Final Ritard

When a piece with a strong motoric character comes to its end, musicians generally slow down the tempo somewhat. The slowing down generally follows a parabolic.


In this example two other rules are applied:

You can vary the Final Ritard rule only.

Example: J S Bach, Invention for two voices, F major, BWV 779.

No-Final-Ritard k = 0 WAV file (1.3M, CD quality) AU file (116k, good quality)
Medium k = 1.3 WAV file (1.4M, CD quality) AU file (123k, good quality)
Exaggerated k = 2.1 WAV file (1.4M, CD quality) AU file (130k, good quality)
Inverted k = -1.3 WAV file (1.3M, CD quality) AU file (122k, good quality)


The graph shows how much the durations of the tones are changed in % of their nominal duration.

No-Final-Ritard, k = 0
WAV file (1.3M, CD quality) AU file (116k, good quality)


Medium, k = 1.3
WAV file (1.4M, CD quality) AU file (123k, good quality)


Exaggerated, k = 2.1
WAV file (1.4M, CD quality) AU file (130k, good quality)


Inverted, k = -1.3
WAV file (1.3M, CD quality) AU file (122k, good quality)


Back to Main Page