A metronome is a device that produces a steady pulse to help musicians play in time. The pulse is measured in BPM (beats-per-minute). A tempo marking of 60 BPM equals one beat per second, while 120 BPM equals two beats per second.

A metronome is commonly used as a practice tool to help maintain a steady tempo while learning difficult passages. It is also used in live performances and recording studios to ensure an accurate tempo throughout the performance or session.


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When interpreting emotion and other qualities in music, performers seldom play exactly on every beat. In a musically expressive performance, the pulse generally does not align with the clicks of a metronome.[2][3] This has led some musicians to criticize use of a metronome, because "musical time is replaced by clock time".[4]

According to historian Lynn Townsend White Jr., the Andalusian inventor Abbas Ibn Firnas created "some sort of metronome" in the 9th century.[7][8] Galileo Galilei studied and discovered key concepts involving the pendulum in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, famously inspired by a steadily swaying chandelier in Pisa Cathedral.[9] In 1696, musician tienne Louli built a pendulum-based "chronomtre", consisting of a lead weight hanging from an adjustable string alongside a 6-foot (2 m) vertical ruler. However, his design produced no sound, and did not have an escapement mechanism to keep the pendulum in motion.[10] To get the correct tempo with this type of visual device, a musician would need to watch the pendulum as if watching a conductor's baton.

The more-familiar mechanical musical chronometre was invented by Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel in Amsterdam in 1814, based on a spring-powered, inverted pendulum rod with fixed and adjustable weights to achieve compactness. Through questionable practice,[11] Johann Maelzel, incorporating Winkel's ideas, added a numerical scale, called it a metronome, and started mass-manufacturing the pyramid-shaped device in 1816 under his own name: "Maelzel's Metronome." The original text of Maelzel's patent in England (1815) can be downloaded.[1]

Maelzel's mechanical metronome uses an adjustable weight on an inverted pendulum rod to control tempo. The weight slides up the pendulum rod to decrease tempo, or down to increase tempo. (This mechanism is also called a double-weighted pendulum, because there is a second, fixed weight on the other side of the pendulum pivot, inside the metronome case.) The pendulum swings back and forth in tempo, while a mechanism inside the metronome produces a clicking sound with each oscillation. A mechanical metronome does not need an electric battery, but runs from a spring-wound clockwork escapement.[1] For uniform beats, the metronome should be placed on a hard, level, unmoving surface, and away from any strong magnets. Small variations in pendulum speed can also result from differences in temperature, air pressure, or gravity.[9]

A mechanical metronome's tempo is usually adjustable from 40 to 208 BPM. The most-common arrangement of tempos on a Maelzel metronome begins with 40 beats per minuteand increases by 2 BPM: 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60,then by 3 BPM: 63 66 69 72,then by 4 BPM: 76 80 84 88 92 96 100 104 108 112 116 120,then by 6 BPM: 126 132 138 144,then by 8 BPM: 152 160 168 176 184 192 200 208.Some modern metronomes allow adjustment to more-precise tempos (e.g., increasing 120 to 121), but such a difference is hardly perceptible.[13]

Electromechanical metronomes were invented by Frederick Franz in the US and patented in 1953.[14] Instead of a clockwork or a quartz crystal, a plug-in electric motor operates the mechanism. Most use a mechanical variable-speed drive combination with a momentary switch and a cam wheel to time the beats. A frequent feature is an embedded neon lamp that flashes in time with the beat. Franz and Yamaha were common manufacturers in the 1960s and 1970s; a popular model was the Franz LB4.

After the fall of the Soviet Bloc in 1991, the 75-foot (23 m) electromechanical Prague Metronome was installed as a silent kinetic sculpture overlooking the city, an inverted pendulum symbolizing the passage of time.[15] It may still be the world's largest metronome, although Geneva (since 1972) and Gdask (since 2016) each have a larger pendulum clock.[16][17]

Most modern metronomes are electronic and use a battery-powered quartz crystal to maintain accuracy in any position, comparable to wristwatches since the 1980s. Electronic metronomes are considerably smaller and more rugged than the earlier types. The simplest electronic metronomes have dials or buttons to control the tempo and volume. Some also produce or measure tuning notes, usually around the range of A440 (440 hertz). Sophisticated metronomes can produce two or more distinct sounds. Tones can differ in pitch, volume and/or timbre to distinguish downbeats from other beats, as well as compound and complex time signatures. Many electronic musical keyboards have built-in metronome functions with selectable rhythm patterns.

21st-century digital software metronomes run either as standalone applications on computers and smartphones, or in music sequencing and audio multitrack software packages. In recording studio applications, such as film scoring, a software metronome may provide a click track to synchronize musicians.

