Rhythms are an essential part of music and can be broken down into three components: beats, tempi, and METERS. Beats refer to the regular pulsations that occur in a piece of music, and are typically measured in terms of time signatures. Tempi are the speed at which a piece of music is played, and are usually indicated by Italian words such as allegro or adagio. METERS refer to the grouping of beats into regular patterns, and are usually indicated by time signatures such as 4/4 or 3/4. Together, these three components form the basis of all musical rhythms.