by Julie Lovison<\/p>\n
Little kids love them, older students want to throw them against the wall and are sure they are conspiring against them. \u00a0\u00a0Just what is a metronome?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Metronomes are devices that keep a steady beat.\u00a0 The first metronome was invented, according to the Harvard Dictionary of Music, \u00a0in 1812 by \u00a0Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel but named after Johannes Maelzel, who took the idea and popularized it.\u00a0 Beethoven was the first to publish suggested metronome numbers as a guide to correct\u00a0 tempi for his pieces.\u00a0\u00a0 A metronome marking of 60 to the quarter note would mean each quarter note would equal a second.\u00a0 Most Sousa marches are played at 120, (imagine Stars and Stripes Forever at two beats per second.)<\/p>\n
\u00a0 The original mechanism was a pendulum whose speed could be altered by moving a weight up or down.\u00a0 The familiar triangular shape was popular for many years.\u00a0 In addition to the original pendulum type, electronic, quartz and digital metronomes are also popular today, and many keyboards and software programs have built in metronomes.\u00a0 Many play along jazz educational CDs have built in combos as a very cool way to feel the beat.\u00a0 In our Moppets programs, we build\u00a0 \u201chuman metronomes\u201d into our playing in the form of a partner playing a steady beat duet to our songs.<\/p>\n
Young students are captivated by the original metronome mechanism, and enjoy keeping the beat with rhythm instruments or with body movement as they enjoy their songs. \u00a0\u00a0A typical use for a metronome for an intermediate level student would be to practice a piece like a sonatina a bit under tempo, with very deliberate attention to staying with the beat of the metronome.\u00a0 The metronome identifies which passages a student might be rushing or hesitating on, and helps pull these passages into steadiness.\u00a0\u00a0 It very often FEELS like it surely must be the metronome that is off, thus causing frustration for students who are not used to working with the metronome.\u00a0 A good way to become friends with the metronome is to begin practicing 5 finger patterns or scales.\u00a0 These are easier to keep a steady beat with initially than a piece which has many types of musical and technical complexities involved.\u00a0 A general feeling among music teachers is that metronomes help students in many ways, but that students also need to establish a good natural sense of\u00a0 internal beat that can be relied on without a metronome\u2019s help.<\/p>\n