And the exile to an island, in the middle of God knows where, surrounded by only ocean..... Trying to stay afloat trying to survive, whilst everything you thought to be true seems to be a lie. Taking pills, relying on hear-say, or to take a chance and rely on your guttfeeling...? According to Lynn Townsend White Jr., Andalusian inventor Abbas Ibn Firnas invented an early metronome. [11] [12] The metronome has been very important in performance practice, and largely unquestioned in musical pedagogy or scholarship, since the 20th century. [33] Author Miles Hoffman said that "most music teachers consider the metronome indispensable, and most professional musicians, in fact, continue to practice with a metronome throughout their careers". [29]

Tom Watson on the Inspiration Behind Metronome - Waterstones

Time Feel, the subject of Chapter 7, is one of the great keys to musicality for rhythm section instruments. But being able to play behind or ahead of the pulse can also add expression to a melodic line. This, along with slight changes in dynamics, creates phrasing in music. The ability to hear the pulse and yet accelerate or decelerate slightly is a great way to incorporate human feeling into a musical performance. Of course, this is all relative to the tempo, and is best achieved relative to a steady tempo. In other words, the more definite your sense of pulse, the better your capability to manipulate it. This also works for the actions of ritardando and accelerando, as they are relative to a steady pulse and are best performed gradually rather than in sudden shifts" [63]An eerie, striking debut by an award-winning author for fans of Emma Stonex, Francine Toon and Megan Hunter Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this book, perhaps because it didn’t serve up everything to me on a plate.

Metronome by Tom Watson review – fragile hopes of escape

Metronome might well be a brave new world created by Tom Watson, as insightful and as premonitory as Orwell’s 1984.

Using the metronome

You’ll find software metronomes built into every computer or tablet-based Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) as a matter of course, but these are tied into the functionality of the software as timing aids for recording new parts and not designed for use when practicing. A hardware (non-software/non-app based) metronome's tempo typically is adjustable from 40 to 208 BPM. The most common arrangement of tempos on a Maelzel metronome begins with at 40 beats per minute