 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ronish
Date: 2010-08-13 12:45
I know my time keeping is not the best and people say the answer is using the metronome with each practice, but here is my problem.
If I`m playing a challenging practice piece (which most are) then I need all my concentration and even then miss a note or two. If I switch on the met. to help with the timing side then the note playing goes way off. It is impossible to be performing your very best on two things at once when both are a challenge.
So what to do? Don`t use the met. on difficult pieces only on simpler ones I can play, or play both accepting a lot of notes are incorrect even at reduced tempo, or wait until the challenging pieces are mastered (which may be weeks) then look to the accurate met. time keeping?
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Author: xarkon
Date: 2010-08-13 12:58
You HAVE to be able to play accurately with the metronome on. So here is an approach for you to try:
First, dramatically slow the tempo on the metronome. Half-speed, even. So, if performance tempo is 120, set the metronome at 60. If you can't play it accurately with the metronome at that tempo, set it even slower - 54, 48, whatever.
When you can play the bit accurately and repeatedly at that speed, move the metronome speed up, 4-8 beats/second. (So, if you were at 60, try 64 or 66 next.) Work on it at the new speed until you can play it accurately - several times.
At some point, you'll hit a limit where no matter how much you try, you keep missing notes or losing time. Stop and go back to the last speed at which you were accurate - or even one speed below that - and replay it a few times, accurately.
Note the final tempo you reached. Then stop working on thie piece for the day.
When you come back to it the next day, start at 1/2 the final tempo. Play the bit 4-8 times at that tempo, then move up as before. You may find that you can take larger adjustments - say, moving the metronome up 12 beats/second each time, until you get close to your previous tempo, where you may have to return to increments of 4-8 beats/second.
If you're consistenly having problems in a particular spot, isolate it. Do the same exercise for a bar, two bars, or four bars. If the problem is a particular interval, break it down into an exercise to work that interval - slowly at first, then faster.
You'll see progress. Some days will be better than others. It's not uncommon to reach the same tempo - below the target - for several days. Then put the instrument away, come back, and achieve a new record. It's just the way the brain works.
Hope that helps.
Dave
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Author: clarinetwife
Date: 2010-08-13 14:28
Yes you do have to start the metronome slow enough that you can play with the metronome accurately and then increase speed slowly. I would add that at very slow speeds it can help to set the metronome to more than one click per beat. For example, if the passage has lots of sixteenth notes and you have your metronome set very slow, you can set the metronome to beat the eighth note for you by doubling the beats per minute. This will help you feel the subdivision as you increase speed.
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Author: grenadilla428
Date: 2010-08-13 14:41
Dave has it: slow down.
The only way you're going to play at speed is if you can place the note in the measure. Once you've laid out the rhythm and lined it up with the fingers, then you can start to increase tempo.
The metronome is frustrating to many people because it's like a friend who is never wrong. They just always seem to have the right answer. Which is helpful, but annoying at the same time. Be humble and take the help. :-)
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Author: William
Date: 2010-08-13 15:32
Just two suggestions: 1) Practice in smaller segments. Concentrate on learning to play one section accurately before moving on to the next. 2) Forget the metronome until you have learned to play all the notes and rhythmic patterns without error. Once that is accomplished, then turn on the metronome to check the accuracy of your tempo--which is what the metronome is really there for. First, you must learn the NOTES & Rhytmns, then you can learn to play them at a steady (or recommended) tempo. Worrying about the metronome while learning to play the notes and rhythmic patterns is putting the "horse before the cart".
In learning to play any piece of music, first learn the notes (I'm talking fingerings--technique) and then, the correct rhythm (analysis). After you can play the entire tune, then check the accuracy of your tempo with a metronome.
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2010-08-13 17:20
Remember that a metronome's job is to keep a steady beat. Not to help you play faster!
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Author: Brenda ★2017
Date: 2010-08-13 17:36
Isn't it funny how metronomes will slow down during the fast spots? It's so natural to rush the 16th notes and so hard to keep them exactly in time. The metronome to keep you disciplined. There are good suggestions mentioned so far!
