Playing Metronome for beginners

[Chris Smith UK]

Hi guys - as an absolute beginner (been playing for 9 days) someone asked if I used a metronome when practicing.
I had not been, but he suggested I do so, to help with my timing.
I had a metronome function on my tuner app, so I set it to 60 BPM while doing my practice exercises. However, I found it so distracting! 😀
As I am trying to learn to read music while learning the saxophone, my process goes something like this....
1) read note on music sheet.
2) Using my EGBDF / FACE acronyms work out what letter it is.
3) Remember which fingers I need to use on my sax to get that note.
4) Press said fingers, and blow.
...so it is not a quick process at the moment, and having a metronome saying "Now. Now, Next note now! Come on, come on, keep up..!." does not help.
So.... can anyone help? Do you have a metronome on all of the time when you are practicing? Or do you learn the notes of a tune first, and then put the metronome on when you are working on your timing?
How do you know what speed to set it to? I chose 60 BPM but that was pretty arbitrary.
Thanks everyone 😀

 

[Jen B]

From another beginner.. I can vaguely read music after a 25 year break and I reckon no metronome yet. I'm working on getting the notes back under my fingers and playing them in the right order according to the sheet music. I'm using my foot to tap and try and keep me roughly on target timewise and then once I get fluent *hahahaha* with a particular tune then I reckon a metronome will be useful and not a distraction.
BUUUUT I'm a beginner too so this is literally the definition of the blind leading the blind!

I've been enjoying your you tube vids though - so keep going!

 

[Chris Smith UK]

From another beginner.. I can vaguely read music after a 25 year break and I reckon no metronome yet. I'm working on getting the notes back under my fingers and playing them in the right order according to the sheet music. I'm using my foot to tap and try and keep me roughly on target timewise and then once I get fluent *hahahaha* with a particular tune then I reckon a metronome will be useful and not a distraction.
BUUUUT I'm a beginner too so this is literally the definition of the blind leading the blind!

I've been enjoying your you tube vids though - so keep going!

Thanks Jen! I have a lesson in a couple of days, so I will ask my teacher then, but I think I will persevere with it at the moment, just nice and slow. 😎

 

[nigeld]

I'm not a teacher, but while you are learning a tune, and have to think about your fingers, then I would assume that a metronome won't help.

You could try using it when you play scales. Set it slow enough that you can play the scale correctly with the metronome, even it that feels very slow.

 

[Dibbs]

If you're still doing EGBDF/FACE to figure out what note is what then I'd say it's too early for a metronome.

9 days is a very short time. Try again in a month or so by which time you'll probably recognise the notes by sight.

As for speed, set it slow enough that you can play the piece comfortably and work up a notch at a time to whatever your target is.

 

[Jeanette]

I would suggest getting a book such as Peter Wastell and work through that. It helps you learn to read music and teaches you the fingering through exercises that take a note at a time.
Jx

 

[MikeMorrell]

I agree with the comments above. At this stage, a metronome is going to be a distraction (and frustration!) rather than a help.

My experience is that learning an unfamiliar and challenging piece of music goes in phases:
- figuring out what any new notes/rhythms are and how to play them (I pencil in notes to myself)
- gradually learning to play the piece "fluently" - at a fairly constant but usually (much) slower tempo
- gradually increasing the tempo - while maintaining fluency - towards the one you'd like (or need) to be able to play at

Initially, learning to play a piece 'fluently' is the main goal. The tempo (bpm) doesn't matter too much as long as it feels comfortable. The more fluently you play, the smaller the differences will become in your timing.

Using a metronome to give you a constant bpm makes more sense when you can play a piece reasonably fluently. IMHO, developing an 'internal sense of timing' is important too. What I mean by this is that you develop a 'feel' for when the beats in a bar fall and when you're slowing down or speeding up (significantly). At first, you may not be able to play notes exactly on the beats but you'll come to know ('feel') when you played a note a bit too late or a bit too early.

I use a metronome mainly to calibrate my 'internal timing' to x bpm when gradually increasing the tempo at which I'm practising. So if my Big Band is going to be playing a piece at 110 bpm, I'll maybe start out practising it at 80 bpm. When I can play it fluently at 80 bpm, I'll speed up to 90 bpm. When that's OK, I'll move up to 100 bpm and when that's OK practice at 110 bpm.

 

[Chris Smith UK]

I'm not a teacher, but while you are learning a tune, and have to think about your fingers, then I would assume that a metronome won't help.

