I just purchased a Boss DB-12 Dr. Beat metronome. It has separate settings for Tempo, Beats and Rhythm. To set it for a time signature of 2/4, I first set the Beats = 2, set the Rhythm to quarter note and enter the desired Tempo. That much I understand.
The Rhythm setting has 5 options: 1 quarter note, 2 quarter notes, 3 eighth notes (triplet), 4 sixteenth notes, offbeat eight note (an eighth + a rest), and swing triplets (a triplet with the middle note removed). The first four options I think I understand. Does anyone know the purpose of offbeat eighth notes and swing triplets?
Now the Beat setting has 24 options: 0-9 and combos. Combos confuse me. They include 2+3, 3+4, etc. When do I use them combo settings?
Without having access to the metronome, the best I can offer are educated guesses…to this end I’ll attempt to tackle two of these questions.
I’m guessing the ‘offbeat eighth’ is not actually an 1/8th + a rest, but rather a rest + an 8/th. This would make more sense, the 1/8th note click landing on the AND, or offbeat portion of the beat.
The swing triplets are easier to guess: the closest approximation to the ‘swing’ or ‘shuffled’ feel in jazz, ragtime, blues, etc. is a triplet with the middle note rested. In essence, these are ‘swung’, or lagged 1/8ths.
Anticipating responses from the learned many on this board…
If Raymond is right about the swing triplets, that might be a good option for jigs, though I’m not sure how you’d figure out the time setting.
The combos are probably for odd time signatures. For example, 2+3 probably alternates between a measure of 2/4 and one of 3/4, giving you 5/4, while 3+4 would give you 7/4. (Is there a 3+2+2 or 2+2+3?)
I would recommend throwing away your metronome and work on the metronome in your head. This can be easily done by listening to recordings and finding the beat and tapping your foot along with the music. It will do wonders and it will help internalize the music and the rthyhm. No metronome can do that.
Of course it helps to use it properly. Only use 2 beats per measure (cut time for reels). Set the tempo very slow in the beginning, like 60 bpm or even below. Don’t just start playing along, you need to develop the ability to really hear whether you are landing on the beat or not (that is not as trivial as it sounds, in my experience).
Say your working on a reel, Bird in the Bush for example. Play the first beat: d2eB d… and stop there, making sure that you land right on the second beat with the second d. Practice that until you reliably hit beat 1 and two. Then add four more notes until you reliably land on beats 1, 2, and 3 (which would be the down beat of the second measure). Build up the tune like that. Tap your foot, and don’t allow yourself to just play along and drift in and out of time while playing with the metronome.
Right, this is just plain bad advice. Take it from a music teacher, the ‘metronome in your head’ likely drags or rushes; only the rare few have innate meter. If you are a beginner, how are you supposed to ‘find the beat’? Practice with a metronome.
If you use a metronome on the computer it really doesn’t always keep
time. That really threw me for a while before I realized that.
I have an old wind up metronome which “lists” cos our floors aren’t level.
On some recordings the players don’t keep time but speed up, just like in
some sessions. You can get into a bad habit of doing the same if you use
those all the time.
My husband has one of those fancy million option metronomes but I still
can’t set it to just go thump thump.
So now what, I play against the clock when I want to check my timing.
Nothing like a second hand! - Lesl
I purchased the metronome because whenever I would play a tune for the first time cold (that is, without hearing someone else play it), the tune would never sound right. I am hoping that using a metronome will allow me to play closer to what the written music intends.
BTW, for those who are interested, I ordered the Boss DB-12 from MusiciansFriend.com. It is currently on sale for $29.99, and has a list price of $79. It is about the size of a credit card (length and width) and 1/3 as thick as a deck of cards. I don’t know if it’s the best pocket metronome out there (it is not the cheapest, even on sale), but I am VERY happy with this purchase so far.
Wow, metronomes have sure changed! I have a Seth Thomas wind up type that my Dad gave me. It is still working after 45 years, which makes me feel old indeed! I suppose I should have it cleaned or something.
I think they are good to practice with. One can often slow down unwittingly (you know, when the metronome suddenly decides to go faster?) on hard parts. The metronome will alert you to the fact that you need to isolate your problem before you teach yourself to have the same problem every time you play the piece.
I don’t think I am using it “right”—like that “cut time”, although I get the idea—but I am playing so slowly right now that I need more ticks than that. I will change to “cut time” when I get a little faster.
