The metronome was not inteneded as a practice tool! It´s just a more way of giving the musician a hint on the tempo. Andante, Allegro and Moderato isn´t very precise, but M.M. 76 or M.M. 100 is! I always use it in my sheet music.
I think it´s very unfortunate that many people believe that music should be played in an exact tempo. This is a misconception of music. Great musicians in the old days like Heifez, Kreiseler and Segovia used very flexible tempo and lots of rubato in their recordings. Imagine a slow air played in an exact tempo! Huh…
Two things:
Jigs, reels, polkas etc. are dance music and as such, by their very nature, are intended to be played at a steady beat for the dancers. (That’s exactly the discovery Joshua Bell made, ie. that there’s a huge difference between playing music for the sake of expressiveness and playing dance music.) Airs, on the other hand, are purely a medium of expression for the musician (as is classical music in a way). And nobody here is in favor of playing slow airs at an exact tempo or of stifling jigs and reels in a metronomic straightjacket. The idea is to use a metronome once in a while during pracitice to become more aware of one’s own shortcomings.
And the most important factor IMHO is that great musicians vary the tempo at their will, but what one usually finds in sessions (with us less than perfect mortals) is that the particularities of the melody of the tune (eg. scales, several arpegios in a row tend to speed up, long notes are not held long enough, etc) dictate the tempo beyond the control of the musician. How can you express yourself in the music you play when you can’t control the mere physical, technical aspects of it? And that’s the part where working with a metronome once in a while is incredibly helpful.
Well of course, for a beginner a metronome can be a useful tool. I remember when I was a kid playing the guitar. I use to speed up easy parts and slow down in difficult ones. Musical timing is a very complex thing. And even if you are playing music to a steady beat not even dance music are generally played “metronomically”. Wienese waltzes are one good example. If a waltz is played right it has a floating or soaring quality. The musicians strech some notes. Played by a machine or with a metronome this quailty is lost. And its the same with the swingy feeling in jazz or blues.
I’ve been a barn dancer for a long time. The best evenings are when the music is rock solid. That doesn’t in any way rule-out slurs, bent notes, or sustains as ways to boost expression. In fact, in the right hands, they work expressive magic. Its just that the underlying beat doesn’t vary.
Practicing with a metronome is hard. However, I think it exercises a crucial skill: playing along with + in-time with something you’re listening to.
Whatever the reason the inventor of the metronome invented it for (and i doubt that you yourself spoke to the person to find out) it is an incredibly useful practice tool and when used correctly can accelerate a beginner’s learning curve.
A metronome allows one to consistently practice at the fastest one can practice without mistakes and in a relaxed way, this is a very good thing. It builds confidence and precise control on timing, ornamentation, clarity of tone and great deal of other things. From this the player can then develop good fluidity and good rhythm and understand where to push and pull on the timing to create the feel in the piece they wish to. For many people it is simply a learning tool, regardless of what it was invented for, and a very good learning tool at that.
A lot of answers! Thanks a lot for comment here, people.
In the title, I put: “NECESSARY” in capital letter, because I wanted to mean if it was essential or indispensable.
Now, I understand that it’s useful, maybe more useful than I thought!
As I said, I don’t use one, and I’ve never done it (I’m a noob, 7+ months of playing), but I play a lot of the tunes I know along recordings (from Lúnasa, Joanie Madden, Dervish, some recordings I find on internet and so on). I assume that that helps me to keep a steady rhythm as well.
Fortunately, I don’t have many timing issues, as I’ve seen on many other beginners.
Anyways, as I said, my timing isn’t perfect yet (unless I play along with a recording, or with some other person).
So, I may consider using a metronome someday.
