How to practice music that changes tempo
When a piece changes tempo, the difficulty usually lives in the changes themselves rather than in the sections between them. That's good news, because it tells you where to put your attention. Map where the tempo moves, practice each change on its own, and then play the whole piece without stopping to adjust the metronome.
1. Map the piece by tempo
Before you set the metronome, mark each section on your score and write three things beside it:
- the tempo you can actually play it at today, which may not be the marking yet
- how long it lasts, in bars
- how the next tempo arrives: all at once, by speeding up (accelerando) or by slowing down (ritardando)
A map might read: bars 1 to 16 at 66, a sudden change to 92 for bars 17 to 32, then a ritardando back to 66 over bars 33 to 36. That map becomes your practice plan.
2. Practice the changes, not only the sections
It's natural to polish each section at its own tempo and hope the joins will take care of themselves. In practice they rarely do. A tempo change asks you to let go of one pulse and settle into another, and that is a skill in its own right.
Loop the last two bars of one section into the first two bars of the next. Give yourself one bar of count-in at the new tempo, so you hear it before you play it. If you tend to rush after a slow section, or drag after a fast one, start the loop a phrase earlier so you're settled by the time the change arrives.
3. Sudden changes and gradual ones need different work
Sudden changes. Set the exact tempo on each side of the change. Practice arriving at the new tempo with a count-in first, and then without one, until the new pulse lives in your ear rather than in the click.
Accelerando and ritardando. When you practice with a steady click, break a gradual tempo change into a few steps. An accelerando from 80 to 104 might go 80, 86, 92, 98, 104, with a bar or two on each. Once that feels secure, give each step less time and smooth the joins, until the steps blend into one continuous change.
4. Play it through without stopping
When the changes feel reliable, set up the whole sequence and play from beginning to end without stopping the metronome. This is the real test. Reaching for the dial between sections breaks your concentration at exactly the moment the music needs it most.
5. Bring it up to tempo one round at a time
Work in cycles. Map the sections, practice the changes, play it through, and then raise each section's tempo by 3 to 5 percent and begin again. If one change falls apart, slow that section or widen the loop around it, but leave the rest of the piece where it is. For how to raise a single section step by step, see Tempo ladder practice.
Try it
The free online metronome holds one tempo at a time, which makes it a good companion for steps 1 to 3. Set each section's tempo and practice the changes by hand.
For step 4, Gradus: Metronome for iPhone plays the whole ladder for you. Each section is a block with its own tempo. The paid version lets you choose the count-in sound. Block lengths are set in time or beats rather than bars, so count each section in beats as you set it up. For example, 16 bars of 4/4 is 64 beats. Gradus is coming soon to the App Store.