Metronomes are not nearly as evil as Urbanomes nor Garden Gnomes..
When the metronome is clicking I miss the notes, loose the fingering, get terribly upset, throw a book at the cat, take to drink, cry, , etc.
Now that I've got your attention: For every new piece, after I have learned the notes and fingering, comes the dread words from my teacher: "the tempo is unstable" or "you're rushing again! practise with the metronome!".
drink is okay, but the cat is innocent!
this is going to be offensive to some:I have observed that sometimes in performing a piece in which the composer uses trills and candenza like ornamental passages like in Chopin-- we have to attempt to play like a MACHINE.You know a perfect, even trill....a machine can do it with ease...we humans have to struggle and work to make our fingers do that...especially 4th/5th when your holding onto other notes with the other digits!!! Those rippling..exquistely even ornanments in Chopin...a machine could do them so much easier than we. HOWEVER..after the ornament/trill/etc is complete...IF a machine continued with the rest of the Nocturne, Fugue, whatever...it would be an utterly boring piece...SO...we have to return to humanness after performing that small segment in Machine Mode!Obviously I have too much time on my hands...I should return to practice...
Ah, almost forgot, steven said that for real pieces, you can turn off the metronome. But then how will you know you are rushing or playing unsteadily?
You listen and to make sure you record yourself...
That takes twice as much time. Why not just do it in one go with the metronome?
I don't know how helpful this advice is, but my teacher told me to never use the metronome. Rhythm, tempo, and phrasing should be all in the head.
Because you would do that anyway for other things?
Okay fine, agreed. But, after you find out your rushing, what then?
To be honest I don't see any problem here. If I rush or slow down it is either because I was sloppy (in easy passages) or haven't learned the passage well enough (for difficult ones). Both are easy to correct without a metronome. I guess it is difficult for me to imagine not having a steady natural pulse in my head. But I would still think it is more useful to use tapping/counting exercises to develope this inner pulse than playing with a metronome? Then again I am not a teacher so I may be wrong
To be honest I don't see any problem here. If I rush or slow down it is either because I was sloppy (in easy passages) or haven't learned the passage well enough (for difficult ones). Both are easy to correct without a metronome. I guess it is difficult for me to imagine not having a steady natural pulse in my head. But I would still think it is more useful to use tapping/counting exercises to develope this inner pulse than playing with a metronome? Then again I am not a teacher so I may be wrong A bit off topic, but I just realized that my language is better for counting than english. Our numerals from 1-6 are all two syllable words, so they can be used to steadily count quater notes and eight notes very easily In general I think our language has a different rhytm than many others... I wonder if language can make things easier/harder for beginners at piano?
So you never rush?
Did I say that? Yes I do rush, when something is easy/boring I just want to get it over soon so that I can concentrate on the more difficult parts (that's what I meant by sloppy).
Ah but what if you don't realize you are rushing? Wouldn't a metronome be useful?
Oh if you find a particular passage tricky, it's best to focus on just that passage, rather than play through the whole piece - and then when playing the whole piece focus more on musical expression etc than technique particularly - if you notice technical issues keep going through them and just take a note to return to them later on - then the easy pieces aren't boring at that point.
Yes, I do practice in small sections... but since I have memorizing issues I need to play it all often enough. Otherwise I simply forget everything. Actually I have so far only had real technical problems with passages where my hands are too small. My biggest problem is remembering the notes and especially fingerings. The easier parts take time to stick in my head as well. Mostly my slowing down is because I forget fingerings rather than not being able to play something fast. So I guess what I mean by difficult is not quite the same as someone elses...If the piece is boring, then how can I make myself concentrate on musicality? I usually just zone out...
Hmmm... I am either a complete idiot or I just know whether I am in time or not...I don't feel I need the metronome because I instantly know when I am off pulse. It happens all the time because I don't always know my pieces that well and I often lose focus even if I do. So far my teacher has never complaint about my timing and she's not the type that would keep quiet. In the beginning I asked whether I should use the metronome and she said no.Maybe if the music I played was more complicated I would need it more?If someone does not feel when they are off pulse, does the metronome help learn it in the long run?
Okay great. I don't know, it's not a problem I ever encounter, finding a way to get interested in slow easy pieces, always am anyway.
We have a bit of a misundestanding... I don't equal slow = boring or easy .Rather it's the opposite. In slow sections the inadequacy of one's playing is often painfully clear...But I have actually found a solution, if after the initial stages I find the piece boring I just throw it away It seems to take me a while befoe I know if I like to play something or not...
E.g. I might ask myself, is that any particular technical issue or just that I've heard pianists play the same slow pieces and it sounds so amazing and I can't seem to do the same myself?
I would say it's the latter. I want my playing to sound as beautiful as what I hear from real pianists. An impossible task I know, but that is why I started playing the piano, to produce those beautiful sounds. I cannot accept any slips or mistakes in voicing, improper accents or unsmooth legato passages. When you play fast these can be better hidden. In general I do prefer slower music, I only play fast things to improve my finger dexterity a little. Fast passages tend to be easier to memorize because there's no time to question if something is right, the fingers just seem to know what to do.
In general it is interesting, why some teachers feel that the metronome is a must when learning to play and some seem to think not.The experience I have from piano teachers around here (most have some sort of pedacogical education) is that they don't tell beginners to use the metronome at all. None of mine and also none of the teachers of my friends. We did not even have a metronome as a child, and two of my siblings also played. My flute teacher never talked about using a metronome either. So I have always assumed that it is more useful for advanced musicians.
I suggest this as a practice for a person like yourself who has rushing issues. Turn on your metronome to the time of the music and count out loud to the metronome, no playing just counting. In say, 4/4 time count, 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and. Feel that pulse and get your finger to tap on the 1 2 3 4 not on the and. Count internally without the metronome. You can go to work and count this without being at the piano ( work mate will wonder why you tap your finger a lot !), go shopping for groceries and count as you walk to that beat. Go to your local walking trail and count internally the 1 2 3 4 as the right foot hits the ground, count the and as the off beat. I ride my bicycle and count the 1 2 3 4 on my right foot as it pushes down on the right pedal ( I use clip ins so can count the up stroke as the and) Come home and sit at the piano, play with no metronome, if in a week or two you don't notice some difference I don't know to say then !Watch Valentina play, she litterally counts out as she hits tough passages and so do some other advanced player ( as well they speak out the chordal progession sometimes too). if you are in a recital you can't turn on a metronome. So you use your internal one. You have to condition yourself to do this though and that won't take very long to do but it ends up being a life long habit, in my case anyway..If you still have rushing issues after this little excercise then get professional help from a teacher. I haven't had a teacher for 30 or so years now but I still do this as I said above. That's why my metronome is away. Metronomes are a crutch or can turn into one.David
was that for me? I find that beating the pulse out like is incredibly debilitating to my musicality. It's a not a serious problem, and I'm perfectly capable of fixing it my friend. Thanks, but it wasn't necessary. And yes I have a teacher. Usually simply being aware that I'm rushing fixes the problem.