what it's worth. However, if you have to choose a tempo because the metronome marking is there and you can't play it, what do you do then? Or maybe the only tempo indication is adagio or allegro, and you have to come up with, well, what does that mean in terms of beats per minute so that I can practice it, right, because that their metronome such a useful practice tool, and for keeping something slow and getting it all exact and then being able to move into the correct tempo, the Metronome is important, and so a number is helpful, helpful for practice, even if we're not going to, you know, be slavish following it in terms of our performance. So if there isn't an exact tempo given, or you can't play the metronome marking that they have given you, or you're pretty sure you can't, well, then you need to go with your tempo. And this is the way I described your tempo in that blog post from the archives that I mentioned at the top of the show. I described your personal tempo this way. Your personal tempo for any piece is where your technical ability and your personal musical vision for the piece meets what you perceive as the composer's intention. You can tell I wrote that in a blog post, right? That's got a lot of words in it. I'll say it one more time, but then we're going to break it down and talk about it in an easier way to discuss it, I think. So here's what I wrote again. Your personal tempo for any piece is where your technical ability and your personal musical vision for the piece meet what you perceive as the composer's intention. There's a lot of you in there. Did you notice that? It's your personal tempo, but it's your technical ability, it's your musical vision, and it's your idea of what the composer wanted. That's the beauty of music, right? It's personal. It's us. And playing a piece at a metronome marking that doesn't work for you is not good. Playing a piece in a way that that works for you, that you can play well, that people can enjoy listening to, and that serves the music, that's what we're looking for. So remember that we're not going to be held to one number, even if that metronome marking is on the page. It doesn't mean that if you don't play it there, you're not playing it right, or you're not playing it good enough, or, you know, people will say, well, yeah, well, you know, it sounded okay, but it wasn't fast enough. Nobody's going to say that. That's you inside yourself saying that. The metronome marking isn't a rule. It's an indicator in much the same way those Italian words are. You've got to take that number as representing a range of proper tempos. So if you can't play this piece at the metronome marking, you get to choose another tempo. You just want to keep the idea of the piece in mind. So let's talk about exactly how to do that. I think the best time to start thinking about tempo is, is the very moment you start a piece, because you're going to look at all those things. You're going to look at the title, you're going to look at the sections, you're going to look at the key, you're going to do all those things that we do to learn about the music before we start digging into the notes and make the tempo part of what you look at. Is there an Italian tempo indication? Sometimes they get, you know, kind of involved, right. Allegro, mono tropo. So, you know, quasi roboto. So be sure you know what all those words mean. Look them up and then decide. And, you know, if you come up with something that's that scary sounding, Allegra, man, non tropo, quasi roboto. Then, you know, phone a friend, you know, ask somebody. You don't have to settle on that on yourself and by yourself. And of course, you can use reference recordings to give you an idea of what the piece sounds like. And you can sit there with your little metronome in your hand and figure out what that tempo is. Yeah, that's. That's allowed. It's also, it's encouraged. So you can benchmark tempos from a recording or from different recordings. Yeah, okay. But at the very beginning when you're starting a piece, that's when you need to look at that stuff. And if there's a metronome marking there, then consider it. Is this within your capabilities at this point in your playing? It may be or it may not be. And in fact, by the time you finish the piece, even if you thought it wasn't, maybe it will be. You get to change your mind. But go ahead and make a guess now. And if it's one of those beautiful Italian words, figure out in terms of numbers what that might mean and give yourself a little bit of a range. And here's how to do that. So if they give you that metronome marking and you think, oh, yeah, this is going to be no sweat, I can play it at that metronome marking, then you don't need to do this. But if you've chosen a range of tempos for one of those Italian words and you know you. And you can. You think you can do that, Terrific. Then, then you're all right. But what if that tempo seems out of reach for you? Then I want you to take that metronome marking or that. That tempo you've identified from the tempo indication and choose a tempo that's 80 to 90% of that metronome mark as your goal tempo. Why the range like 80 to 90%? Well, slower pieces actually need to be closer to that mark. Faster pieces, you get a little bit more wiggle room. And, you know, I mean, look at the math here. If your slow tempo is 50 to the quarter, 80% of that is 40. That may feel very slow. When you're talking about