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Tempo & Dynamics Vocabulary Practice

Learn more Italian tempo and dynamics terms every ABRSM Grade 1 musician should know — forte, piano, crescendo, and allegro.

Grade 1 · Musical Terms5 questionsUntimed · No account needed

Separate speed, volume and gradual change

Tempo describes speed; Allegro asks for a lively, quick pace. Dynamics describe loudness: piano (p) is quiet and forte (f) is loud. Crescendo is a change over time, asking the player to grow gradually louder rather than start loudly at once.

A metronome marking gives a measurable beat rate. The note symbol shows which value receives the pulse; the number tells how many such pulses occur in one minute.

How to work it out

  1. First decide whether the marking describes speed, loudness, or a change in loudness.
  2. For a metronome number, name the indicated note value before interpreting the number as beats per minute.

Worked example

What does a quaver = 60 marking mean?

Play sixty quaver pulses per minute: one indicated quaver pulse each second. It does not mean sixty crotchets per minute.

Watch for this mistake

Piano is an instruction about volume in this context, not the name of the instrument being played.

Watch first

The tune Grieg hated

Why Grieg hated his troll music, and how one short tune played faster and louder shows accelerando and crescendo.

Practice progress0 of 5 questions checked · 0 correct
Learning objectives
  • Know that forte means loud and piano means soft.
  • Recognize crescendo as gradually getting louder.
  • Know that Allegro means fast and cheerful.

1. What does the term forte (f) mean?

2. What does the term piano (p) mean?

3. What does crescendo mean?

4. What does the term Allegro mean?

5. Select the correct meaning of the term:

Related practice

Musical Terms

Musical Terms & Dynamics

Know what staccato and decrescendo mean.

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