Italian: “becoming faster”

In music, accelerando is an instruction to gradually increase the tempo — in other words, to play faster and faster until a new tempo marking appears. This change can create excitement, tension, or a sense of momentum in the music.

A well-known example of accelerando can be heard in In the Hall of the Mountain King from Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite, where the music starts quietly and slowly, then steadily builds in speed and intensity.

Listen and play our Upper Advanced piano arrangement of In the Hall of the Mountain King