Accelerando

What it means

Accelerando means gradually getting faster. It is written as the word or abbreviated accel. See the notation section for everything related.

The Italian derives from accelerare, to accelerate.

The pacing problem

The mirror of the ritardando error, and equally common.

An accelerando over four bars becomes a sudden increase in bar one followed by three bars at the new faster tempo. A metronome makes this easier to work on alone.

The correction: stay at tempo for longer than feels natural, with most of the acceleration in the last third.

This produces the sense of building momentum that an accelerando should have, rather than a step change.

The control problem

Specific to accelerando and more dangerous than the ritardando equivalent.

An accelerando has a natural tendency to run away. Excitement builds, the player pushes, and the tempo exceeds what the passagework can sustain.

The result: notes blur, articulation disappears, and the passage arrives at the following section faster than intended and out of control.

This happens in performance far more than in practice, because adrenaline amplifies the tendency.

The remedy is knowing the target tempo and practising the accelerando to arrive there precisely, with a metronome, so the endpoint is a habit rather than a hope.

Where it ends

Set by what follows.

Accelerando into a new faster tempo should arrive at that tempo exactly.

Accelerando followed by a tempo returns to the original speed, meaning the acceleration was temporary.

Accelerando to the end of a piece may push considerably, and the final bars are often the fastest.

Accelerando with no destination marked arrives at whatever the context implies, usually a moderate increase.

Overshooting is the common error. A player arriving faster than the following passage can support has to slow immediately, which undoes the effect.

The clarity limit

An accelerando cannot exceed the tempo at which the music remains clear.

If a passage becomes unclear at the top of the acceleration, the accelerando was too much, regardless of how exciting it felt to play.

This constrains how much acceleration is possible in technically demanding passages, and composers who write accelerandos into difficult writing know they are asking for a modest one.

In an ensemble

Harder than a ritardando to unify.

Players accelerating at different rates diverge quickly, and unlike a ritardando where everyone can hear they are slowing, an accelerando pulls players apart before anyone notices.

Chamber groups rehearse these specifically. Orchestras rely on the conductor.

The practical technique in a group: the leader accelerates and everyone follows slightly behind rather than each pushing independently. A section where every player accelerates on their own initiative falls apart.

Related markings

Stringendo, tightening, pressing forward. Similar to accelerando with an added sense of urgency and tension.

Piu mosso, more motion, indicating a faster tempo, usually a step change rather than a gradual one.

Affrettando, hurrying.

Incalzando, pressing on.

Poco a poco accelerando, accelerating little by little, over a longer span.

Stringendo appears frequently in Romantic repertoire and implies more than tempo: a tightening of intensity as well.

Accelerando and rubato

An accelerando marked in the score is a structural instruction. A small acceleration within a phrase, unmarked, is rubato.

The distinction matters. A marked accelerando is a change the composer wanted heard as a change. Rubato is flexibility within a tempo that returns to itself.

Confusing them produces either a rubato that sounds like a tempo change, or a marked accelerando played so subtly that nobody hears it.

Where you meet it

Common in Romantic and later repertoire.

Frequently before a climax, building momentum into an arrival.

Common at the end of a movement, driving to the close.

Less common in Baroque and Classical repertoire, where tempo is generally more stable.

How it is taught

Alongside ritardando, early.

The two lessons: pace it so most happens late, and know where it ends.

The exercise that helps: set a metronome to the starting tempo and a target tempo, and practise arriving at the target exactly. Students who do this stop overshooting in performance.

Arriving at the right tempo

The specific discipline accelerando requires.

Set a metronome to the starting tempo. Set a second reference for the target. Practise the accelerando until arrival is exact.

Students who never do this overshoot in performance, because excitement pushes further than practice did, and there is no internal reference for where the acceleration should stop.

The endpoint matters more than the shape. An accelerando that arrives ten percent too fast forces an immediate slowing, which undoes the whole effect.

The clarity ceiling

An accelerando cannot exceed the tempo at which the passagework stays clear.

That sets a hard limit, and it is often lower than the excitement of the passage suggests.

If the notes blur at the top of the acceleration, the accelerando went too far, however thrilling it felt to play. Audiences hear the blur, not the intention.

Composers who write accelerandos into technically demanding passages know they are asking for a modest one.

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