# Playing with a metronome? Tips?



## Hanspwnz

I've been playing violin for 1 year, and my teacher says I should really pratice with a metronome. Especially for the "Judas Maccabeus" (1st piece in 2nd Suzuki book), but how exactly does one do that? I've found an online metronome, but there's just a lot of numbers, I have no clue how to adjust it at all.

Can someone explain to me in simple terms how it is done? 

Thanks very much


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## Piwikiwi

Is there a metronome marking next to the piece you are playing?


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## Taggart

Try wiki to get some idea of what you're trying to do. Then have a look at this which is an on-line metronome with some useful articles. Finally have a google and see what you come up with.

What you do is look for a metronome mark in your music and set that number on the metronome. Usually it's for a quarter note but can be for a half note or dotted half note. Then you listen to get the beat. Then you start to play trying to match your playing to the metronome. The idea is *not *to be mechanical but to develop your own sense of beat and to help you to maintain a constant speed. Some metronomes will have additional settings based on time signature and will ring a bell at the start of every bar.


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## Hanspwnz

Taggart said:


> Try wiki to get some idea of what you're trying to do. Then have a look at this which is an on-line metronome with some useful articles. Finally have a google and see what you come up with.
> 
> What you do is look for a metronome mark in your music and set that number on the metronome. Usually it's for a quarter note but can be for a half note or dotted half note. Then you listen to get the beat. Then you start to play trying to match your playing to the metronome. The idea is *not *to be mechanical but to develop your own sense of beat and to help you to maintain a constant speed. Some metronomes will have additional settings based on time signature and will ring a bell at the start of every bar.


That is what confused me when I read about it. There are no metronome markins enxt to it. There's a G-key followed by a "#" and then a C. And then come the notes?


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## Taggart

OK any largo, andante, allegro? Have a look at the link and you will see that there are a range of numbers for each tempo indication or have a look here for suggested metronome markings \ numbers for each tempo indication.


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## Wicked_one

Can you post a picture of the score?


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## Hanspwnz

Ill post a pic when I get home  thanks for the replies


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## Taggart

Maestoso - similar to andante - see this which suggests 72-84.


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## Hanspwnz

Taggart said:


> Maestoso - similar to andante - see this which suggests 72-84.


It is Maestoso? How'd you know? Ah well.

If I go to the online tuner and set it to 76 then, what do I do next? The first note in the piece is a half note if I'm not mistaken. How long should that be held for? My teacher would probably say 4 beats... but how can I know? 

Thanks


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## Taggart

I looked it up. 76 means 76 beats per minute. Each beat corresponds to a quarter note. The first half note gets two beats. The dotted quarter note gets beat 3 and 4 and the eighth note at the end of the bar comes halfway between beat 4 and beat 1 of the next bar. The next bar has two half notes each of which get two beats. The next bar has four eight notes and two quarter notes. The beats come on the first and third eight notes and each of the quarter notes.

You should already be counting out the bars to get the timing and the metronome is simply a way of helping you keep a regular count.


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## hreichgott

Ignore any general guides such as andante=76 or whatever.
(Sorry Taggart)
Just use the metronome to give you a steady beat. 
You control how fast the beat is for your current needs -- that particular day or that particular repetition!

The bottom number of the time signature will tell you what type of note corresponds to one beat. If I remember correctly the Suzuki strings "Judas Maccabee" is in 4/4 time (which can also be marked as a large C instead of 4/4). So the metronome's ticks should correspond to one quarter note each.

Now since you are a Suzuki student, practice singing with the metronome before you try playing.
Here is how the first bit should line up -- I'm using the Easter hymn words:

tick tick tick tick
Thine____ is_______ the

tick tick tick tick
glo______ ry____________


You can also try stomping your feet in a steady walking rhythm left/right/left/right etc. while singing and try to get "Thine," "is," and "glo" to start on a left foot. Once you have the hang of it then you can substitute the metronome for your feet at the rate of one tick per step.

Change the metronome speed around a bunch of times and practice singing at the various speeds.
Find your desired performance speed and write down the number.
Find several useful practice speeds (probably one that's about half the performance speed and a couple in between).

Then practice playing with the metronome. Use whatever speed is necessary for the practice goal you're working on -- for example, if you are working on steadiness of tempo, start with a slow tempo and try to be absolutely on the beat.

I do not know anything about online metronomes. You can get an inexpensive battery-operated metronome at any music store. Steinway makes a free metronome app for iOS that works almost exactly the same as inexpensive battery-operated metronomes, plus you can tap a beat on the device and it will tell you what your tempo is.


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## Guest

I found a metronome very useful when I first started practicing (Flute) duets etc some entry points can catch you out, mine was an old clockwork 'Wittner' I still have it sitting on top of my CDs. aka my avatar


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## Taggart

hreichgott said:


> Ignore any general guides such as andante=76 or whatever.
> (Sorry Taggart)
> Just use the metronome to give you a steady beat.


No probs with that, just trying to get him started. Lovely explanation. I said:



Taggart said:


> ... the metronome is simply a way of helping you keep a regular count.


which I hope is the same idea.


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## senza sordino

I have a metronome app on my iPad from Skypaw. When playing I often can't hear the beats of the metronome because my playing is too loud. This app can be set to flash a light on the beat, or at the beginning of each bar, which is how I have the flash set. Flash and ticks of the beat, helps me a lot.


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