All About Tempo

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All About Tempo

From the Activity Guide: Tempo and Rhythm – Let’s Jam!

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Tempo is the speed of music – how fast or slow the music is. Let’s learn about tempo.

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Tempo Video

Babies through Middle School

Listen as Conductor Dan talks about two common tempos in music – andante and allegro. Clap along with him!

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Tempo Activities

Preschool and Elementary School

Vocabulary

Conductor Dan taught us about andante and allegro, now let’s learn about two more: moderato and presto. Here is a helpful way to imagine four different tempos as animal speeds.

Activity

Step One: Try acting each animal moves while you listen to these four pieces in this playlist:

Feel how each animal has a different tempo. The music is in order of slow to fast:

• Andante: slow and steady like a turtle
• Moderato: prancing around like a cat
• Allegro: galloping like a horse
• Presto: all-out like a cheetah

Step Two: Once your child has a grasp of each tempo, write down each one on a slip of paper and put them in a pile. Create another pile of papers that have different movements on them. Take turns choosing a tempo card and a movement card and do that movement in the tempo you choose. Movements could include:

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Find activities about rhythm in the full Activity Guide: Tempo and Rhythm – Let’s Jam!

Find other educational videos here.

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