Keeping The Beat

[KMP]

My teacher last time got so frustrated when I couldn't keep time that she took out the metronome so I could play properly.

An old post, but was thinking about this recently. Some people, it seems, view the use of a metronome as some sort of penalty -- a sign that you're not ready for bigger challenges. But my best practice partner, who can play Telemann-Vivaldi rings at triple speed around me, is always one of the first to say, yeah, let's try that with metronome. Helps to solve a lot of (sometimes unexpected) problems and keeps you honest, so to speak.

And I like the tip about using a visual metronome. I find it sometimes difficult to hear the accented beat, so happy to have the visual indication (such as provided with the metronome built into MobileSheets).

 

[ghostler]

Oh, opinions abound. A metronome is only a tool, helps one practice to a steady beat, to work up passages to speed. I find them useful.

Whether optical by say a blinking light, or audio by a chime or click is personal preference, whatever works for the individual.

I've seen times when a bandmaster is attempting to speed up the band, when they encounter a more technically challenging music passage and true to shape slow down so that particular instrumentalist or instrumentalists can finger every note. May be if they practiced at home with a metronome might have helped them to avoid being practiced through a passage during rehearsal, and let the bandmaster concentrate on other areas, like balance between sections and passage expressions.