In every piece of music that you play you will see some numbers at the start. This is called the Time Signature. It tells you how many beats there are in every bar and what type of note the music is counted in.
The top number tells you how many beats are in each bar and the bottom number tells you what kind of note they are. In the example on the left you will see the numbers 4/4. The top 4 means there are 4 beats in every bar. The bottom 4 means that the music is counted in crotchet beats. So there are 4 crotchet beats in every bar.

Look at the examples below to help you understand what the time signature on your piece of music means

As well as knowing how to count the beats in the music you are playing, you need to know how fast to play it. This is called 'Tempo' (Speed). There are two things which help you play at the correct 'Tempo'. The first is a number that is sometimes shown at the start of the music above the treble clef. This tells you how many beats should be played every minute. In the example on the left it shows that you should count 60 crotchet beats in 1 minute - 1 crotchet per second.

Largo

allegro

You might also find an Italian word at the start of the music. The two on the left are examples. Largo means slowly and allegro means quickly. You have to learn the meanings of the Italian terms - to help you, I have included a link to an Italian musical terms dictionary below.

http://www.azstarnet.com/~solo/Italterm.htm