METRONOMES … Confused? You will be!

[thereallyniceman]

By coincidence, I have recently been discussing metronome timing with Steve Harrison on the Morgan Three Wheeler March that he composed and that I stumbled through on video. On his score he showed a Maelzel’s Metronome time of 190 beats per minute (MM 190).  I found this a totally impossible speed to play the piece at and asked Steve why it was so fast. He confirmed that he played it at that speed and it was the same speed of the midi file he produced from the score.

 

Now here is the coincidence… Mike has just recorded Lobster’s Promenade and he said it was recorded at MM120, and Marc S said he would prefer it at MM138. These both seem FAR too fast for me to play and if you look at the original score the MM112 is shown (almost pedestrian???).

 

BUT, here is my explanation for the confusion. Perhaps my interpretation may be wrong, so please comment:

 

A Metronome is a stupid device designed to strike fear into all amateur musicians. All it does is CLICK regularly at a specific number of clicks in one minute. The number can be preset for the music you are playing. The metronome is used to CLICK on the BEAT of the music. This allows the musician to stress the BEAT in each bar and give the piece its foot-tapping quality.

 

Try this free online one: http://www.metronomeonline.com/

 

REMEMBER: The metronome does NOT care what time signature the music is written in, it only clicks a fixed number of times per minute!

 

Thus on a specific piece written in 4/4  (4 beats per bar):

 /CLICK-CLICK- CLICK-CLICK/CLICK-CLICK- CLICK-CLICK/

 

or the same piece is written in 2/2 (2 beats per bar): /CLICK-CLICK/ CLICK-CLICK/

 

This means that a metronome set to click at 100 beats per minute in 4/4 only needs to click at 50 beats per minute in 2/2 for the piece to be played at the same speed.

 

On a 6/8 score (like the Morgan March and the Lobster’s Promenade) the BEAT is, to be simplistic, the same as in 2/4 time signature

 

Eg, /Twi de ly-Twi de ly/ Twi de ly-Twi de ly/     or    /1-2/1-2/

 

 

So what, you ask?

 

Music notation software programs default the Maelzel’s Metronome as “Crotchet” (1/4 note) beats per minute. This is fine for 4/4 scores as the MM clicks are at the correct speed for the piece, but, for example, in 6/8 rhythms there are THREE crotchets in a bar, but they do NOT fall on the beat! There are only TWO beats in the bar so the MM number, and the clicks are far too fast for the piece (3/2 times too fast).

To correct this for 6/8 scores the MM setting in the music software should be re-set to the number of  “dotted crotchet” beats per bar, and there are TWO.

Here is the setting in the GVox Encore software that I use:

So in Morgan March MM190 on the score to set the metronome at the correct number of clicks per minute you need to do a sum: 190 x 2/3 =126 click per minute

On the original Lobster Promenade score the MM has been correctly shown as dotted crotchet beats per minute 112. Try it and it IS FAST!

Marc S suggested a speed of 138. I think that 138 x 2/3 = 92 clicks per minute,  seems too slow, but a speed of 104 click per minute sounds about right, slower than Van Eps’s 112 BPM, but it isn’t a race!

[Mike Moss]

It all makes sense now!  That explains why some pieces seemed to be ridiculously fast and others ridiculously slow... I couldn't read Maelzelese!

[Trapdoor2]

Cool. Actually, I suggested 138.6bpm...which was simply my way of saying I was joking.

I didn't know about the mazeltov or mazeltone or malteze metrognome, I just set mine either per the suggestion on the sheet music (which usually uses a crotchet = #) or simply my old brain's best guess.

Your explanation, Ian, makes far too much sense. I shall go with it from this point fwd.

 

[thereallyniceman]

138.6bpm... Far too subtle for me Marc ;-)

 

Natural resonance, what a wonderful phenomenon..

When I play the banjo with my cast iron fingertips the vibrations have a similar effect on objects nearby. I can still remember the day when I was playing near to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

[Jody Stecher]

I used to live not too far from the site of this bridge ( Galloping Gertie)  and in 1974  I played fiddle for a Galloping Gertie anniversary square dance. Somewhere there are photos of me playing that dance with colorful balloons tied to my fiddle bow and a red hot water bottle strapped to my ribs with silver duct tape (I had recently broken a rib and heat helped heal the fracture). It wasn't wind that knocked down the bridge. Wind simply provided the energy for a wave. Basically the bridge turned into a banjo string. If you let the youtube video play to the end four other video choices appear. Click the lower right hand one and you'll get a better explanation of what happened.

[thereallyniceman]

Trapdoor2 said:

Cool. Actually, I suggested 138.6bpm...which was simply my way of saying I was joking.

I didn't know about the mazeltov or mazeltone or malteze metrognome, I just set mine either per the suggestion on the sheet music (which usually uses a crotchet = #) or simply my old brain's best guess.

Your explanation, Ian, makes far too much sense. I shall go with it from this point fwd.