Following up on my last post regarding working passages with a metronome from slow to fast, I want to touch on a few other ways to use a metronome to your advantage. Growing up in Texas, we used a metronome ALL THE TIME in band. This helped the whole band stay together, and was probably very helpful to students who struggled finding the beat, but was not always beneficial. Like it or not, you always had that steady beat blasting in your ear. This gave everyone a crutch to lean on for timekeeping. Instead of thinking for ourselves we just passively listened rather than counting and feeling time.
We all seem to rely on the metronome to keep time, when I think it should be more of a checkpoint to see if we tend to rush or slow down any given passage. Just like in this post where I wrote about buzzing a note and then checking it with the piano, we want to check our time, not have it spoon fed to us. The good news is, there are many fun and creative ways to do this!
A method I started using when working on jazz excerpts is setting the metronome to beat quarter notes at my intended tempo, but having the metronome sound on the upbeats. Using this for all practice tells me right away if my internal metronome is solid. If you take care of the upbeats, it is really hard for the downbeats to not line up. On the other hand, it is common to hear players have solid downbeats, but what happens in between is not always precise. This is exercise one, putting the metronome on the upbeats.
When I started playing a ton of combo gigs, I found myself relying on someone else (e.g., our drummer and bass player) to keep time. When playing with others, you obviously need to listen to them, but make sure your time is rock solid on your own. That way, everyone in the group can express themselves, even if rhythmic deviations are involved, and the group stays together as a whole.
Next, try having the metronome beat every other beat, or every three beats. For example, if you want to play the Promenade from Pictures at an Exhibition at quarter = 88, put the metronome on 44 bpm. Combine this with the idea above by having it hit on the first beat, and then having it hit on the second beat. Then, set it to 22 bpm and it will beat every 4 beats, and so on. This excerpt in particular is fun to play because of the frequent time signature changes.
Start with the metronome sounding every 2 beats, and then this can be taken to the extreme and you can have the metronome hit every 6 beats, or even more. When doing this, the metronome is nothing more than a check, and if you find it difficult to stay in time after 6 beats of silence, don't sweat it! It takes a while to get used to, but, at the very least, it will let you know your tendencies (to rush or slow down). If you can play the the Petrushka dance in time with the metronome only hitting every 3 measures, your time is pretty darn good. A lot of players have close but not exact time, so if you are the only person at an audition to play perfectly in time (when appropriate), you will stand out like a sore thumb... in a really good way.
Intersperse these two ideas in your normal metronome routine, and you will see great results, and quickly too!
Check out this video of Victor Wooten demonstrating his metronome practice. It is pretty intense! This is how you gain impeccable time rather than really close approximate time.
We all seem to rely on the metronome to keep time, when I think it should be more of a checkpoint to see if we tend to rush or slow down any given passage. Just like in this post where I wrote about buzzing a note and then checking it with the piano, we want to check our time, not have it spoon fed to us. The good news is, there are many fun and creative ways to do this!
A method I started using when working on jazz excerpts is setting the metronome to beat quarter notes at my intended tempo, but having the metronome sound on the upbeats. Using this for all practice tells me right away if my internal metronome is solid. If you take care of the upbeats, it is really hard for the downbeats to not line up. On the other hand, it is common to hear players have solid downbeats, but what happens in between is not always precise. This is exercise one, putting the metronome on the upbeats.
When I started playing a ton of combo gigs, I found myself relying on someone else (e.g., our drummer and bass player) to keep time. When playing with others, you obviously need to listen to them, but make sure your time is rock solid on your own. That way, everyone in the group can express themselves, even if rhythmic deviations are involved, and the group stays together as a whole.
Next, try having the metronome beat every other beat, or every three beats. For example, if you want to play the Promenade from Pictures at an Exhibition at quarter = 88, put the metronome on 44 bpm. Combine this with the idea above by having it hit on the first beat, and then having it hit on the second beat. Then, set it to 22 bpm and it will beat every 4 beats, and so on. This excerpt in particular is fun to play because of the frequent time signature changes.
Start with the metronome sounding every 2 beats, and then this can be taken to the extreme and you can have the metronome hit every 6 beats, or even more. When doing this, the metronome is nothing more than a check, and if you find it difficult to stay in time after 6 beats of silence, don't sweat it! It takes a while to get used to, but, at the very least, it will let you know your tendencies (to rush or slow down). If you can play the the Petrushka dance in time with the metronome only hitting every 3 measures, your time is pretty darn good. A lot of players have close but not exact time, so if you are the only person at an audition to play perfectly in time (when appropriate), you will stand out like a sore thumb... in a really good way.
Intersperse these two ideas in your normal metronome routine, and you will see great results, and quickly too!
Check out this video of Victor Wooten demonstrating his metronome practice. It is pretty intense! This is how you gain impeccable time rather than really close approximate time.
Comment below with your favorite metronome techniques!
-Justin
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