2. Another means of determining the tempo of a composition is to play it at different tempi and then to choose the one that "feels right" for that particular piece of music. This is perhaps the best means of getting at the correct tempo but is open only to the musician of long experience, sure judgment, and sound scholarship.
3. A third method of finding tempi is through the interpretation of certain words used quite universally by composers to indicate the approximate rate of speed and the general mood of compositions. The difficulty with this method is that one can hardly find two composers who employ the same word to indicate the same tempo, so that no absolute rate of speed can be indicated, and in the last analysis the conductor or performer must fall back on the second method cited above--_i.e._, individual judgment.
109. In spite of the inexactness of use in the case of expressions relating to tempo, these expressions are nevertheless extremely useful in giving at least a hint of what was in the composer's mind as he conceived the music that we are trying to interpret. Since a number of the terms overlap in meaning, and since the meaning of no single term is absolute, these expressions relating to tempo are best studied in groups. Perhaps the most convenient grouping is as follows:
1. _Grave_ (lit. weighty, serious), _larghissimo_, _adagissimo_, and _lentissimo_--indicating the very slowest tempo used in rendering music.
2. _Largo_,[26] _adagio_,[27] and _lento_--indicating quite a slow tempo.
[Footnote 26: Largo, larghetto, etc., are derivatives of the Latin word _largus_, meaning large, broad.]
[Footnote 27: Adagio means literally at ease.]
3. _Larghetto_ (_i.e._, _a little largo_) and _adagietto_ (_a little adagio_)--a slow tempo, but not quite so slow as _largo_, etc.
4. _Andante_ (going, or walking, as contrasted with running) and _andantino_--indicating a moderately slow tempo.
_Andantino_ is now quite universally taken slightly faster than _andante_, in spite of the fact that if _andante_ means "going," and if "_ino_" is the diminutive ending, then _andantino_ means "going less," _i.e._, more slowly!
6. _Allegro_ and _allegretto_[28]--a moderately quick tempo, _allegretto_ being usually interpreted as meaning a tempo somewhat slower than _allegro_.