Re: Aligning a tempo marking with a note

[Noeck]

Hi Kieren,

>> marks like 'Allegro' are valid for a whole piece or at least large parts of 
>> it
> 
> Not really… A metronome marking is only valid until the next time the tempo 
> changes in any way. That change could be immediate and extreme (e.g., “Molto 
> Lento”) or immediate and not-so-extereme (e.g., “Poco meno mosso”) or gradual 
> (e.g., “poco accel.”). The tempo is then reset, either explicitly (e.g., 
> “Allegro”) or by reference (e.g., “A tempo”).

Technically, this seems very straight forward, yes. But as I try to
explain, the more traditional style has also its valid points.

Even editions that print it above the top staff sometimes print it in
italics or less bold or somehow reduced compared to Allegro, Tempo I and
so on (the general tempo).

A 'rit. ----' can also be valid as long as the dashes indicate or (if
written before an obvious division) until that division.
Such short tempo changes can be more expression-motivated (like
esspressivo, marcato or smorzando) and combined like "dim e rit". This
shows that there are connections to other non-tempo marks and that the
intention about the range can be different.

>> A similar thing (not fully equivalent) is this: bar numbers and
>> rehearsal marks. Both can be used to identify a point in time, the
>> latter are for larger chunks, the former more fine grained.
> 
> I agree that the analogy is not fully equivalent.

:)

Cheers,
Joram