in tempo
Keeping the beat
In tempo is a musical direction meaning at the original speed, used after a passage where the tempo has changed.
A performer who plays in tempo maintains steady time without speeding up or slowing down.
The phrase comes from Italian and appears in scores to signal a return to the established pace after a ritardando or accelerando.
- keep timeMaintain musical rhythm
- on the beatActively working patrol duty
- stepFoot movement forward
- flowUnbroken forward movement
- pulseArterial blood throb
beat · syncopation · fermata · cadence · measure · tap · groove · swing · metronome · regularity · clap · time signature · tick · pacing · musical timing · harmony · momentum · allegro
in temporushing
Rapid forward movement
off the beat · dragging · off tempo · unsteady · erratic
in temporubato
Elastic musical timing
ritardando · rallentando · accelerando · ad libitum · freely
tempo, temporal, temporary, temporize, temporally, contemporaneous, contemporary, extemporaneous, extempore