Metronome and scales

I am working on Mozart's sonata 545

Using the piano's metronome has really helped. The problem is that most of the music here is 16th notes.

Playing a 16th note for each beat is no problem. But playing two or four notes for each beat is much more difficult. I find myself changing the beat when trying to do this.

Any thoughts?

Maybe you can try practicing at a slower tempo.

Perhaps it's the notes themselves in the scale passages that are giving you the problem.

You should be able to do the following :

Slowly tap your left hand on a table and count, evenly and out loud : 1, 2, 3, 4; 1, 2, 3, 4, letting the left hand tap the table only on 1.

Now do the same thing, but this time :
both hands together on 1, and let the right hand continue to tap on 2, 3, and 4.

Your left hand is now your "metronome" setting the beat, and the right hand is "playing" continuous sixteenth-notes,

Now, using that same tempo set your metronome to match the beat of your left hand, and play the right hand only scale passages, four sixteenth notes to each beat. Play it as slowly as you must to get four even notes to each beat.

This is something you must master as soon as possible. You will never get any sense of the rhythm and the forward movement of this piece if you set your metronome to click on each sixteenth-note.

Regards,

I have a neat trick called "chunking".

(I also share other easy psychology tricks on my blog.)

To "test" yourself, play as fast as you can while maintaining even notes, with the strong counts emphasized.

That's your baseline speed; that's where you start.

Now, you set the metronome to that speed and work on notes between two strong counts, making those even.

For example:
1 2 3 4 1
C D E F G

When those are even, you move on to the next set of notes.

This shouldn't take very long (relative to what you've been doing).

When that's alright, you can adjust the metronome.

Eventually, getting rid of the accents (it's a piece of cake when your notes are all even).

Double the tempo of the metronome so it is clicking half beats

... or buy a metronome designed for 230 VAC and plug it into 115 VAC ... wait, that won't work. Never mind.

What do you mean by strong counts?

I guess I 'chunked' my way thru the choir a capella section - the altos needed some non-obvious support. Hey - I LIKE that term. I admit I have stooped to using that when the bass clef music gets ornery, especially with @$#% leaps.

It depends on your music and how you're setting you're metronome.

If you're playing 4 sixteenths for every metronome beat, then beat 1 would be your strong count (assuming you go |1|-2-3-4 |1|-2-3-4). That's your chunk.

So it really depends on how you're playing it and how big you want your chunks to be.



Haha, you're welcome to keep using it.

I named it chunking because it puts the music in easy chunks, like in design psychology.

People remember things in chunks. Things like phone numbers is in a chunk of 3-4.

The idea is to make it as easy to remember as a phone number.

[EDIT]
If you're wondering (or if you messaged me): I share my other useful tricks here (click here to go).

I also have a free email list where I share my Insider tips.

I think you are onto something there, Dave. Or try this:
Set the metronome to click 64th notes, and then articulate on every fourth. It feels like you are playing slowly! Or, set the metronome for triplets in compound time, and then . . .

How did Mozart keep the time without a metronome. I understand that metronomes were not yet invented for him.

He kept time ... without a metronome!

Just about anyone can develop a sense of timing, whether, initially, it's by tapping the foot or by nodding the head. One has to learn to listen closely, making sure that the tempo is even. You don't need a metronome to do that, but it can help.

Regards,

If you want to play K. 545, you need to be able to subdivide beats!

How did people know when to eat lunch, before clocks were invented?

In addition to subdividing which is actually the most important and effective thing you can do, I learned over the years that having more technique than you need helps tremendously to keep your time honest and accurate.

When I was younger and possessed less technique I would rush the tempo terribly. If I now record myself and listen back, I still have a tendency to raise the tempo a few markings but it's still entirely acceptable (at least to my ears).

Having the clicks from the metronome represent the weak beats of the measure forces you to supply the strong beats. It's not as easy as you think and I advise everyone to give it a try.

This is how I do it

But 545 is marked 132 quarters per minute in the first movement.

How would Mozart know this without a metronome?

Because that is a (modern) editor's indication. Mozart did not indicate metronome markings.

Regards,

This guy could handle Mozart's rhythms. No doubt.

I know it was a snarky response, but that was really fantastic, and if you are able to internalize the pulse and syncopation to that degree, well...

Forrest

Sorry it sounded that way. That was not my intent.

On this thread, are we starting to confuse the MACHiNE that serves the music, with the MUSIC itself?

It is just like wr's "when to eat lunch." Lunch told the inventors of the clock when it was noon - not the other way around. Once we had the clock, then it was convenient for musicians to think in terms of X-beats each minute. And THEN the machine was developed, and musicians began using it as a tool - A TOOL.

Ed