's Sonata XI, which indicates the tempo as "Andante grazioso" and a modern editor's metronome marking: " = 120".]] In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for "time", from Latin Tempus) is the speed or pace of a given piece. It is an extremely crucial element of sound, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece. The plural of tempo in Italian is tempi. Some writers employ this plural when writing in English. Others use the native English plural tempos. Standard dictionaries reflect both usages. Measuring tempo The tempo of a piece will typically be written at the start of a piece of music, and in modern music is usually indicated in beats per minute (BPM). This means that a particular note value (for example, a quarter note or crotchet) is specified as the beat, and the marking indicates that a certain number of these beats must be played per minute. The greater the

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