Very OT -- Metronome help

My 7 year old grandson is taking piano lessons. One of the items on his
Christmas list is a metronome (probably Mom's idea not his . I don't
know what to look for and how much I should plan to spend. I took a
quick look at amazon.com and found both traditional mechanical ones and
digital ones. Any experience or information that might be helpful?

Julia in MN
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On Dec 4, 12:46 pm, Julia in MN jaccola-AT-chartermi-
wrote:
My 7 year old grandson is taking piano lessons. One of the items on his
Christmas list is a metronome (probably Mom's idea not his . I don't
know what to look for and how much I should plan to spend. I took a
quick look at amazon.com and found both traditional mechanical ones and
digital ones. Any experience or information that might be helpful?

Julia in MN
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This message has been scanned for viruses by Norton Anti-Virus

http://webpages.charter.net/jaccola/

Julia,
i got one for my daughter way back in the clarinet days. i think about
8 yrs or so ago and i paid about $55.00 or so. it's manual. and i got
it at the local instrument/music store.
amy in CNY

Get the number of his piano teacher-- and ask if she has a preference. You
may also be able to purchase one through her -- possibly utilizing a
discount to the local music store (which many private teachers have).

--
Kate in MI
http://community.webshots.com/user/K_Groves


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"amy" wrote in message
...
On Dec 4, 12:46 pm, Julia in MN jaccola-AT-chartermi-
wrote:
My 7 year old grandson is taking piano lessons. One of the items on his
Christmas list is a metronome (probably Mom's idea not his . I don't
know what to look for and how much I should plan to spend. I took a
quick look at amazon.com and found both traditional mechanical ones and
digital ones. Any experience or information that might be helpful?

Julia in MN
--
This message has been scanned for viruses by Norton Anti-Virus

http://webpages.charter.net/jaccola/

Julia,
i got one for my daughter way back in the clarinet days. i think about
8 yrs or so ago and i paid about $55.00 or so. it's manual. and i got
it at the local instrument/music store.
amy in CNY

I agree with asking the piano teacher, being a piano teacher myself. : )
Having said that, my favorite metronome was a wind-up one with an arm
that moved back and forth, providing both visual and aural reinforcement.
It was this one, but I know nothing about this store
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...ome?sku=212820

Karen, Queen of Squishies
--
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
music is all around us, all you
have to do is listen


Get the number of his piano teacher-- and ask if she has a preference.
You may also be able to purchase one through her -- possibly utilizing a
discount to the local music store (which many private teachers have).

--
Kate in MI
http://community.webshots.com/user/K_Groves

If I were to get a metronome for myself to keep on my piano, I would
splurge on a mechanical one -- wood case, shaped like a very tall
pyramid, wind-up, with the arm that swings, and rather pricey. If it
were to take with me to rehearsals of any of the choirs I direct, or
for students, I would get a small portable one with an audible tick.
If I wanted to keep an absolutely certain time as a church organist, I
would get a small one that blinks a small light. (Church
congregations tend to drag hymns slower and slower and s l o w e r and
it can be a challenge to the organist not to slow down along with
them.) HOWEVER -- isn't this student a bit young to want or need a
metronome?!? There is always a risk of turning a student into a
little robot rather than a musician!

I do agree with you on the lovely one and the student's age points you
make Mary.
I have a beautiful mechanical, mahogany polished case, one. It is
lovely to look at - I hardly ever actually use it.
I think the teacher counting should be enough for a 7 y-o.
..
In message
, Mary
writes
If I were to get a metronome for myself to keep on my piano, I would
splurge on a mechanical one -- wood case, shaped like a very tall
pyramid, wind-up, with the arm that swings, and rather pricey. If it
were to take with me to rehearsals of any of the choirs I direct, or
for students, I would get a small portable one with an audible tick.
If I wanted to keep an absolutely certain time as a church organist, I
would get a small one that blinks a small light. (Church
congregations tend to drag hymns slower and slower and s l o w e r and
it can be a challenge to the organist not to slow down along with
them.) HOWEVER -- isn't this student a bit young to want or need a
metronome?!? There is always a risk of turning a student into a
little robot rather than a musician!

