Very fast and light

As Printed on a Score

A complete English heading printed above the first system, combining tempo and touch in one phrase; it holds until another tempo direction. Peter Warlock uses it word for word to open more than one song.

How Composers Use It

A good model of an English heading that says both how fast and how to play: and light shapes articulation and dynamics as much as speed. It implies detached, unpressed playing at a soft-to-moderate level, so heavy accents or a long ff inside such a passage would contradict it. Add a metronome figure if the speed must be exact.

Example

Warlock, Peterisms (first set), “Chopcherry”, voice, m. 1: “Very fast and light” heads the song, with “Con ped.” in the piano; the same words open “Spring” in the second set.

Related Terms