Played moderately as well as before (7)
I believe the answer is:
andante
'played moderately' is the definition.
The answer and definition are not the same part of speech. However, adjectives and past participle verbs sometimes mean the same thing.
'as well as before' is the wordplay.
'as well as' becomes 'and' (I've seen this in another clue).
'before' becomes 'ante' (I've seen this in other clues).
'and'+'ante'='ANDANTE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for andante that I've seen before include "(Musically) at a moderate pace" , "Moderately slow piece of music" , "not hurrying from bar to bar" , "tad slow for 9 [FLAUTIST] ?" , "not quickly" .)