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Tempo Markings

Accelerando

Pronounced ah-cheh-leh-RAHN-dohWritten as accel.

Definition

Accelerando, written accel., means gradually getting faster. The tempo speeds up little by little from the marking until a new, faster tempo is reached.

Accelerando means "accelerating": gradually speed up. It is written accel., often with a dashed line after it to show how long the speeding up lasts, and it usually leads somewhere: into a faster tempo, a climax or a new section.

Two identical four-bar treble-clef melodies in 4/4, a rising sequence in quarter notes ending on a half-note C. The second has the abbreviation accel. above bar 2.
The same four bars twice. In the first, the beat stays at ♩ = 84. In the second, the accel. in bar 2 makes every beat a little shorter, from ♩ = 84 to about ♩ = 136 in the last bar.

Playing an accelerando

  • Speed up evenly. Each beat a little shorter than the one before. The change should feel like a train leaving the station, smooth and steady, not like a car that lurches forward.
  • Know where you are going. Many accelerandos lead to a new tempo word such as allegro or presto, or end at A tempo. Aim for that speed from the first beat of the change.
  • Don't start early. Hold your tempo right up to the word.
  • Stay loose. Hands tend to tighten as the music speeds up. Keep the wrist free and let the arm travel with the hand.

Accelerando and its relatives

  • Stringendo also speeds up gradually, but with a sense of pressing forward and growing tension.
  • Più mosso is faster at once, not gradually.
  • Animato means "animated": livelier in spirit, often a little faster.

The opposite of an accelerando is a ritardando. On the page you will often find the two close together, with A tempo between them to restore the original speed.

Speed and loudness are separate

Accelerandos often come with a crescendo, because getting faster and louder together builds excitement. But the two are independent. You can speed up while getting softer, and part of controlling an accelerando is learning to do one without the other.

Our Ritardando & Accelerando handout has a line that slows down, snaps back and speeds up, and Dynamics & Tempo Ladders asks you to mark each bar as steady, slowing or speeding up.

Match the terms: level 3 and the Musical terms & signs chart both list accel. with its meaning.

Common questions

What does accel. mean in music?

Accel. is short for accelerando: gradually speed up, starting where the word is printed. A dashed line after it shows how long the speeding up continues.

Does accelerando mean getting louder?

No, only faster. Composers often pair it with a crescendo, but if they want louder they write that separately.

Practice it: free worksheets