In a reel, is there an emphasis on the 1st and 5th beats?
There are only four beats per measure in a reel, or more properly two, when you go to cut time. Very basically you would stress the first and third beats in a measure and stress the downbeat (first beat) of the first, third, fifth and seventh measure even more. BUT rhythms in Irish music are very subtle and each reel is different. It is not going to sound right until you put the stresses where the tune wants them. There is nothing secret about this, though: Just listen to good players. Slow it down, toss out the sheet music, and play along: you’ll get the right emphasis.
Two very different reels:
The Morning Star
The Swallow’s Tail
Hmmm. I am not sure I consider these versions kosher, but anyway they’re what I could find on the web.
Thank you. I actually understand (I think) about the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th measures—each of those is starting a new phrase, the question or the answer to a question. And I understand about the 4/4 time.
I will have to start listening. I am having trouble with a reel. I am still playing it quite slowly but yet fast enough so that I believe it should be sounding like something and it is not. So I am not understanding what the tune is doing. You have put a totally new idea in my head.
I think I will try playing the two reels you have given on the piano and see if I can hear what the tunes are doing. And perhaps mine as well. I know, put away the sheet music, but it’s just an experiment.
Reels seem more troublesome than jigs, although I can only play two jigs slowly, but I can make them swing a bit at this point. My reel is just lying dead in the water. I will start emphasizing the 1st and 3rd beats a bit, and those other beats more. And I’ll find a recording to listen too.
Sorry to dig this up but I disagree. One doesn’t need a metronome to learn how to hit the beats. Listening to good ITM and playing along will do much more for you than playing countless hours along with a metronome. I wonder what Denis Murphy, Paddy Carty, and Willie Clancy set their metronomes to. :roll:
OOoooo goody. Are we looking for overnight success hear or is this music a process? I’m not saying a beginner will sound like Seamus Ennis overnight just by listening to him but after a few years of listening and practising you can internalize the music which no metronome can do for you. In fact the people I know who use metronomes sound pretty bad.
But you’re right, you being a music teacher and all. (Tongue in cheek->) But what was that old saying about those who can’t do, teach. Feel free to post sound clips of yourself to validate your opinion.
Where do the countless hours come from? And aren’t you confusing two questions: Is a metronome necessary to learn to hit the beats? No. (Don’t make me out to recommend some slavish devotion to metronomes at the cost of listening to the real stuff.) Can a metronome help? Yes. And frankly, Willie Clancy wasn’t always the best model for playing steady (just listen to the Templehouse/Over the Moor to Maggie set on whistle; he ends up 20 bpm faster than he starts, or something).
Bloom, I was just putting my opinion out there because I think it’s a bad idea for beginners to think that a metronome will help them become a good itm player. I’m not saying that you said that, I just feel obligated to express my viewpoint which is to listen.
But if you’re going to say that track of Clancy’s is garbage we can end this discussion right now
To try and clarify on ‘how to use a metronome’, I think it’s really best to to set it for
half-speed on reels. Bloomfield called this the ‘first and third beats’, but I would call
it the ‘first and fifth notes’, which isn’t always literally true, but, there’s two eighth notes
to a beat. So the same thing that Bloomfield said there.
For double-jigs and slip-jigs, I’d set it for once every 3-‘eight-notes’ of time. In most jig
notations, (6/8, 9/8) a beat and an eighth note are the same, so. In a double jig, first
and fourth, in a slip-jig, first, fourth, and seventh.Iif you have a two-tone metronome,
you’ll want, for a double jig, ‘hard/soft/hard/soft’ and for a slip-jig ‘hard/soft/soft’.
You definitely do not want to be playing to six metronome-clicks per bar of your double-jig,
because the timing within a bar or a phrase is not metronomic. Metronomes will give you
the ‘timing’ but not the ‘rhythm’, so to speak. Trying to follow a metronome for
8-ticks-per-bar of a reel or 6-ticks-per-bar of a slipjig is going to flatten the music out
beyond recognition, and do damage to any sense of the correct rhythm.
It is also probably best not to get in the habit of always playing to the metronome. The
metronome is, in my opinion, for developing a sense of timing. The more your sense of
timing develops, the less value the metronome will have.
I don’t think I’m saying anything revolutionary here, in fact, I think I’m repeating some things
often said on this board, but I hope I’m being clear enough to dispel any potential confusion.
