Metronome Anecdote

[Brandon Flynn]

The other day I found it very difficult to stay on rhythm with my metronome. I could never seem to adjust to whatever tempo I selected. I was getting really frustrated, so I took a break and thought about whether music is the right subject for me to be studying in school when I am capable of finding the very basics so difficult. But then I thought about it and I have never had this problem before. And then it struck me, the metronome was low on batteries! It was getting progressively slower as the battery wore down, so I still feel like an adequate musician for now. :)

[Mike Snyder]

I bought an old German wooden metronome at an auction, one of the pyramid shaped things. I love the tic-toc sound of it. I didn't much use it 'til about a year ago. Things just weren't right. Bent spring or shaft or something, the two beat is just a millisecond fast. Not an even one-two at all, much more onetwo...........onetwo.......It about threw me outa my pickin' chair. So I use the online
metronomes and the antique sits on a shelf. Funny, all my old music teachers had those wooden ones, and they worked fine.

[Brandon Flynn]

Some people swear by those metronomes. I personally don't understand. They sound cool, but my sabine makes a fairly pleasant woodblock sound, and it almost fits in my pocket.

[John Flynn]

I have an electronic Sabine also, and it's great, but I still prefer my mechanical Wittner Taktell. It's personal preference, but to me, it's like the difference between an acoustic instrument and an electric one. I plan to get one of the big wooden ones someday. I just think they're cool.

[Brandon Flynn]

They're cool but I've had some people get quite ridiculous in their arguments for the wooden ones. Like a serious musician has to have a wooden one. I totally understand the preference.

[John McGann]

The windup ones wind down, slowing down...where does that leave you in your quest for leaving wobbly time behind?

If I want to practice inaccurately, I can just play without one ;)

[Don Christy]

Granted, I don't know that much about the actual mechanism or its accuracy, but I won't let that fact keep me from speculating.

I suspect the accuracy of a mechanical metronome does not vary much until the spring force is very low. Much like old pendulum clocks, I suspect there is an escapement that adds energy from the spring to the pendulum in impulses as it goes from drive to lock.

Don

PS: I have a Wittner wooden mechanical metronome that I hardly ever use and a couple of electronic ones that I use regularly. But not because of their stability.

[John Flynn]

I find my Wittner seems to stay pretty accurate as the spring tension wears down, until it finally quits. What I notice when the spring wears down is it gets quieter. An analogy in physics is a mandolin string. The arm of the metronome is like a string. When either is in motion, it will oscillate at a certain frequency based on its mass. With the string, it is the mass of the string itself, with the metronome it is the position of the weight (mass) on the arm. The spring is what causes motion on the metronome, the pick is what causes motion on the strings. No matter how tight or loose the spring is, or how hard or soft the pick strikes, the frequency is the same. In both cases, it is the volume that changes, until the motion ceases altogether.