August 1997: Using The Metronome

One of our readers asked that I address the use of a metronome. So here goes.

A METRONOME, that little black torture box that clicks at an absolutely steady rate, can be the most frustrating and yet the most important partner to your musical studies. Why? The foundation of music is rhythm.

RHYTHM is a means of measuring time and to do so we must, like a clock, set up a series of consistent clicks which in music are called BEATS. Any type of note in our musical system can be assigned "one beat" but most commonly it is the quarter note. We may then play:

• ON each beat
• ON some of the beats

or we may subdivide the beat into however many equal parts we wish then:

• play ALL of the subdivisions (e.g. 4 sixteenth notes per beat)
• play SOME of the subdivisions (e.g. the 1st and 4th sixteenths of a beat)
• any combination thereof.

Rhythm, therefore, is simple arithmetic: play ON the beat, MULTIPLY it, or DIVIDE IT.

Your metronome can train you to do this "exactly" producing a steady flow of music. To accomplish it follow the steps listed:

STEP 1: PLAYING ON A BEAT AND MULTIPLYING.

• Set the indicator at 48. Listen to it for at least 8 beats until you can feel the timing and anticipate precisely when the next click will occur.
• COUNT ALOUD: 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc
• TAP while counting aloud, do not yet play music. Listen very carefully as you do these steps. Your count and tap should coincide exactly with the beat until the metronome beat sort of "disappears".
• Now CHOOSE ONE NOTE and play it precisely with the metronome beat. If counting aloud helps, then continue to do so, if not - don't. Verbalizing a rhythm is almost always easier to do than just playing it.
• Choose a line of music that consists of ONLY quarter, half, dotted half or whole notes. Play the music along with the metronome and COUNT ALOUD according to the time signature. Line up precisely, every sound you play and hear.
• When you can play and count perfectly, GRADUALLY INCREASE the speed of the metronome up to 72. Apply this type of work to all music you have that is similarly constructed.

STEP 2: SUBDIVIDING A BEAT INTO EQUAL PARTS

• Set metronome indicator on 48. Listen and count aloud, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. The numbers are the "beat points", i.e., where the beats occur .
• Now imagine that you will play TWO EIGHTH NOTES for each beat. The first one falls exactly ON the beat point, and is verbalized as 1, 2, 3, or 4. The second falls exactly HALFWAY between the beat points verbalized as "and". Hence. count along with your metronome : 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + until it feels comfortable.
• Choose 2 notes and play as eighth notes against the metronomes's quarter. Count aloud as you start, then stop counting and listen for the notes to be evenly distributed, ON the beat, then BETWEEN the beats.
• Now play a line of eighth notes with the metronome. Count aloud at first.
• Play a piece, or part of a piece containing eighth notes with the metronome.
• Gradually increase the rate of the beat.

If you understand that all rhythm, no matter how complex it looks is simply a matter of dividing a beat into "x" number of equal parts and then playing all or some of those parts, you can apply the above process to any type of notes you wish. The trick is to arithmetically analyze the music so that you know exactly where the beat points fall and into how many parts each one is divided ---and yes!---you must count aloud! Counting in your head is subject to how you feel about any passage. It speeds up when it's easy, slows down when it's hard. A metronome is a very frustrating thing but all learning involves its moments of torture.

See you next month.

Stephanie

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