Tempo Giusto

Tempo giusto, Italian for ‘exact tempo’ or ‘strict tempo’, instructs the performer to play with a steady, precise pulse — no rubato, no expressive flexibility. It is the antithesis of rubato.

The marking is most common in dance-derived music, in marches, and in any context where a regular pulse is essential to the character. A passage marked tempo giusto should sound metronomic, even mechanical; the music depends on the regularity of the beat for its effect.

In jazz, the equivalent is ‘in time’ or ‘straight time’. In Baroque music, tempo giusto sometimes means ‘at the appropriate tempo’ — that is, the standard tempo for the genre or character of the piece, without further specification. This older meaning is less common in modern usage.

Italian, ‘exact tempo’ — tempo + giusto (‘just, exact, right’), from Latin iustus.

Set the metronome and stay with it. Avoid any expressive distortion of pulse. The music gets its character from rhythmic regularity, articulation, and dynamics, not from rubato.