Online Metronome
| Tempo marking | BPM | The feel |
|---|---|---|
| Larghissimo | under 40 | barely moving |
| Adagio | 55-65 | slow, at ease |
| Andante | 73-77 | at a walking pace |
| Moderato | 86-97 | moderately |
| Allegro | 120-156 | fast, cheerful |
| Presto | 168-177 | very fast |
The metronome is the oldest practice tool in music and still the most honest: set 120 BPM, press start, and the accent clicks every four beats while the dots show where you are in the bar - 2, 3, 4 or 6 beats, so the waltz players are not second-class citizens. The tempo slider runs the full practical range, 30 to 240 BPM.
Bottom line: the Italian markings table is the page's decoder ring - Allegro is not a vibe, it is 120-156 BPM, and Andante is literally "at a walking pace" (73-77). Practice at the marking's BPM and the classical repertoire stops feeling like guesswork.
The honest part: the clicks are browser-generated tones (a higher beep on the downbeat, lower on the rest), so the sound is functional rather than woody - and the metronome itself dates to 1815, when Beethoven became the first major composer to mark his symphonies with its numbers, for better and occasionally for worse.
How to use
- Set the BPM (or type an exact number) and the beats per bar, then press Start - the downbeat clicks high.
- Practice the hard passage at a tempo you can play cleanly, then raise the slider in 10-BPM steps until you reach the marking.
- Use the markings table as the dictionary: the sheet music says Andante, the table says 73-77, the slider goes there.
Frequently asked questions
What do the tempo markings mean in BPM?
The broad practical bands: Larghissimo under 40, Adagio 55-65 (slow, at ease), Andante 73-77 (at a walking pace - literally), Moderato 86-97, Allegro 120-156 (fast, cheerful), and Presto 168-177 (very fast). The bands overlap at the edges because the markings predate the metronome's numbers - they were moods first and tempos second.
What BPM should I practice at?
The rule every teacher gives: start at the tempo where you can play the passage without mistakes, then raise in 10-BPM steps once it is clean three times in a row. The target is the marking on the sheet (or 120 if there is none); the starting point is usually 60-70% of it, and the metronome's slider is the ladder between.
Why is the first beat louder?
The high click marks the downbeat - the first beat of the bar - so your ear can feel where the pattern begins without counting. It is the aural version of the dots below: four beats means the accent lands on 1 every time, three means the waltz lilt, six means two groups of three.
Who invented the metronome?
The mechanical metronome was patented by Johann Maelzel in 1815 (building on earlier designs), and Beethoven promptly annotated his Ninth Symphony with Maelzel's metronome marks in 1817 - the first major composer to publish them. The pendulum machine has been argued with by musicians ever since, which is why the markings on old scores are called suggestions by conductors and law by students.