Dear Friends,

Has your conductor ever urged your ensemble to keep the tempo up? I know that's putting it nicely, since you may be more used to hearing: "You're dragging!"

I'm sure you have. Keeping the tempo going isn't automatic and it's a real challenge for both you and your conductor to make it happen.

This tip - Keep That Tempo Going! - is about the things that you can do to maintain tempo. I've also written a tip for conductors about what they can do.

1. If you know where you're heading in a phrase, you won't slow down. Identify the target note the phrase is heading towards and go for it.
   
   If you're not sure which note the phrase is moving to, try this: Move one leg in back of you and put your weight on that leg. Lean back. Then sing the phrase and move forward, shifting your weight to your front foot as you sing. It's highly likely that your natural musicianship will lead you to arrive with your full weight forward right on the target note in the phrase.
   
   Here's a tune you know that's easy to sing. Try this method out by arriving with your weight full front on different notes. Then determine which one is the target note for you.
   
   
   This example is actually a bit tricky since, for me, there are two notes I landed on. But you're smart - you're a musician! Figure out which one is the one to head for.

2. Play/Sing through groups of running eighths and sixteenths. It's easy to think beats rather than direction when we see music that looks like this:
   
   
   If keeping the beat is uppermost in our mind, we're sure to slow down, even though Handel's "Entrance of the Queen of Sheba" is bouncy and energetic. Play it through . Instead, play or sing through the running notes; this will keep the tempo cooking right along.
   
   
3. Phrase and move over the bar line. Bar lines are bit like cracks in the sidewalk (o great composers, forgive me!) - their purpose is structure and organization. You don't stop walking when you come to a crack in the sidewalk (unless you're 4 and are playing a game) and you don't hold up the music when you come to a bar line. If you do, you'll cause the tempo to drag and we'll have to ask you to join the youngsters who're playing the sidewalk game.
   
   Here's a good example of how music must move over the bar lines. It's the Bach Chorale that Philadelphia composer, Allen Krantz, used as the basis for his "American Town." Stop at each bar line the first time you play or sing it. Then, play or sing over the bar lines; you'll see how the tempo keeps moving when you do.
   
   
   I suggest that you listen to Allen Krantz's An American Town, Op.16. In addition to enjoying the music, you'll hear how the conductor and orchestra keep the tempo moving forward by playing over the bar lines.
   
   
4. When you breathe (singers, winds, brass) or retake (strings), make sure that you don't "create" time. Instead, create time for the breath or retake by making the note just before a little bit shorter:
   
   
5. Finally, make sure that you don't tap your foot. Tapping your foot slows you down. Actually, almost any vertical movement you make when you're singing or playing will slow you down.
   
   The funny thing about using your foot to help you keep rhythm and tempo: your foot speeds up when the music is easy. Guess what it does when the music is fast? Right! It slooows down.
   
   When you get to rehearsal, please do this: Look at your foot. Then look at your conductor. The one to follow is the one in the front of the room, not the one at the end of your leg.