Portable MP3 players including iPods can play pre-recorded MP3 metronome click tracks, which can use different sounds and samples instead of the usual metronome click or beep. Users of smartphones can install a wide range of metronome applications. The Google search engine includes an interactive metronome that can play between 40 and 218 BPM.[18] Either method avoids the need to bring a physical metronome to lessons or practice sessions.

In written musical scores since the early 1800s, composers and conductors (or editors) often indicate their preferred tempos using BPM metronome speeds, with or without descriptive tempo markings, to help musicians prepare for a performance. Even works that do not require a strictly constant tempo, such as musical passages with rubato, sometimes provide BPM markings to indicate the general tempo. Another mark that denotes tempo is M.M. (or MM), for Maelzel's Metronome. The notation M.M. is usually followed by a note value and a number that indicates the tempo, as in M.M. = 60.

Ludwig van Beethoven, a personal acquaintance of Maelzel, became the first notable composer to indicate specific metronome markings in his music. This was done in December 1815, with the corrected copy of the score of the Cantata op. 112 containing Beethoven's first metronome mark.[19]

Specific uses include learning to maintain tempos and beats consistently. For example, a musician fighting a tendency to speed up might practise a phrase repeatedly while slightly slowing the BPM setting each time, to play more steadily. A musician or athlete seeking to improve technical proficiency might set the metronome to gradually higher speeds until the desired tempo is achieved. This also helps to expose unintentional slowdowns due to technical challenges or fatigue. Additionally, recording musicians use click tracks from metronomes to help audio engineers synchronize audio tracks.

"Metronome technique" is extensive and has been the subject of several books for musicians.[25][26][27] The "intuitive" approach is simply to practise a full musical work, in time with a metronome clicking the downbeats. With more-advanced metronome technique, musicians practise separate exercises to strengthen their sense of rhythm, tempo, and musical time, while also cultivating flexibility and expression.

Much of modern metronome technique aims to resolve timing problems without creating overdependence on the metronome. Typical exercises are to practise maintaining a tempo while the metronome is muted for progressively longer periods of time,[30] or to practise with displaced clicks (offset from the usual downbeats) or polyrhythms against the metronome.[31]

To help build rhythmic flexibility and musical expression in performances, preparatory exercises with the metronome often incorporate a fluid sense of timing. For example, musicians may practise drifting gradually from one beat to the next, or alternately pulling behind and pushing ahead of the click.[32] As author/drummer Mac Santiago wrote: "The ability to hear the pulse and yet accelerate or decelerate slightly is a great way to incorporate human feeling into a musical performance. ... This also works for the actions of ritardando and accelerando, as they are relative to a steady pulse and are best performed gradually rather than in sudden shifts."[33]

Perhaps the most famous, and most direct, use of the metronome as an unconventional musical instrument is Gyrgy Ligeti's composition, Pome Symphonique for 100 metronomes (1962). Two years earlier, Toshi Ichiyanagi had written Music for Electric Metronomes (1960). Maurice Ravel used three metronomes at different speeds for the opening of his opera about a clockmaker, L'heure espagnole (1911).[34]

The clicking sounds of mechanical metronomes have sometimes been used to provide a soft rhythm track without using any of the usual percussion instruments. Paul McCartney did this on "Distractions" (Flowers in the Dirt, 1989). Following the metronome, McCartney performed a rhythm track by hitting various parts of his body.[35] Also, in Ennio Morricone's theme "Farewell to Cheyenne" (featured in the film Once Upon a Time in the West, 1968), the steady clip-clop beat is provided by the deliberately distorted and slowed-down sound of a mechanical metronome.[36]

The metronome is usually viewed positively by performers, teachers, conservatories, and musicologists (who spend considerable time analysing metronome markings). It is considered an excellent practice tool because of its steady beat, being "mathematically perfect and categorically correct".[38] This removes guesswork and aids musicians in various ways, including keeping tempos, countering tendencies to slow down or speed up unintentionally, monitoring technical progress, and increasing evenness and accuracy, especially in rapid passages. Metronomes are thus commonly used at all skill levels, from beginners to professional musicians, and are often recommended to music students without reservation.[39] As commentator/violist Miles Hoffman wrote in 1997: "Most music teachers consider the metronome indispensable, and most professional musicians, in fact, continue to practice with a metronome throughout their careers."[40] Some musicians took this view almost as soon as the metronome was invented in the early 19th century.[41][42] The online book Metronome Techniques includes a "Potpourri" chapter with dozens of quotations from music teachers in favour of metronome practice.[43] 0852c4b9a8

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