Using a Metronome for practice

Whistle
1

Hello everyone,

I hope this is ok to post this on this forum. I have done searches here on the use of metronomes, so I decided to buy one. I purchased a Korg MA-30, but I’m at a loss of how exactly to use it.

I assume that the 4 beats are for quarter notes, and the bottom number on the music, but how do you get the top number? Let’s say the time is 3/4’s? The instructions are not clear–or else I’m mechanically disabled–which is probably more the case.

Ok…so if I get this question answered..then where do I go from here? I know the beats correspond to the quarter notes in a measure..but what if the song starts a couple of notes before the actual first measure? I guess I will need to figure it out..or just start from the first measure until I do. For instance…Off to California starts with two eight notes before the first measure…so, I would tap my foot, or start on the 4th beat of the previous count???

Sorry for being such a dunce about all this music stuff…I know how to read the dots…and how many beats each dot represents..but I guess I need alot more instruction on music theory..which I am planning on doing.

I’m going to concentrate my study on my Hoover..as I have lung problems…but I also have a New Blackbird that I want to use which is equally as easy and fun to play! I realize that you need to use one tin whistle–so I have to pick..but it will probably be my Hoover, as I am more familiar with it. I want to be able to push my lungs to one day, be able to use my Susato or Generation (Yes, I am afflicted with WHOA…I just love whistles..and when I see a new one..I want it!!) I digress…

I have been reading the posts on metronomes and good practice for beginners. This place is the BEST for resources! Practicing a Perfect Practice is what I’m intending on doing. I have hundreds (Yes, a whole 3" binder full) of tunes…but I’m concentrating on the tunes at Bro Steve’s website–about 4 or 5 of them before the rolls, to make them perfect before wandering off.

Oh…another problem I’m having is rolls–which I am assuming needs just to be slowed down…I can do cuts fine, taps fine…but when I combine them..my fingers turn out to be spastic, jumbled, tied together knots. So, I’m staying with cuts and taps first…and make them perfect.

I know three songs by memory (I’m a dot reader), so I’m putting memorization into my study as well. Saddle the Pony, Off to California, and Starry, Starry Night (not ITM, but I love it on a whistle, plus, I’m a painter..so the song means much to me). I’m a middle aged person (if 56 is considered middle aged–I refuse to be called a senior yet!! :boggle: I want to keep my memory active, so what better way than to memorize tunes??? I can think of nothing else more fun!!!

I spend at least a half hour or hour on the whistle each night, so I’m anxious to start with the metronome tonight! I also have collected many ITM’s on mp3’s from the Chieftans to Joannie Madden–getting the Amazing Slow Downer next with my next whistle budget money–so I can figure out what’s going on with their ornamentation and phrasing. I also listen to the Jesuit whistle player on You Tube..which has helped greatly.

Thank you in advance for any help in figuring out the metronome. I love playing the tin whistle, and I love this place!! You guys are the BEST!!!

Nancy

2

I’m no expert, but, I suspect that you’re thinking too much. I don’t have a Korg so I’m not sure exactly what you’re asking, but, it sounds like you could perhaps simplify what you’re doing.

What works for me: I set the metronome by ear, just sort of wing it, and adjust till it’s clicking at a tempo that more or less feels right. (I guess I hear the melody in my head, while I’m doing that.) Then I start the metronome and play along. I might find that I set the metronome a little too fast for me to play the tune correctly – in that case I dial the metronome down and start playing again.

Personally, I prefer to set the metronome so that it only clicks twice per measure. For a jig, it’ll click on the One and the Four, as in, ONE two three, FOUR five six. For a reel, again I set the metronome to give me two clicks per measure, so it sounds like, ONE two three four FIVE six seven eight. If that makes any sense.

I think the metronome would drive me crazy if it clicked on every single eighth note. I just want it to click often enough that I can tell I’m not speeding up or slowing down.

As for the pick-up notes before Off to California, for example, I guess you could silently count off, “One, two, three,” then play the two pick-up notes.

Amazing Slow Downer is a nice piece of work, but if you don’t have it, you might already have other player software that has more basic slowing-down capabilities. Both QuickTime player and Windows Media Player let you play back at half-speed. (In WMP you would click Ctrl-Shift-S to slow down, I think, and Ctrl-Shift-N to go back to normal speed.)

3

I have a Korg MA-30 and it does have a standard setting where the first click of the measure comes in as a higher pitched beep. Without getting into too much musical theory that’s where you would set the time signature you need and whether you have 3,4,8 clicks per measure.

For how you use it my advice would be to keep hitting it so it has no time signature and is just the straight beats. Then adjust to your tempo as ADD suggested…just to keep time.

That’s how I use mine when I’m having a day where I’m feeling rhythmically challenged.

4

here’s a yerTube vid :smiley:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73iO5F0daW0

5

Wow, that’s a fancy metronome right there! :open_mouth: Mine just beeps 35-250 bpm depending on what I set it on. I suddenly feel like I need a new one…

6

IMO use click per 1/8th note, nice and slowly.this means that you can play evenly and steadily. In reality the music wont generally be this steady, but the metronome is just a training aid. ~#once you can play comfortably like this then you can turn it off and swing it a bit. but first things first, steady and slow.

7

Under $20 @ Amazon :smiley:

8

I spend time with a metronome set very slow, e.g. 50 BPM, and play jigs and reels
slowly at that tempo. This forces me to slow down and play all the notes.
I find that playing ‘fast’ tunes
very slowly really increases my accuracy and speed. When I get to
a difficult passage I repeat it several (sometimes many) times at that
slow rate. The 'nome is immensely helpful this way, I find.

