Modern metronome

My opinion:

I think metronome is absolutely useless and destroys any feeling for the music. Tell me one good reason why each note in a piece must half an exactly defined time length? - you can't.

When you talk to somebody, does your words length having always an exactly defined timing? How would sound that? - like a computer voice. What is music? it is an universal language everybody understands, the musician tells us a story and we listen what he say to us, when he always talks with exactly the same speed its like a machine is talking to me.

Speed, time and BPM .... yes it is ok as a simple classification for the music style for somebody who wants to play it again, but its not necessary to keep this time precision.

One example: if you tell in front of your friends a story about your last holiday trip, do you set the metronome to 88 BPM, so that all of the sentences and words will having the same speed? I don't think so - for music its the same.

Best classical music ever made was composed in the 18th century and before, how they measure the speed of a piece - they used the simple italian names: allegretto, allegro, presto, largo, allegro assai, andante ...... there are many of them. Why they did it in that way? - because it is enough information how to play a piece. A musician decides the details in which speed he plays, depending on place, time, environmental, music instrument. It is his decision what he want to "say" today to the listeners. Being a free musician, a metronome kills that totally.

In a church as priest you speak eg. "Andante", as a captain in front of 100 soldiers "Allegro Assai or Presto", its a very simple language.

Do you really think Mozart, Haydn, Bach.... where stupid? Nowadays people think: in the past composers where not able to measure time and BPM exactly. HaHaHa - nonsens, there where also hundred years ago able using watches to measure seconds. Even the poorest (with less money) composer was able to buy or build-up a cheap time measure method (sandwatch, waterwatch) to measure the time length of his pieces and devide the result through the number of the notes to calculate a detailed BPM figure.

These former composers have spend many years of their life to create wonderful music. It would be in the past hundred years ago a very simple job to measure the time of their pieces.

Why Mozart, H, B...... never wrote time details in a style like a physician would do it? - Very Simple Answer - it is not necessary, because they known the music comes from the feeling of the musician not from a figure.

If former composers wanted to create a piece with a strong precise rythm, the would use their former instruments for it, a drum or a monotom listening polyphon voice within their pieces, they would made this rythm clearly audible - a metronome is a hidden rythm, for what being there but not audible?

Menzels Metronome was a way to make Menzel's money, that's all. Show me one classical piece which must be played exactly with e.g. 90 BPM for becoming a nice sound and what about 85 or 95 it will sound terrible? there is no.

The former composers would have supplied our world exactly with BPM times, when they think it is necessary - they didn't, because they know the feeling for "allegretto, andante......" that's the better information to play their piece.

I refuse to play or to train with a metronome. I don't need it in Pianoteq.

Thanks for replies!

@Zwerg:

Personally I am a jazz or pop oriented player so my idea of timing is little different than from a classical player. That's for sure. But I think there's at least one missunderstanding in your post. While in jazz/pop we normally have a quite steady pulse, this doesn't mean that each note must be mathematically placed in that metronomic time. Quite contrary. When you feel the beat inside you, you can manipulate your playing many many ways: you can play laid back phrases or little before the beat or even very free way. This makes your playing sound "alive" and "swing" etc. In fact it's not that far from classical idea. But you need to have an inner sense of time. And if you did not born with that talent, it's wise to practise with something which gives you this reference point (external click).

All this been said, still I feel that my idea of having metronome to play one bar and rest another would also help classical players too. When I record my classical playing, for example Bach,  I hear similar problems with time which I have with jazz: rushing or dragging in wrong place. Developing inner clock is a task for every player regardless of music style. When you have it, you can play whatever way you like, also nice rubato.

@kalessin:

thanks for tips. I'll check them out.

I still think that the first idea of having this modern metronome inside PTQ would not be very difficult to implement as a new feature and it would help many.

Zwerg,

I still find it quite fascinating how much a simple tool like the metronome seems to upset you. If you don't like to use it, then don't. Absolutely nobody forces you to.

But if somebody else finds it useful, why can't you let them? I find this near-religious zeal with which you tell anyone that they are essentially morons void of any musical talent when using an external timing source, a bit irritating. By your theory, since almost all musicians train with metronomes at least early in their education, music should have been essentially dead for 200 years.

Let me put it this way: metronomes have existed and been used for nearly two centuries now. They will probably continue to exist and be used. They have not killed music yet, and won't.

kalessin,

you misunderstand me, of course everybody can use the metronome or not.
I explained why I don't use it, if I write "I dont use" the reader don't know why.
I explained only my opinion and not what others shall do or leave.

Read the "Why" questions I wrote before and find an answer if you have one.

My words and my opinion is really not important for nobody - the answers for the "Why" questions thats quite more interesting.

The one change that I might like in the metronome would be adding the ability to use a sound other than the current sound--a modelled snare hit or ride cymbal hit, for example. But then, I'd also like to have triplets on a ride cymbal, and a basic rock pattern, etc, to avoid having to load up a full sequencer.

...and/or just loading external wav files for "weak hit" and "strong hit".

Hi,

I did a further search for a ultimate metronome app and now I think I found it: Metronomics HD for iPhone and iPad and Mac. For using it with PTQ Mac is my choise (no need for using other devices and getting it straight to phones without messing with DAWs).

http://metronomicsapp.com

Jake, this does all that and much more.

One very interesting feature is recording (MIDI/audio) and analyzing your timing….