Metronome

Ciotog · Post by **Ciotog** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 2:23 pm

I got a metronome at Christmas in the hope of putting paid to some unjust criticism regarding my ornamentation. Now I find that the thing speeds up whenever I come to a tricky bit.

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 2:26 pm

Ciotog wrote:I got a metronome at Christmas in the hope of putting paid to some unjust criticism regarding my ornamentation. Now I find that the thing speeds up whenever I come to a tricky bit.

LOL. I had one of those faulty ones, too. You'd never know when it would speed up or slow way down.

Patrick D'Arcy · Post by **Patrick D'Arcy** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 2:31 pm

That's funny... me too??? Is yours made by Yamaha?

Patrick.

simonknight · Post by **simonknight** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 2:49 pm

It's not the metronome speeding up, it's Einsteins relativity: your fingers are moving so fast that time appears distorted to an observer even though you are actually palying the ornament perfectly well.

djm · Post by **djm** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 4:06 pm

I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. Thx, Ciotog!

djm

myrddinemrys · Post by **myrddinemrys** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 11:22 pm

simonknight wrote:It's not the metronome speeding up, it's Einsteins relativity: your fingers are moving so fast that time appears distorted to an observer even though you are actually palying the ornament perfectly well.

uh, if you're sitting on a beam of light and you're looking in a mirror while playing your pipes, can anyone hear you?

fel bautista · Post by **fel bautista** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 11:54 pm

I told my fiddle teacher about my metronome speeding up and all she did was glare at me!!!

snoogie · Post by **snoogie** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 5:52 am

Thanks for a good laugh this morning!

Maybe all of them are faulty, because mine does the same darn thing...so I just quit using it and now both of us are happier.

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 5:59 am

I hate metronomes... I hate 'em I hate 'em I hate 'em I hate 'em I hate 'em I hate 'em I hate 'em I hate 'em......

magroibin · Post by **magroibin** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 7:11 am

Oh Metronome, oh Metronome
Oh How I love to hate thee

Oh Metronome, oh Metronome
Your ticking does annoy me

You keep the time when I have none
but speed up long before I'm done!

Oh Metronome, oh Met...ro...nome
Oh....How I ....love to...... hate............... thee

MarcusR · Post by **MarcusR** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 7:33 am

Nice one!

/MarcusR

Paul Reid · Post by **Paul Reid** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 4:54 pm

Christopher · Post by **Christopher** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 5:21 pm

Youve gotta do it -slowly- with a metronome.

Every ornament, every stacatto bit and every trill can be played perfectly, but most "folk" musicians seem to think that they can ignore the technical aspect and focus on some kind of "soul" aspect instead.

In order to play the way we want to, first you have to know what it is you want to play, and then use the tools, the instrument, metronome and yourself, to attempt to 1) reproduce those sounds with complete control and with smooth conscious decision, and 2) eventually, after 50 years, understand -why- you play the way you do.

I think that just about _all_ of us on the pipes have such overwhelming technical issues to overcome. The Instrument issues, intonation, tone, rythm, metronomic timing, precision, reed setup, airtightness, are all so related. They are all problems related to the final question, "how do I play this thing the way I want to?"

If you have a tough reed, your introducing stress into your limbs, into your fingers, which creeps into your music. If your playing a _loud_ out of tune D chanter, fighting the thing into submission at top session speed is only going to translate into stressful phrasing, and edgy playing. Also, Stress in music sometime manifests itself as Speeding up.

The metronome is best to help you identify that, yes, as fast as everyone says your supposed to play, you arent as good as you think. It says, everytime you turn it on, SLOW DOWN! RELAX! Music can only happen if you consciously train your brain and muscle memory to associate playing with zero tension. Playing really slow, you have time to learn how to relax. Learn how to squeeze the bag, learn how the tone holes are filled with varying pressure. You wont get any better if theres any tension in your body. You will just hurt yourself if you _make_ it happen. You have to practice at speeds where you -let- it happen, easily. Those arent fun speeds. They are painfully slow. 1/4 regular tempo if need be. Learn to pay attention to your timing and to what your body is telling you.

I'll bet that any of the players with the best control spent a lot of time carefully, consciously, developing their playing at speeds that enabled them to play whatever they wanted. At slow speeds, you can develop more quickly overall. And that is what we want isnt it?

illwinds · Post by **illwinds** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 9:42 pm

The owner of a music store I once worked for bought a crate of very inexpensive import copies of a well known model of metronome to sell as Christmas stocking stuffers. About half of them had a hole drilled slightly off-center in one of the gears, causing them to go in and out of a "limp'. The sad thing was, only about half of them were ever returned.
All the fancy bells and whistles of the more expensive ones are nice, especially for a beginner, but in the end, all it really has to do is keep straight time. These wouldn't.

Elmek · Post by **Elmek** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 3:21 am

Sibelius music writing software plays similar tricks - speeds up, slows down all the time. Strange thing is that it always speeds up on the tricky bits same as the metronome - is this coincidence ?

Chiff and Fipple Forums

Metronome

Metronome

Re: Metronome