There's nothing quite as satisfying to practice with as a truly loud and precise metronome. I used an electric bakelite Franz Metronome for years and years. It had a great sound, but it also had a few drawbacks. It was heavy, and it needed an outlet for its permanently-attached power cord (that didn't always remain permanently attached). After a few falls (the Franz would sometimes vibrate itself to the edge of a table), my Franz no longer worked, and I couldn't find anybody who could repair it. The succession of metronomes that accompanied my practicing since the 1980s have been more portable, but none of them had the volume of the Franz.
A few weeks ago I decided to enter the 21st century and buy myself an inexpensive ($24.00) Korg digital metronome. It is very light, but it is also rather quiet. Yesterday, just to see (and hear) what would happen, I hooked it up to some old computer speakers that I plugged into an outlet. The result was metronome Nirvana. There's nothing quite like a digital "pop" and a good stream of real electricity to give a metronome the kind of power it needs to iron out my rhythmic inaccuracies.
4 comments:
My students' favorite metronome of late is the Steinway Metronome, available for free on the iTunes app store!
Unfortunately smart phone metronomes are only as loud as the phone itself! I imagine that the digital "click" would be like the Korg's when played through speakers, but I would be afraid that the surge of electricity might mess up the phone.
Elaine, I wouldn't worry about that; output is output, and what happens to the signal after it leaves the phone is none of the phone's concern. ;-)
Metronome Nirvana? It sounds like shock therapy to me.
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