Re: [Harp-L] beginner - 5 weeks - any advice on type metronome to buy? Thanks



A metronome should clearly give you a steady, audible beat when you're practicing. Staying in time with a metronome can be surprisingly difficult, but it's oh-so-good for you musicianship.
Once wind-up devices with nothing even remotely involving electricity, metronomes may now be found as standalone devices, functions in drum machines and computer music software, and as standalone apps for your computer or portable device (iPhone, etc.)

Whatever form it may take, a metronome needs to give a reliable, steady beat. I had an old wind-up metronome that eventually started to give a longer beat when the pendulum swung one way and a shorter one when it swung the other - at which point it became useless.
Some metronomes have volume control, or a headphone jack so you can either practice with earphones/ear buds or feed the signal into an amplifier.
Some allow you to quickly rotate a dial through a wide range to predetermined standard tempos. This is a great time saver but has less flexibility than the kind that allow you to dial in, say, 101.3 (instead of the standard 100 or 102). The ones with precies control usually make you scroll laboriously through a range, though, which takes a lot of time.
Some metronomes simply make an unpleasant sound. Listen for sound - it should be something you can stand to play along with. You may find a nice crisp click or satisfyingly woody thock preferable to a beep (especially if the beep plays a note that may conflict with hat you're playing).
Some metronomes may let you specify how beats are grouped - ONE, two, ONE, two, or ONE,two,three, or ONE,two,three,four, etc. Tis can be helpful, but only if you pay attention and line up your playing with the emphasized downbeat.
Some metronomes give you a visual display of the beat, such as a blinking light or an on-screen pendulum swinging from side to side, and amy allow you to put the metronome in silent mode and watch the display. This can be useful if you're leading a group that will drown out the metronome - you have a visual reference to see if you're staying on tempo.
The one I carry around is a Seiko SQ44. It fits in the palm of my hand and can be operated with the thumb: rotate the dial to the desired standard tempo, then push the switch up for sound or down for blinking light. It has a headphone jack. It doesn't allow precise tempos and doesn't group beats but it works for most of my needs. (I'm a loud player so when I use it for my own practice, I thread the wire kickstand through a couple of fingers and hold it right behind the harp to make it easier to hear.)
I also have a BOSS DB-90. This is really a small drum machine. it's larger than the Seiko - it covers a full stretched hand span (about four times the size of the Seiko). It has six different volume sliders for different beat divisions, each with its own sound, and a master volume. You can tap in a desired tempo, and the flywheel allows you to quickly dial in a precise tempo across a wide range. It has a MIDI interface and jacks for headphones, a start-stop footswitch, memory download, and power supply. It has quite a lot of other features. Due to its size, I use it much less than the little Seiko as it takes up more room in my gig bag and I seldom need its extended capabilities.

Winslow Yerxa
Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
Harmonica instructor, The Jazzschool for Music Study and Performance
Resident expert, bluesharmonica.com
Columnist, harmonicasessions.com

--- On Thu, 10/28/10, bstoddard@xxxxxxxxxxx <bstoddard@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

From: bstoddard@xxxxxxxxxxx <bstoddard@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] beginner - 5 weeks - any advice on type metronome to buy? Thanks
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thursday, October 28, 2010, 10:16 AM


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