In the world of pharmacology, this might be considered Off-label use. On the one hand, it has performance enhancing side effects, on the other, potential psychological and physical dependencies. Those all-Ireland champs should pee in a cup.
ya i hate that thing as well, but its a good thing to have i guesss I’ve never used it for the whistle, cause I see I that as just playing for fun but maybe i should
annd I agree with whoever said that people who think they ahve good time usually dont, your never really aware about what your doing while playing, if its a new mistake then ya sure, but speeding up, not paying attention to when you breathe, or dynamics people dont usually realize when they mess up
What you say makes good sense! I suppose I have forgotten what it is like to be a student! But when I learn a new piece I begin very slowly and then gradually increse speed. (sometimes over several weeks if it is a difficult piece). But I have no objection of practising with the metronome to give you a hint of the pace. What I object against is playing or performing music “metronomeically” or mechanically. Anyone who has even a basic notion of music knows it will kill all humanity and emotion in music. Just try listening to a jig played by a computer! A piece by Chopin will become virtually unrecognizable without the human touch!!!
You do have a point but in dance music, it is important that you keep the beat as steady as possible so that you should try to ensure that you are as regular as possible on the beat. Between the beats, you can stretch and compress notes to make the feel more human as long as you can land on the beat in time.
On the other hand, I had an interesting experience some years ago. I was at a disco and most of the music was from the 60’s and 70’s. Towards the end of the evening, someone put on some “more recent” stuff where the beat had been generated by a drum synthesizer. The beat was absolutely spot on, but it was very difficult to dance to. The beat was just too mechanical.
However steady you are, no one is perfect and we adapt to the small unevennesses of the beat.
I think that one ought never to forget what it is like to be a student - that is, one ought never to consider oneself past learning in and from the tradition. I’m not going to try to discuss across traditions here (Chopin and co., jazz, etc.), but for myself and for many very fine to legendary Irish musicians, (Martin Hayes, John Carty, Tommy Keane all spring to mind as examples of people who have voiced this either to me or publicly, but I think you’ll find it a pretty consistent view among fine Irish musicians) they are always studying, always exploring, always attempting to improve.
What say you Peter?
As to the metronome, it is a very useful tool for a number of applications in various different directions practice wise, particularly, I find, among adult beginner students who may neither have the natural pick up of of rhythm and the muscle memory and speed associated with the sort of quick learning of it that kids have, nor the humility to notice they are doing something poorly, nor the patience to cope with that. As a disciplining agent, it is unsurpassed, and I still practice with mine regularly, though certainly not exclusively.
FYI
In case you want to know whether using a metronome is for you before buying one, there is a free on-line metronome that I have used before. I would be worried using it if I had dial-up, but if you have a faster connection, it is not bad.
I agree with most of what you’ve said here and in the rest of this thread. There’s a crucial point you’re missing though. Flexible tempo is well and good if your playing solo or if its a rehearsed performance. In sessions where there is a group of people playing together, I see flexible tempo resulting in cacophony.
Just try listening to a jig played by a computer! A piece by Chopin will become virtually unrecognizable without the human touch!!!
If everyone is playing notes differently the tune has amazing ability to become recognizable too. Not to mention, tunes and Chopin are two different animals.
Cheers
Rob
Metronome (me-tr_uh_-nohm) noun; An underground train-loving French dwarf; also,
A mechanical or electrical instrument that makes repeated clicking sounds at an adjustable pace, used for marking rhythm, esp. in practicing music.
(Invented, or at least patented, you can argue the point, by Maezel http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM1MBGl[/url] circa 1815)
(Edited to fix URL, didn’t work before.)
Each to their own, I use one only very rarely, and I understand that they can be a great help to beginners and established players alike.
I’ve bought a metronome this morning. $65 for a mechanical one - and I’m sure it’s worth the money. The sound of all these electronic ones blows up my brain.
I wish our fiddler used that weird ticking machine as much as I do…
I’m a fan of practicing with the metronome, because I feel this has several advantages, many of them already brought up on this thread:
it forces you to play to a steady beat instead of speeding up in easy phrases and slowing down in difficult phrases, etc
it keeps you focused on listening to and playing with an outside source, the crucial skill in group playing
I learn tunes more quickly, I think because I’m forced to keep the music flowing rather than stop and mull over bits
it strengthens technique
However, recently I’ve been spending time playing along with a bootleg session tape of Paddy Keenan, and I’m finding that I’m learning the tunes far better than if I were simply practicing them with a metronome. His beat is rock-steady, but also there’s that wonderful X factor that’s present in his playing that is terrific to absorb.