You could try using it when you play scales. Set it slow enough that you can play the scale correctly with the metronome, even it that feels very slow.

Thanks Nigel - I feel like I can cope with that! 😀

 

[Chris Smith UK]

If you're still doing EGBDF/FACE to figure out what note is what then I'd say it's too early for a metronome.

9 days is a very short time. Try again in a month or so by which time you'll probably recognise the notes by sight.

As for speed, set it slow enough that you can play the piece comfortably and work up a notch at a time to whatever your target is.

Thanks Dibbs! 🙂

 

[Chris Smith UK]

I would suggest getting a book such as Peter Wastell and work through that. It helps you learn to read music and teaches you the fingering through exercises that take a note at a time.
Jx

Thanks Jeanette - that's the book my teacher suggested, and it just arrived today! 😀

 

[kevgermany]

Metronomes are tricky. If you're going to use one, just try playing notes at random on the beat. Or clapping. Then 2 to the beat and so on. As it beats count/tap your foot. The idea is to internalise the rhythm. Try this and a tune is just too much.

 

[jbtsax]

There is a technique I used with all my beginning students, even after they became more advanced. That is to "sing and finger" the part. You sing the name of the note with it's pitch while you finger the saxophone. This does several things. It reinforces connecting the written symbol with its name and its fingering. It facilitates learning reading music, learning notes and fingerings, and hearing in your mind what you are playing without being distracted by blowing and tonguing. Of course, after being able to easily sing and finger the part, playing the music on your instruments is the next step. I have played over 50 years and I still sing and finger difficult looking passages in parts I'm about to sight read.

Trying to force rhythmic accuracy by playing with a metronome before becoming comfortable with reading notes and learning fingerings would be like trying to teach an infant just learning to walk to march in step.

 

[andyjb]

Slow down the metronome to the fastest you can play without mistakes. Play it three times in a row without mistakes then speed up and repeat. Good luck

 

[Wade Cornell]

We don't know much about you, so it's hard to know how well you think/feel rhythmically. Rhythm is something that is expressed in the body. In Africa where rhythm is ultra important a wannabee drummer must first become a good dancer. This is getting the rhythm felt and reacted to with the body. It's a totally different exercise than metronomes and has nothing to do with playing a sax. If you can't feel rhythm and react to it in time, then even when you become proficient with reading you may still have trouble with rhythm. The best drummers don't sound like drum machines and the best sax players also don't play precisely square on the rhythm, it's a "feel" with subtle nuances that make it come alive. You can practice rhythm without the sax, and as others have said you can practice the sax without rhythm.

Learning to play sax is a mechanical thing. Reading music is also mechanistic in that you are trying to teach your brain to move your fingers a certain way to match the dots on the page. When incorporating rhythm, if it's a totally mechanical device (metronome), guess what the result is? If you've already got a good sense of rhythm then you can skip the "unlearning" of mechanical rhythms and play with feeling.

It's not that the metronome is useless, it's good as a task master to make your mouth and fingers move in time...it's good for exercises. Listen to any sax player you like and listen carefully. You will undoubtedly find that they are usually not playing mechanically but trying to convey (within the rhythmic structure) subtleties that convey feeling. Singing what you are going to play and playing it as you would sing is the key. If you can't sing with feeling and in time, then don't expect miracles. Work on yourself as the would be musician.

 

[Jazzaferri]

Whichever of the approaches you use, if you practice really slowly it will pay dividends down the road. You should always feel relaxed and have lots of time to figure out what you are doing. If you feel pressure, the setting is too fast,

If you have an app or metronome that has two sounds use higher or ligher sound to be the the more dominant or lower sound to be the beat and the higher or lighter sound to be the "and" in 1 & 2 & 3& 4& so you are learning to subdivide the beat in your mind even though only playing notes on the 1 2 3 4.

My $0.02

 

[Lone Wolf]

I hate metronomes 🙁 I can play ok, but my timing sucks. I still hate metronomes 🙁

 

[BigMartin]

I hate metronomes 🙁

The metronome is your friend. One of those friends who isn't afraid to be brutally honest with you, but also doesn't mind if you swear back at it.

I can play ok, but my timing sucks.

I'm not sure those two statements are compatible. The good thing is, you know it needs fixing.

 

[Lone Wolf]

I'm not sure those two statements are compatible.

I only said "OK" 😉

 

[Jazzaferri]

As has been said. Timing is everything. The music isn't in the notes, its in the spaces between teh notes

 

[Lone Wolf]

I know, I just hate it 🙂