Piano/vocal scores have the most ambiguous tempo markings. Things like:
Moderately.
Medium Tempo.
And my current favorite: Sturdy Ballad.
I got to wondering today: why, oh why, are they so vague? I try to offer as much specificity as I can in my scores – often a descriptor plus a BPM or BPM range.
These are mostly songs that have been recorded – rock songs, Broadway songs, etc. – so it’s trivial to find and write a specific metronome marking. The reasons for not including one aren’t great, but here’s what I’ve come up with.
- Precision puts too many demands. It might cause undue stress on musicians who want to take the tempo marking e x t r e m e l y l i t e r a l l y.
- Precision takes too much time. When a copyist is being paid a low wage to prepare these scores, the extra time to research and offer a precise tempo isn’t worth it.
- Vagueness can’t be criticized. If you’re precise, you might be wrong. If you mark “Moderately”…what does that even mean? So you can’t be wrong.
- Everyone is going to use a reference recording. That wasn’t true in past decades, but now? It’s almost impossible to imagine someone interpreting a piano/vocal score without researching the song on a streaming music service. So you don’t even need the vague tempo marking, actually.
One of the first things I do as I prepare scores for a band is to grab a precise metronome marking, and add it to the score. I wish they were more common, but until they are, it’s just a small part of my preparing for an efficient rehearsal.