How to use the metronome to practice: step by step guide
The metronome isn't to press you: it's a mirror of your pulse. That's how you choose the starting tempo, you work subdivisions and you get up the speed without running into them.
To practice with a metronome, start with a tempo so slow that you can touch the passage without mistakes and with no tension, count the subdivisions high and get up at a few strokes, only after the fragment goes out clear several times in a row. The metronome isn't ready to rush: it's a mirror that shows you where your pulse will be accelerating or slowing.
The method serves for any instrument and for singing. You can follow this guide with the [free online metronomer]](/herramientas/metronomo) from the web or with any application.
To sum up
- Your starting tempo's the fastest that the passage goes out clear and relaxed, but not that of the recording.
- It goes up from 2 to 5 pounding per minute (BPM) at a time and only after three consecutive repetitions without mistakes.
- To count subdivisions ("1 and 2 and") is the habit that best improves rhythmic accuracy.
- If you get out of order, put down your tempo: back up's part of the method, not a failure.
- Altertle play with and without clicking so that the pulse will be yours and not from the device.
What's the tempo and what's BPM mean
The metronomer measures the tempo at BPMAt 60 BPM sounds a click per second, at 120 BPM, two per second. At the score the tempo appears as a figure with a figure (for example, black = 80) or as an Italian term. These terms are oriented and each age and editor interpret them with some freedom:
| Term | Character | Approximate range |
|---|---|---|
| Long / Slow | That's slow. | 40-60 BPM |
| Adagio | Slowly and quiet | 66-76 BPM |
| Andante | At once, walking | 76-108 BPM |
| Moderato | Moderado | 108-120 BPM |
| Allegro | Fast and cheerful | 320-168 BPM |
| Presto | That's fast. | 168 BPM or more |
The metronomus sets puses and the compas group them. If your metronomus allows to accentuate the first time, put them as a combination: two pics for 2 / 4, three pics for 3 / 4, four pics for 4 / 4. At compases as 6 / 8, the pulse usually felt at two sets of three clocks, so you can click every clasp to start and then at every black with a tipstick. If you still get tangled with these figures, review our guide to read scores.
Step by step: how to find your starting tempo
- He's picking a short fragment, two to four jobs.
- Put the metronome at about half of the final tempo. If the work goes to 120, it starts about 60.
- Listen to four clicks before you play and count them out.
- Touch the fragment. If every note drops with the click, with no mistakes and without tighting his shoulders and hands, that's your tempo.
- If she doesn't come out, she's down with 8 or 10 BPM and she's up and up and up and down and down and up and up.
- Write down the number by pencil about the score or your practice notebook. Tomorrow you'll know where to leave from.
Slow isn't synonymous with easy. At 50 BPM you can notice if a note lasts less than you should, if a change of position is late or if a breathing cuts the sentence. That magnifying glass is exactly what makes the metronomer useful.
Subdivisions: The Secret of Precision
Rhythmic errors are barely ever in the click but in the space between two clicks. Subdivide is to count what happens inside each pulse, and that's what prevents the clocks from going unequal or the quiet from shortening.
| Figure by pulse | Notes by clicking | How to count them |
|---|---|---|
| Black | 1 | “1, 2, 3, 4” |
| Corcheas | 2 | "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and" |
| Other pitted or padded products | 3 | Three syllables equal by pulse as "t-t-t." |
| Semicorcheas | 4 | Four syllables per pulse, as with "ta-ka-ta-ka" or with your teacher |
Subdivision exercise (5 minutes)
- Put the metronome at 60 BPM.
- He's been pounding them in black for eight clicks and counting them out.
- Without stopping, it goes to clocks for eight clicks, and then to three and then to half-cordage.
- He's back in an inverse order till the black.
- Repeat exercise on your instrument with a repeated scale or note.
For a difficult passage, many metronomes allow the subdivision to sound as well as the pulse. Use it a few days as a support and then remove it: the goal is to have the subdivision sound in your head.
How to get up and get up without losing cleanliness
The method of small leaps
When the fragment comes out three times in a row, it goes up between 2 and 5 BPM. If you miss twice to the new tempo, come back to the earlier. It looks slow but so the body learns the right move rather than practice the error at more speed.
Two steps forward, one step back
Another option is to move up the ladder: you get up two leaps and down one to consolidate. A session can be seen as follows:
| Paso | Tempo | What are you doing? |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 60 BPM | 3 clear repetitions |
| 2 | 64 BPM | 3 clear repetitions |
| 3 | 68 BPM | A mistake appears: you repeat with care |
| 4 | 64 BPM | Go back and get comforted |
| 5 | 68 BPM | Now get out clear. |
| 6 | 72 BPM | That's right. |
The next day it's normal to start a little under where you ended up, for example at 66. It's no receding: the body needs to be re-heated. Over the passing of the days, the starting point will go up by itself.
Exercises for your pulse
Once the passage is at an hour, the challenge changes: it's about no longer following the click but about not needing it.
- Click at 2 and 4: in pop, jazz or funk, put the metronomer at half the tempo and feel every click as the 2 and 4 of the bar. You put the 1 and 3. It's a classic of [percussion class]](/clases/percusion) and drums.
- Click only at 1: put the metronomus to a quarter of the tempo at 4 / 4 so that it sounds once and for all. You have to hold up the other three times.
- Be quiet: play two clicked and two without it, or lower the volume at times. If you are still in line with your internal pulse at your back.
- Piano separate hands: works every hand with a methonomer before bringing them together, at [piano]](/clases/piano) That's the fastest way to figure out what hand she's up to.
- Enter with the click: listening to you will notice if you get advanced at easy passages or stop at difficult ones.
Common errors with the metronome
| Error | What's up? | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| To start with the final tempo | Repeat error to automate | He starts in half and goes up by step |
| Fafter the click | You play with them and you're always late. | Count out and anticipate your pulse |
| To get up as soon as "about" gets out | The passage never gets completely clear | Requires 3 clean repetitions followed |
| No count | The quiet and long notes are shortened | Subdivide with a high voice, even if low |
| Unadjusted volume | Don't listen to him or I'll stink you. | Take him up till you hear him effortless about your instrument |
| Use it throughout the play, always | Music sounds mechanical | Use it for technique and passages and play with an expression |
To place the metronome inside a complete session, look at our [practice music at home] routine](/blog/como-practicar-musica-en-casa)And if you want to strengthen rhythmic reading from the base, the [music theory class]](/clases/teoria-musical) they work pulse, commas and subdivision with gradual exercises.
Frequently asked questions
At how fast should a beginner practice?
A good reference is to start at half of the required tempo and get down more if necessary. If you play without mistakes and without tension, you'll be okay, even if the number looks very low.
Is it bad to depend on the metronomer?
Just if you never turn it off. The metronome serves to build the pulse and then we have to check that it holds without it. Alterates sections with and without clicking and with expressive works leave space for the rubate that indicates your teacher.
Mechanical, digital or application methronome?
Any good if you can hear and title with precision. Digital and applications usually allow accents and subdivisions and mechanics have the advantage that you see the pendulum. To start with, an online metronome on your phone or computer is enough.
How do I use the methonomer in a 6 / 8 bar?
At first, click on every clasp to count the 6. When you feel secure, change to a click for each black with tiptog, that's, two with a beacon. Thus, you go from counting notes to feeling the swing at two of 6 / 8.