2. The tempo or mood expressions (andante, allegro, adagio, et cetera), which have been in universal use for two centuries or more, and which are found in practically all music, even when a metronome indication is also given.
3. The swing and, in vocal music, the general spirit of the text.
4. Tradition.
5. Individual judgment of tempo as depending upon and resulting from the "quality" of the music.
Of these, the fifth, viz., individual judgment is most important, and is the court of final resort in the case of the mature musician; but the amateur who has had but little experience and who is therefore without any well developed musical taste must depend largely upon his metronome, upon his knowledge of Italian tempo terms, and upon tradition. A brief discussion of these matters will accordingly be in order at this time.
THE METRONOME AS A TEMPO INDICATOR
The metronome[13] is a sort of clock with inverted pendulum, the ticks or clicks of which can be regulated as to rate of speed by means of a sliding weight. When this weight is set at the point marked 64, for example, the metronome gives sixty-four clicks per minute; when set at 84, or 112, corresponding numbers of clicks per minute result; so that in this way the composer is able to indicate precisely the rate of speed of his composition by indicating the number of beats per minute. The indication
= 84 means that the sliding weight is to be set at the point marked 84, the metronome then clicking eighty-four times per minute, each of these clicks indicating a quarter-note. But if the marking is