If rolls fall away at slow speeds, let them. I’ve found personally that often
I was using rolls to cover up the fact that I couldn’t really play
the tune itself.

One can practice rolls separately, up and down the scale.

9

Here’s a freebie that works well. You can select a preset tempo or use the little “tapping shoe” to tap in the desired tempo. Must have Java activated to run from the site. Or you can download and run it directly from your computer with no need to be connected to the Internet.

http://www.seventhstring.com/metronome/metronome.html

10

this one costs 20 bucks but looks excellent with its swung jig rhythms etc

http://www.bouncemetronome.com/metronome_download.htm

11

Thank you all for your great tips! I worked with my metronome last night and I found it difficult to concentrate, but I think I just need to use it more and get used to the beats. I had NO IDEA you could find things like this on You Tube…so thank you so much! Seeing the guitar ones really helped me on how to utilize the nome!

I do have those quick time and Microsoft Media, so I will try to use the slow down methods on that too. I find that the more and more I listen to music though, the more I can detect the ornaments and phrasing. I have found a wonderful podcast that has an hour or more of Irish music on The Irish and Celtic Music Podcast. NPR also has one called Thistlepod. Very cool!

Thank you all for the great advice! I’m sure I will be able to use a nome and do rolls soon! Heading off this weekend down to Mineral Point WI for their Cornish Fest…hopefully will see some Irish musicians there…taking one of my whistles with me…just in case!

Nancy

12

You could download the free Audacity software. This will slow down recordings without changing the pitch. It can also adjust the pitch without changing the speed.

Phill

13

Thank you Phil…I have that software, but still trying to figure out how to use it. I will delve into it this fall for sure!

Thank you everyone again for all your help!

Nancy

14

That makes me smile. If we had a Cornish Fest in the UK, it would feature Cornish Pasties, clotted cream, possibly surfing, but certainly not Irish music! :slight_smile:

15

You forgot starry-gazey pies!

Off topic, but the Cornish in America is an interesting thing, at least for people like me with Cornish ancestry (my grandmother’s grandparents were from Tywardreath).
There are two small former mining towns up in northeastern California called Grass Valley and Nevada City which originally were predominantly Cornish. The Grass Valley Cornish Choir still exists, and in the centre of town you’ll find Cousin Jack’s Cornish Pasties. I’ve played the Cornish Double Pipes both for a gathering of California Cornish Cousins in Grass Valley and for an international gathering of the Cornish-American Heritage Society, that year held in Mars Hill, North Carolina.

For that Cornish event you could play
Bryn Cambron
An Eos Whek
Hal-An-Tow
Trelawney
etc

About using metronomes for Irish practicing, I think it’s a great idea. In Irish sessions one needs to get used to playing the tunes up to a certain speed, and get used to having the tempo set by an outside source, and the metronome helps with both.
For practising tunes slowly you can set the metronome so that it’s giving a click for each eighthnote of a reel or jig. Doing this kills the “swing” true, but it does help one in evening out rolls, getting them precise. (A common issue with beginners is “crushing” their rolls.)

Then you can “up” the tempo and have a click for every two notes of a reel and every three notes of a jig. Then you can introduce the swing into the tunes.

I myself find that practising tunes quite slowly to the metronome greatly helps my technique.

16

This will be my first time at this Cornish Festival. The last time we were there, we had just missed it, so it will be interesting for sure! I’ll be on the lookout for that clotted cream. Sounds yummy. Not so much for those pies. I’m more of a vegetarian lately, and they put too much meat in those things. I also found it interesting how much saffron they put in things too. I guess they made those pies in order to throw them down to the miners for their meals.
I will report back next week on what I find. They have a great art community there, so I’m sure we will have lots of fun..if it doesn’t rain. My hubby’s in a motorized wheelchair, so he can’t go out in the rain/wet weather. You would think they would make those things waterproof wouldn’t you…aren’t ATV’s and golf carts waterproof??? It makes you wonder.

I am going to look up those songs right now and see if I can learn a little bit of them before we leave tomorrow! I’m practicing with my 'nome slowly…and yes, I think my rolls are a big scrunched up..so I’ve got to get a rhythm down. I practiced on Silver Spear last night, playing with the Jesuit lessons. I could keep up with him, except for the last version. He went at lightening speed for me! But, I was glad I got the “swing” down to keep up with him slowly. Going to see about recording myself too..to see where I am getting hung up. I’ve got a portable little tape player, so I can easily record myself.

Going to Sessions to find those tunes now! Thanks again!!!

Nancy

17

I was encouraging a fellow to get a metronome and spend some time with it. He brightly replied that he already had one, but it was broken, for it just couldn’t keep proper time at all. :laughing:

18

Yes, I think so. They sometimes made them with one end savory and one end sweet, which reminds me of the old Tommy Cooper gag…

Man walks into a butchers. “These sausages you sold me - half of each of them is filled with sawdust!”
“Sorry sir, I’m finding it hard to make both ends meat”.

Or was that the struggling contortionist who couldn’t make ends meet?

19

A great quote;

‘‘There are a lot of ways to use a metronome. A musician without a metronome is like a carpenter without a measuring tape.’’

20

Hmm. I wonder how many fine trad musicians managed to learn their craft without a metronome in sight. Surely you can’t be suggesting that they’re less than … what? Competent, complete?

That’s the trouble with great quotes. :wink:

But yes, a metronome can be a very useful tool. Just a tool.