--
Best Regards
pat on the hill

My 7 year old grandson is taking piano lessons. One of the items on his
Christmas list is a metronome (probably Mom's idea not his . I don't
know what to look for and how much I should plan to spend. I took a
quick look at amazon.com and found both traditional mechanical ones and
digital ones. Any experience or information that might be helpful?

I've used the old-fashioned pendulum sort, which are pretty good but
now very expensive. I've had both a wooden pyramidal Taktell (which
could be set to different metres and different volumes - e.g. 3/4
would go DING! tock tock DING! tock tock...) and a plastic one which
never seemed to give as much feedback. I also have a pocket metronome,
like a pocket watch and only useful for measuring tempo (music critics
use them) but it tends to jam. But I mainly use a computer now - there
are several ways of doing it, I use the ABC notation system processor
BarFly for the Mac.

A small drum machine would cost about the same as a traditional
mechanical metronome, and you can do a lot more with it (like
make it play in Bulgarian rhythms or give you a tango backline).
But you'd have to figure out the risk of it becoming a geeky
distraction from the real task of learning the piano.

Actually the main thing I used my mechanical metronomes for was
timing photographic print exposures under an enlarger.

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

On Tue, 04 Dec 2007 21:05:49 +0000, Jack Campin - bogus address
wrote:

My 7 year old grandson is taking piano lessons. One of the items on his
Christmas list is a metronome (probably Mom's idea not his . I don't
know what to look for and how much I should plan to spend. I took a
quick look at amazon.com and found both traditional mechanical ones and
digital ones. Any experience or information that might be helpful?

I've used the old-fashioned pendulum sort, which are pretty good but
now very expensive. I've had both a wooden pyramidal Taktell (which
could be set to different metres and different volumes - e.g. 3/4
would go DING! tock tock DING! tock tock...) and a plastic one which
never seemed to give as much feedback. I also have a pocket metronome,
like a pocket watch and only useful for measuring tempo (music critics
use them) but it tends to jam. But I mainly use a computer now - there
are several ways of doing it, I use the ABC notation system processor
BarFly for the Mac.

I have always found a metranome's clicking to be very distracting when
playing, I do better with a visual timer then. Oddly I have no
problem with the things when singing.


A small drum machine would cost about the same as a traditional
mechanical metronome, and you can do a lot more with it (like
make it play in Bulgarian rhythms or give you a tango backline).
But you'd have to figure out the risk of it becoming a geeky
distraction from the real task of learning the piano.

That is the way we went, but for us a drum machine has more uses than
just keeping base time. If you end up looking at them as a possible
metronome alternative make sure it is programable, but easily
programable. Some of the low end ones either are not programable at
all and do nothing but preprogrammed beats, or are so primatively
programable that you have to do every beat for the duration of the
time you will be playing. You would want something where you could
program one measure and then put it on loop.

NightMist
--

The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the
majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with
the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking.
- AA Milne

Karen, Queen of Squishies wrote:
I agree with asking the piano teacher, being a piano teacher myself. : )
Having said that, my favorite metronome was a wind-up one with an arm
that moved back and forth, providing both visual and aural reinforcement.
It was this one, but I know nothing about this store
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...ome?sku=212820

Karen, Queen of Squishies
Thanks. After recommendations from you and others to check with the
teacher, I asked DDIL what my grandson's teacher recommended -- he
recommends the same one you did.

Julia in MN

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On Tue, 4 Dec 2007 11:46:09 -0600, Julia in MN wrote
(in article ):

My 7 year old grandson is taking piano lessons. One of the items on his
Christmas list is a metronome (probably Mom's idea not his . I don't
know what to look for and how much I should plan to spend. I took a
quick look at amazon.com and found both traditional mechanical ones and
digital ones. Any experience or information that might be helpful?

Julia in MN


"Fraid not. Never even knew there was such a thing as a digital metronome.
But I do remember liking that tock-tock sound from my piano lesson days.
(Not that it ever did much but distract me from the lesson).

Maureen