What would the music terminology be for this?

Question

I'm arranging a piece, and there's a part that I want to speed up a bit, and I've used "poco accelerando". In the next measure, I want it to be the tempo that the "accelerando" has reached by then, so it's not speeding up anymore but it's not the original tempo either, if that makes sense. Is there a specific terminology for this? I've seen it somewhere so I know it's not non-existent, but I can't remember what it was...

Update:

Nemesis - thanks! Sorry, I implied one measure just to put it out as an example, but in reality it's two-and-a-half measures. That's my fault for not specifying, but I'll keep this open in case someone else wants to contribute.

? · Accepted Answer

You want the tempo after the accelerando to be faster than the original tempo, right?  If that is the case, I can think of two options.

A)
Tempo 1        poco accelerando - - - - - - - - Tempo 2

In this case, it is assumed that one accelerates until you are told otherwise (at Tempo 2), and that one will naturally stop accelerating when the new tempo is set.  The optional dotted line makes it very clear that the accelerando is leading to Tempo 2.  Sometimes the word "accelerando" is stretched out (by syllable) until the new tempo is marked; this serves the same purpose as the dotted line.

B)
Tempo 1     poco  accelerando  al (- - - - - - - - - - ) Tempo 2

The "al" means "to [the]", which alerts the musician that there is a destination tempo approaching.  I suppose it is possible to use a dotted line in this case as well, if necessary, but the text makes your meaning explicit in most cases.

Obviously, you will want to write the actual tempi that you have in mind, not just Tempo 1 and Tempo 2.  This is just a template.  Tempo 1 need not be mentioned right before the accelerando, even though I wrote it that way above.  It is sufficient to mention it at the beginning of the piece/movement.  

Option A) is usually sufficient, unless there is something leading the musician to think that he or she should accelerate to a speed that is faster than Tempo 2, and then suddenly slow down to Tempo 2.  

I hope this helps.

Nemesis · Answer

With the distance between the two being only one bar -- "in the next measure" -- all you need to do is fix the tempo -- verbally or metronomically -- for the bar that has to follow: the 'destination speed'. The accelerando in the preceding bar will do the rest. A word of warning: a mere single bar is not much of a canvas to have an accelerando function on, one that has actually to change the clock the way you say you want it to...

All the best,

What would the music terminology be for this?

2 Answers