Tempo markings · Changing speed
Rubato
Rubato (rubato or tempo rubato) means “robbed” time: stretching and catching up. Hear the same tune played straight, then with a rubato.
The opening of Beethoven's Ode to Joy. Watch the BPM as it plays.
What it means
Taking time from some notes and giving it back to others: pushing forward through a phrase, lingering at its peak or its end. The beat bends, but the music keeps its shape. It's written rubato or tempo rubato, though in Romantic music it's expected even when it isn't written.
It's not the same as slowing down: true rubato evens out over the phrase. A classic image: the left hand keeps steady time while the right hand floats over it.
Where you'll meet it
Chopin is the composer most associated with rubato: his Nocturne in E♭ played strictly in time sounds mechanical.
Other words for changing speed
| Word | Written | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Ritardando | rit. or ritard. | slowing down |
| Accelerando | accel. | getting faster |
| Rubato | rubato or tempo rubato | “robbed” time: stretching and catching up |
| A tempo | a tempo | back to the original speed |
| Rallentando | rall. | gradually slower (like ritardando) |
| Ritenuto | riten. | held back: slower at once |
| Stringendo | string. | pressing on: faster and more intense |
| Più mosso / meno mosso | faster / slower, at once | |
| Tempo primo | Tempo I | back to the speed at the start |
Shaping the tempo on a real piano? Ivory listens to you play and tells you what's off: a note that's missing, a hand that lands late, a slowing-down that comes too late. Then it shows you how it should go.
Questions people ask
What does Rubato mean in music?
Taking time from some notes and giving it back to others: pushing forward through a phrase, lingering at its peak or its end.
How is Rubato written?
Rubato or tempo rubato.
How do you play rubato?
Keep the pulse in your body and bend around it: move forward through the start of a phrase, take time at its high point or its end, and come back to the beat. Start with the left hand steady and only the melody free.