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..if only it was a crotchet = 1 second, a semi breve 4 seconds etc then I would at least some idea- if the beats have no length there is no way I will ever understand how to measure them. It isn't like making a pot of soup and I can put six carrots in, 2 onions, 5 spuds, handful peas, two tins tomatoes, handful cauli,

Edwardian, re: the length of a beat.
fwiw, the metronome numbers indicate beats per minute (bpm). So if the metronome is set at 60, that's 60 bpm, so 1 beat = 1 second. For metronome setting 120, 1 beat = half a second.

Well done! You've completely cracked it! It's EXACTLY like carrots, onions etc. But if you use six SMALL carrots, you need to use two SMALL onions! Big carrots, big onions. It's all relative.

Here's another way of looking at it. Walk 10 paces North, 10 paces East, 10 paces South and 10 paces West. You'll have walked out a square (unless you started at the South Pole:-) Now get a 5-year-old child to do the same. Still a square, but smaller steps, so a smaller one.

I feel your pain though. Last night I met a young boy who had just started drum lessons. He could play a basic rock beat pretty well, but only at one speed. He found it very hard to follow as I played a similar rhythm at a different tempo.

And there are plenty of singers who have learned a song by imitating a recording and can't sing it in a different key, even when it suits their voice better. They've learned it physically, not aurally.

Teachers take note. Students often learn the physical action, but not the music.

Edward: the metronome is the nemesis of many of us! LOL it took me weeks to be able to stay remotely on beat with it. (I haven't used it in awhile so I figure I'm probably back to square one with it) Work with it a little bit each day and it will slowly improve.

Edward: the metronome is the nemesis of many of us!

Hi all. I am sitting at Phoenix airport waiting for my British air flight to Heathrow. I wanted to grab a concert on Sunday but I don't think it's feasible. The plane is scheduled to land at 1:00 Pm local time. If my past experience is still relevant, it will take about 1 to 2 hours to get through the passport control. Then it will take another hour to get to London Victoria. I have to eventually go to my destination ( Brighton) after that. We are allow to hire a car service but I feel very guilty about having my company pay 250 pounds for the journey. So I will probably get a coach. I practiced about 2 hours before I came here. I will miss it.

Ok so my achievement this week. I'm getting used to my new teacher. For one thing she is extremely demanding. She makes me play the piece through every time we start the lesson. Then she tells me where she did not agree with my interpretation. To tell you the truth, I'm barely playing. I actually never got to the point to interprete. I was just playing the note. Then she explains why she did not like my 'interpretation'. For example, she will say that she did not hear deceptive cadances. "how about crescendo to that point, emphasze it and come down from there, etc". Then she tells me to at it that way. So it's kind of like mini master class. Also she make me sight read the next section. It's hard. Usually sight reading is a couple of grade below. I was sweating. But I somehow did it. So that's my achievement.

It's a long story which I can't really go into, but I don't have the piano yet, as was messed around by the dealer. Will have a U3 in a couple of weeks, as have had to get it from elsewhere.

I feared something might have happened when you didn't come back with an update on the day.

I'm so sorry to hear this. What a disappointment.

Hang in there... the disappointment will fade quickly once your piano finally comes home to rest.