Let’s wade into the deep end. The reality is that many Average Pipers do not know how to use a metronome effectively. The word I’m about to use are not intended to be mean. If another word was as descriptive, believe me, I’d use it. Many Average Pipers are oblivious to where notes are supposed to fall within a measure. They have no idea of the purpose of a metronome or how to use it. They tumble through a measure or phrase and perhaps hit the beat here or there. For the most part they miss the target consistently. Their product “sort of” sounds like the tune and unfortunately this is reinforced by faulty teaching methods. It’s further complicated when you put a like-group of pipers together all doing the same obscene thing. Band “practice” is a tumble-through the tunes before going out for a beer.

A current student has set some goals for St. Patrick’s Day and wants to play solo during the pub crawl that takes place after the parade. I was sent a number of tunes for consideration. Among them was Glasgow City Police Pipers. I asked him to play the tune. Awk! All over the place! I asked him to set the metronome to 60 beats per minute and play the tune. Again, he paid absolutely no attention to the metronome and the notes tumbled out. I then asked that he set the metronome to 100 BPM and to play each eighth note on a click. Initially, this too, was “correct notes played in random time.”

After a few attempts, he started to get the concept. Individual notes began to land on each click. We changed the tempo, moving it from 120 BPM to 160 BPM to reinforce the discipline of playing each eighth-note on a click. By doing so, everything moves in context.

There were times that he tried to play “the music” and fell off the rails pretty quickly. The goal here is to simply play each eighth-note separately and distinctly on a click. If anything, it’s very “unmusical” however it teaches the discipline of paying attention to the metronome. It also teaches your fingers to do what your brain is telling them to do. One note with each click.

This week, his goal is to practice playing the tune at various tempos, with each note landing on a click. There are a few quarter-notes that will receive two clicks. All-in-all this is a great tune to use when teaching this concept. Ultimately, we’ll put the metronome back to about 80 BPM (to start with) and play three eighth-notes to one click. Each coupling begins on a click and the three notes have to be spread evenly across the beat. If we’ve done the first part of this learning correctly, everything should fall into place. If not, then we go back to “one eighth-note per click” until that is firmly implanted in our brains and fingers!

This is the easy part of learning how to use a metronome. To understand precise note placement within more complicated music will require careful explanation and practice. We’ll tackle that very soon.

I’ve been asked to post some audio clips however I am resisting because I want the reader to understand these concepts and rationale rather than to just mimic what they hear. If you truly understand, then you’ll be able to self-manage, which is the ultimate goal here. I’m generally available, so call or write when you need help.