L'istesso tempo
Italian for “the same tempo”. The marking is used at a metre change and says that the basic beat stays equally fast, even if the note values change. In the notation it then looks as if the music were getting faster or slower.
- Meaning
- the same basic beat as before
- Used at
- metre change or change of note values
- Also
- “the tempo stays the same”, equation ♩ = ♩.
- Opposite
- new tempo (new metronome mark)
When the time signature changes in the middle of a piece, the question arises how the tempo behaves. Mostly the note value that forms the beat stays the same. Sometimes, however, the beat you conduct or tap is to stay the same and the note values change. That is exactly what “L'istesso tempo” stands for: the pulse goes on unchanged.
Before: 2/4, two quarter notes per bar (80 beats per minute)
Two beats per bar, each beat is a quarter note. That is 80 beats per minute.
After: 6/8, two dotted quarter notes per bar (the same pulse)
Again two beats per bar, but now dotted quarter notes. Both lines run at 80 beats per minute, only the note values are different. Counted as a quarter-note pulse it is 120 here, since a dotted quarter note lasts one and a half quarter notes.
An example
In the example the music changes from 2/4 to 6/8. When listening the beat stays the same, but the two beats now fall into three instead of two parts: a bar divided in two becomes one divided in three. The note values look different, the pulse is the same. Without the marking you would not know whether the quarter note or the eighth note is to stay the same.
How to read it
Often an equation is written at the point of change, such as “♩ = ♩.” (quarter note equals dotted quarter note). It says: the duration of the quarter note from before corresponds to the duration of the dotted quarter note from after. The words “L'istesso tempo” do the same. In practising you set the metronome click to the beat you conduct and let it run unchanged at the change.
Distinctions
A tempo cancels a previous change of tempo, such as a ritardando. Tempo primo returns to the opening tempo. L'istesso tempo, by contrast, says nothing about slowing down or speeding up: it says that the beat stays the same despite the new time signature. More on the change itself on the page Metre change.
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Related terms
Metre changeA tempoTempo primoCompound metreSix-eight timeTwo-four timeTempoBar / measure
Editor: Maik Krohm · reviewed on 3 October 2026
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