When playing with an ensemble you'll appreciate having practiced with a metronome at home. Nobody else knows your erratic pace and won't ever keep up with you. Things go better when everyone is playing at the same tempo.
My teacher used to say that his students found it easy to play things fast, but so difficult to play the same thing at a slower pace. While teaching I'd sometimes slow the metronome speed just to play with the students' minds. Lots of fun! They learned to do it, though.
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Author: Sylvain
Date: 2010-08-13 18:07
Good rhythm and the ability to internalize a beat are quintessential to playing music.
It looks like you need a steady diet of metronome practice, and that means taking things very slow (as suggested) and even read music without the instrument, but with the metronome on.
But whatever you do, do not practice difficult passages without the metronome and then try to fix the tempo later on, that will not work.
--
Sylvain Bouix <sbouix@gmail.com>
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Author: xarkon
Date: 2010-08-13 21:11
William has raised a particularly good point in suggesting to "Forget the metronome until you have learned to play all the notes and rhythmic patterns without error."
One of the guitar pedagogues on the web - Jamie Andreas - calls this "no tempo" practice. Her approach suggests that you break down the motions with which you are having trouble, and to repeat those motions so slowly that you understand - and absorb the feeling of - exactly where your fingers are supposed to go.
Of course, that then leads to Alex's point. If you don't know exactly where your fingers really are supposed to be, learning to feel it "the wrong way" is just going to waste your time. So - finding a good (or better, great) teacher to show you that will be invaluable.
Dave
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2010-08-13 22:45
I hate the metronome. I have a somewhat good sense of rhythm, but I constantly feel chased by that bloody ticker. If you miss a note or two, you have to catch up at the next good opportunity, and a metronome is not really helping you with that. That's why I am practicing at home - to grasp the working of the piece, not simply to drill speed.
The environment I'm playing in requires me to adapt both tempo and pitch to a band majority, so I basically ditched metronome and tuner and use my ears.
--
Ben
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Author: marcia
Date: 2010-08-14 04:21
>Isn't it funny how metronomes will slow down during the fast spots?
Mine slows down during the easy bits....then speeds up during the hard bits. Don't they all do that??? ![[happy]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smiley12.gif)
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Author: Ronish
Date: 2010-08-14 09:26
Thanks all , super advice. I just about go round the twist with that annoying click, clicking when I am trying to play a piece. I like the William approach. Play the piece at the correct speed until you get all the notes correct and the beat as well as you can, and then turn on "the clicker" for timing accuracy.
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Author: ww.player
Date: 2010-08-14 18:55
Ronish, rhythmically challenged people will like the William approach. The problem is, it's not the best or even a good one for very long.
William's approach is fine for the first few minutes of practicing a piece or passage. Of course you need to make sure you can tell what all the pitches are. This is especially true with passages that have lots of accidentals and/or go far off the staff. However, the moment you have figured out the pitches, it's time to practice them in time. Here are some reasons why.
If you practice a passage out of time, you are essentially learning it with the wrong rhythm. Studies have shown that it takes many times longer to relearn something that has been learned incorrectly then it would have taken to learn it correctly the first time. In addition, since you are already struggling with keeping a steady beat and rhythms, any practice you do out of time only reinforces this weakness. I could give you other reasons why extended out of time practice is not good, but hopefully you get the idea.
The posters here are right. If you can't play a passage and stay with the metronome, then you can't play the passage. You're only fooling yourself if you think you can (which is very common among students, BTW). You just need to slow down and master a passage at a tempo you can handle easily and then start working faster from there.
"Play the piece at the correct speed until you get all the notes correct and the beat as well as you can, and then turn on "the clicker" for timing accuracy" just doesn't work for hard passages. I have had many students try this and almost without fail a difficult passage will never get clean without a whole lot of slow, rhythmically accurate practice. There are no shortcuts.
I know metronome practice is like pulling teeth for some. However, if you aren't a person that can keep their own beat and play accurate rhythms, it is the easiest and best way to learn. You need to practice with a metronome to develop and then strengthen your own internal beat box. While metronome practice might not be the most fun thing, it is the fastest way to get technically solid, and being able to play music well is fun.
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