a slow progression of beats like that, the difference between 40 and 50 is kind of huge. And so that may feel too slow for the piece. It may feel like it drags. So you may want to. To not use that 80 percentage. On the other hand, if you've got a fast tempo, like 120, 80% of 120 is 96, and that's possibly still fast enough, things are going to still move along even though the numbers are far apart because the beats are close together. So, you know, once you've chosen that percentage, you know, like, all right, well, I'm not going to be able to go at 70, but you know what? I think I'll be able to go at 60 or 63. Okay, now you have a goal to work toward. So now you have something that will help you practice, right? You've got a goal to practice toward. And you get to change your mind later. If you want, like, oh, that's going to be too slow, or, oh, that's going to be too fast, you get to change your mind. This is not written in stone. It's just a goal to work toward. As you get to know the piece better, then you can think a little bit more about the musical implications of your choice. What is the music supposed to. Supposed to sound like? Is it supposed to sound peppy and joyous? In which case, does your tempo and your playing at that tempo support that? If it's supposed to sound smooth and reflective and slow, can you do that at the tempo that you've chosen? I mean, for instance, smooth, reflective, and slow. Could be 40 or it could be 50. But if 40 just slows it down so much that we can't sense the melody, or it doesn't sound or feel like it's flowing. And you'll know when you record yourself and listen to it, right? Or when your teacher tells you, you'll know. You'll get a sense of it either way. So, you know, when you can feel the flow happening, then it's probably okay. But if your tempo is too slow and it feels like there's just too long between the notes, and you don't get a sense of the melody, then we need to move your tempo up a little bit. But you're making these decisions once you're already kind of comfortable with the piece. But the ultimate choice needs to be a musical choice. So this is why I like those tempo words rather than metronome markings, because allegro can mean lots of different numbers, but essentially it means happy. That's what the word allegro means. It means happy. So that implies a certain peppiness of tempo. But the idea is that that's what you want musically, and it gives you a lot of leeway with the numbers. I don't want you to get caught up in the numbers because you want to practice playing the piece musically, not spend all your practice time trying to keep up with the metronome. I think if I could sum this all up in one word, this entire discussion, it would be this word appropriate. The tempo needs to feel appropriate. Appropriate for the music, appropriate for a listener, appropriate for you. It's got to be appropriate. It needs to be something that you can play, and it needs to be something that serves the music, and then it will serve the listener. So I think if you use the word appropriate instead of the word correct, you're going to be able to find that wiggle room in the tempo so that you're not always struggling to reach a metronome mark that may not be comfortable for you at this point, whatever the point is for you. Another way to think about tempo is this, that it's interpretation times confidence. It's the interpretation. It's the way you want the music to sound, the message you want it to deliver, multiplied by your comfort and ability to play it well, which is your confidence. Right. Interpretation times confidence will help you find the right tempo. Does the music speak and say what you want it to say? And can you comfortably and confidently deliver that message through your playing? That's where tempo comes from. I'd like to remind you again to check out that blog post from the archives that talks about this topic in a slightly different way. I quoted it certainly here, but I think you'll find it interesting. And that blog post itself is called Tempo is Not a Number Very much like our podcast today. So I encourage you to take a look at that and see if that adds to your learning. Don't forget, we have opened the registration for the Fall Harp Mastery Retreat. I would love to see you there. They're always a lot of fun, and this is a great time to start making those plans for fall because you can get it on your schedule now and you won't need to miss out. So do check that out. And of course I'll be telling you more about the celebration for the 10th anniversary of my harp mastery. We'll have 10 days of fun stuff coming up in just a couple of weeks. Next week here on the podcast, I will be talking about three pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach that you need to know and why you need to know them. Something a little bit different for our podcast, but something I think you'll find interesting no matter what kind of music you usually play. So until then, remember, every day is a day you can add more harp happiness to the universe, to your world, and to your spirit. And all you have to do play. Thanks so much for listening and I'll see you next time.

Thanks for tuning into another episode of the Practicing Harp Happiness podcast. I release a new episode every Monday morning so you can hit your practice week running. Until then, remember to practice your harp happiness every day. See you next time.