FR cédez tempo modification common Support my free tools
How is cédez played?
Let the motion yield by a small amount appropriate to the phrase. This is a local relaxation of tempo or pressure, not a fixed numerical change and not automatically a broad, continuously measured ritardando. Continue until au mouvement, reprenez le mouvement, Tempo I, another tempo instruction or the end of the local phrase restores the flow.
How does cédez sound?
A small relaxation of pressure, not a full ritardando.
In context
French cédez literally means “yield.” In Ravel’s score practice it marks a small, expressive giving-way of tempo or forward pressure, often balanced by a return-to-movement instruction. Its unqualified degree remains contextual: the result should be audible enough to shape the phrase without turning every occurrence into a full ritardando.
Equivalent terms
- IT ritenuto
- IT rallentando
- DE zurückhaltend
- DE etwas zurückhaltend
- EN yield
- EN hold back slightly