Wednesday, October 25, 2017 by Madeleine King | Practice

"Practice with a metronome!" - anyone who has ever taken lessons on a musical instrument has heard it time and time again (no pun intended...). While it's a fact that a metronome is an indispensable tool for improving rhythm, practicing with one can be a challenge for some. Whether you find it confusing and difficult to follow the music and the ticking all at once, or whether you just find it plain tedious - don't despair. There are a few great alternatives that help you achieve the goal, even without that ubiquitous timekeeper.

Here are five great metronome alternatives:

1. Use a music notation software to play the tune back, and follow along with "the dot".

The key here is that with a notation software, you can slow the tempo down as needed for an easy way to determine whether you are on the beat or not. Play along with the computer playback and listen carefully to where your playing diverges. 

Example software includes Sibelius, Finale, or MuseScore - or for pipers, CelticPipes or Bagpipe Player/Writer (Player is free). The only caveat is that this requires the "digitized" version of the tune you are practicing. For pipers, most all the .bww files you can think of are available either on Jim McGillivray's site Pipetunes.ca, or Jack Lee's online Bagpipe Music Library.

2. Passive Listening: listen to a recording of the tune in your car while you drive (or on any device, while you're doing something else).

Believe it or not, even just by listening you will be training your brain to hear the rhythm correctly, and you will instinctively copy this when you play the tune on your instrument later on. The greater number of times you listen, the better this will work. (Though I do recommend headphones to spare your friends, family and fellow commuters!)

3. Active Listening: YOU be the metronome.

Simply tap the beat while you are listening to the music. This will help you to train your brain to understand where the beat falls in each bar of the tune. This will even further solidify the correct rhythm and will transfer back to your instrument. For bonus points, try tapping a subdivided beat - tap on every eighth note, or every sixteenth note.

4. Record yourself.

Never pretty, always informative. I strongly recommend videotaping yourself, even though the results might be shocking :)  While we're playing music, there can be a lot to think about. 

Are you subconsciously slowing the rhythm to accommodate for a passage of music that is particularly difficult on your fingers? Pay attention to where you feel the rhythm is not right, mark it on your sheet music, and then go back and fix the issue. 

Is the tempo the same at the beginning as it is at the end? Perhaps you are speeding up or slowing down in a way that is not easily detectable while you are playing. While you are listening, stop the recording near the end and quickly cycle back to the beginning and compare. If you find your tempo slowly changes over time, write yourself a reminder in your sheet music.

5. Use a drum track.

This is particularly for people that find the tick-tick-tick of a metronome boring or even annoying. If you are using the above music notation software, you can set up a looped drum track to play along with instead. The Smart Hobby Musician Blog lists over 300 free drum tracks that you can access for practice, including several different styles. 

Those looking specifically for Pipe Band drumming will be less impressed, however if you search for ATPercussion on YouTube, you can hear a few massed-band scores well-played at around 70bpm on a practice pad. Personally, I find it an interesting challenge to mix it up and play my pipe tunes along with a different style of drumming.

Remember: part of the challenge of learning an instrument is keeping things interesting even while you are working on technique. Challenging practice translates into practicing often. So don't be afraid to mix things up once in a while to keep it fun!

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