# Metronome techniques



## ifiwereu (Nov 18, 2016)

What is the proper way to use the metronome or a personal method that you can share please?

In addition, is best to increase 10 bpm or 5 bpm, or does it depend on the nature of the piece?


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

I have a metronome app on my iPad mini. This app clicks the beat, but the screen flashes at the start of the bar. When playing it's sometimes hard to hear the metronome over the sound of the violin, so the flash of light is a visual cue. I usually increase the rate one beat per minute. After 20 repeats I'm playing much faster but without really feeling the increase, it's a very gradual increase.

The visual cue is a bit like having the conductor in front of me. When I play in an orchestra I can't watch every motion of the conductor and read music, but the visual cue of the downbeat is particularly useful.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

ifiwereu said:


> What is the proper way to use the metronome or a personal method that you can share please?
> In addition, is best to increase 10 bpm or 5 bpm, or does it depend on the nature of the piece?


Slow practice....slow and perfect has great value...fast and wrong has none...slow the metronome down until you can play the passage perfectly, cleanly in rhythm every time...very strict - no rushing, no dragging....gradually speed up , one increment at a time...if you make mistakes, can't play it at the tempo - stop immediately - slow it way down until you play perfectly every time...at least 3-5 times perfectly [10 -12 x is better!!]...gradually speed up....if you screw up - same thing....slow way down, play perfectly...
DO NOT waste time practicing mistakes!! if you cannot play it slow, then you definitely cannot play it fast.

Isolate the troublesome spot, usually just a couple of notes....work them out slowly, gradually increase.
Once you learn the passage correctly, from slow practice, correct hand position, etc - it is amazing how fast you can increase the tempo....but you have to have it down perfectly first.


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

Heck148 said:


> Slow practice....slow and perfect has great value...fast and wrong has none...slow the metronome down until you can play the passage perfectly, cleanly in rhythm every time...very strict - no rushing, no dragging....gradually speed up , one increment at a time...if you make mistakes, can't play it at the tempo - stop immediately - slow it way down until you play perfectly every time...at least 3-5 times perfectly [10 -12 x is better!!]...gradually speed up....if you screw up - same thing....slow way down, play perfectly...
> DO NOT waste time practicing mistakes!! if you cannot play it slow, then you definitely cannot play it fast.
> 
> Isolate the troublesome spot, usually just a couple of notes....work them out slowly, gradually increase.
> Once you learn the passage correctly, from slow practice, correct hand position, etc - it is amazing how fast you can increase the tempo....but you have to have it down perfectly first.


Yes on the slow practice! Very important, in order to ensure accuracy and attention to detail.

However, too much slow practice can be a bad thing. If you only practice slowly, you might end up using fingerings that won't work well at the final tempo. For that reason, you should do some faster practice as well, so that you can work out the best fingering for the piece. Faster practice can also help you get a feel for the big picture--the overall phrase structures and harmonic areas. (By the way, I'm just talking about piano here...I don't know how much of this would be applicable to other instruments.)


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Bettina said:


> Yes on the slow practice! Very important, in order to ensure accuracy and attention to detail.
> 
> However, too much slow practice can be a bad thing. If you only practice slowly, you might end up using fingerings that won't work well at the final tempo.


Oh, yes, you have to work up to the correct tempo - in fact, go beyond the tempo, if possible - but always accurately. slowly progress from a slow tempo, gradually faster, always attentive to accuracy. once you learn it correctly, speeding up goes remarkably quickly.....
When I taught instrumental music - I would frequently have students come in,. obviously frustrated, having spent, literally hours working on a passage, and not getting it - they practiced in the mistakes - they tried to play it too fast, over, and over, and over, and over again...all this does is embed, cement in the errors....They would be so frustrated...they learned it totally wrong.

As teacher, I would assure them, that by the end of the lesson, they would play the devilish passage correctly - every time, without fail [I didn't tell them what tempo, tho!! :devil: ] They never believed me....
but sure enough.....slow it down, unlearn the error, begin to put the correct technique together...painstakingly slow...

"student: "but it's not fast enough!!"
me: "if you can't play it slow, then you can't play it fast...slow and perfect has great value; fast and wrong has no value"
sure enough. by the end of the lesson, they played it right, every time, repeatedly....at slow tempo, of course...

The trick is to not speed up too fast...it takes discipline and patience to _gradually_ increase the speed, while preserving the accuracy....once you learn the correct pattern, tho - speeding up goes remarkably quickly.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

I've never played a metronome, so I'm not sure.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

MarkW said:


> I've never played a metronome, so I'm not sure.


But you do know what a metronome is?


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## ifiwereu (Nov 18, 2016)

senza sordino above states he increases the tempo one bpm....is this recommended unless the piece is extremely complex? Assuming the photo in his post is him with a violin, is increase of one bpm recommended for piano, unless the piece is extremely complex? I usually increase by 5 bpm which can sometimes be very grueling.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

ifiwereu said:


> senza sordino above states he increases the tempo one bpm....is this recommended unless the piece is extremely complex? Assuming the photo in his post is him with a violin, is increase of one bpm recommended for piano, unless the piece is extremely complex? I usually increase by 5 bpm which can sometimes be very grueling.


I don't think there is any hard and fast rule regarding incremental increases in tempo. Do what works for you...In fact, it is sometimes a good idea to cover the whole spectrum....sometimes there is a breaking point, or "seam" encountered - the passage plays well at a slower tempo, and then a faster one, but in-between - it may be very awkward...for wind/brass players, this may occur at the boundary between single and 2ble tonguing, for example.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Pugg said:


> But you do know what a metronome is?


As Maazel said, "Hum a few bars and I'll fake it"


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

ifiwereu said:


> senza sordino above states he increases the tempo one bpm....is this recommended unless the piece is extremely complex? Assuming the photo in his post is him with a violin, is increase of one bpm recommended for piano, unless the piece is extremely complex? I usually increase by 5 bpm which can sometimes be very grueling.


That is definitely not me in the photo! It's some guy named Jascha Heifetz. There are some rumours on the internet that he could play quite well, but you can't believe everything you read on the internet.

I need a lot of practice to get something right, so 20 or 30 repeats in a week is not uncommon. Initially the increment might be quite low, 1 beat per minute, but after a while I might crank that increment up to two, three, four or even five beats per minute.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

MarkW said:


> As Maazel said, "Hum a few bars and I'll fake it"


Genius remark this this. :tiphat:


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