Metronome
Origin
Greek metron + -nomos controlling, from nomos law
Definitions
Description
A metronome is any device that produces regular, metrical ticks (beats, clicks) — settable in beats per minute. These ticks represent a fixed, regular aural pulse; some metronomes also include synchronized visual motion (e.g. pendulum-swing). The metronome dates from the early 19th century, where it was patented by Johann Maelzel in 1815 as a tool for musicians, under the title "Instrument/Machine for the Improvement of all Musical Performance, called Metronome".
The metronome is used by musicians to help keep a steady tempo as they play, or to work on issues of irregular timing, or to help internalize a clear sense of timing and tempo. The metronome is also often used by composers as a standard tempo reference, to indicate the intended tempo for the piece.
Human beings seldom play music at an exact tempo with all the beats exactly the same. This makes it impossible to align metronome clicks with the beats of a musically expressive performance. This also has led many musicians to criticize use of a metronome. Some go as far as to suggest that metronomes shouldn't be used by musicians at all. The same criticism has been applied to metronome markings as well. (See Criticism of metronome use).
Those in favour of metronome use understand this as a criticism of metronome technique as commonly practised by musicians, rather than criticism of the tool as such. Their response has been to develop better methods of metronome technique to address the various issues raised by the critics. (See Metronome Technique). These techniques however aren't widely known by musicians generally, including many of the critics of metronome use. What Frederick Franz wrote in the introduction to his book is still true today (the original version was published in 1947). Metronome technique has developed considerably since his day, but the amount published is still small. As in his day, it is understandable that critics should be under the impression that metronome technique simply consists of playing your music along with the metronome.
