{"id":4350,"date":"2013-09-05T06:14:04","date_gmt":"2013-09-05T10:14:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wilktone.com\/?p=4350"},"modified":"2023-03-30T22:48:21","modified_gmt":"2023-03-31T02:48:21","slug":"practicing-with-a-metronome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wilktone.com\/?p=4350","title":{"rendered":"Practicing With a Metronome"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I recently came across an interesting blog post written by pianist Mike Longo asking Should You Practice Jazz With A Metronome?<\/a> Longo’s reply:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In MHO, absolutely not!  Why?  Because a metronome clicking is not a pulse.  What is a pulse anyway?  The sound of your heart beating.  It produces a throbbing, pumping kind of feeling as opposed to the monotonous, soulless clicking of a metronome.  All of the great jazz musicians of the past such as Dizzy, Charlie Parker, Cannonball, John Coltrane,  Erroll Garner, etc., display this kind of sound in their time keeping.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

He raises some very good points that are worth some serious consideration. That said, I feel some of his reasoning is a little off base and creates another false dichotomy of the sort that pervades so much music pedagogy. Let me take a few of his points and add my own thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There is a practice among some of the jazz educators to encourage musicians to practice with the metronome clicking on 2 and 4.  In my estimation this is probably one of the worst things a musician can do and practically destroys the ability to ever swing.  I\u2019m sure there is no malicious attempt on the part of the educators, and they sincerely believe they are \u201chelping\u201d students by having them do this.  The sad thing is there is a type of playing and a kind of \u201cmusic\u201d that can result from this.  The question becomes\u2026does it swing?   Does it produce a positive reaction in the listener?  In other words, does it make people who listen to it feel good?  In my opinion, ABSOLUTELY NOT!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As someone who has played along with a click track  for recording and for shows that include prerecorded music I agree that this often makes for a stiff feeling groove. That said, there are some folks who really enjoy music that has been recorded with metronomic time and a lot of interesting music has been created this way. I think that Longo’s opinions about music made with a metronome should be placed into the context of the jazz music that he personally enjoys and performs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But is it really the worst thing one can do? Will it destroy a musician’s ability to play with a confident and natural swing feel? Let’s examine his arguments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Since this is a common practice being used in many jazz education environments and since the popularity of jazz has diminished in alarming proportions, I suggest that educators might want to question if there might be a connection.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Probably not. Consider how much pop music is recorded and performed with a click track. One might argue that the decline of interest in jazz is inversely proportional to not having metronomic time. I don’t this really applies to a discussion on the pedagogical or practice value of using a metronome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Longo’s next couple of paragraphs deal with a discussion of watching musicians dance or tap their foot while performing. He argues that one can’t dance like Dizzy Gillespie or tap a foot like Count Basie to a metronome. I’m not sure that this is necessarily true (I can’t dance to either a metronome or Basie both, to be honest), nor does it really say anything about whether practicing with a metronome is useful. There’s also some thoughts about whether white musicians can groove as hard as African American musicians by Cannonball Adderly, but I’m not certain that this is evidence against metronome practice. It’s probably more due enculturation than anything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I had a young guitar student who was studying privately with me while attending a university jazz department trying to get a degree in jazz performance. . . He reported that the guitar teacher showed him a clip on You Tube of a guitarist playing a solo while placing the microphone on the floor next to a metronome clicking on 2 and 4.  I observed this clip and found that the playing displayed a tremendous amount of technique with speed and velocity as well as a ton of notes.  But it was not producing anything I wanted to listen to, nor did it swing.  The student proclaimed that the teacher told him, \u201cThis is why you should practice with the metronome on 2 and 4\u201d to which I responded by sending the teacher a clip of Wes Montgomery and his group playing \u201cImpressions\u201d with the drummers high hat popping on 2 and 4 in a manner that started your foot tapping involuntarily from the first bar on.  I sent a note along stating, \u201cThis is why you shouldn\u2019t practice that way.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n