Face Your Fear and Find Your Best Tool for Improvement!

I have never met a student who was excited about working with a metronome...unless they had experienced the great benefits of using one; and then I found that they use one regularly and want to use one!

What is the difference between those that are afraid of the time machine and those that aren't?

• They faced that fear and worked through it to the "other side"!

The metronome can be blunt and quite direct. There are no grey areas; you are either with it or you are not. It's confining, insistent, doesn't care about "why's", and is the great task-master. 

• Boundaries are the gift of the metronome and if you submit to these boundaries, your piano playing/world will get bigger. 

It's a little like gardening. We prune bushes so they will actually grow bigger and bushier. When we cut back dead flower blooms, the plant grows even more flowers. 

It can feel like we're confining ourselves by heeding the honesty of the metronome; we think we're playing a steady tempo but the metronome says that we're not. 

So how do we embrace this fear and open our practicing to the wonderful benefits of using the metronome?

Think about what you do in life when you are afraid of something...specifically in how you approach it? If you hear a loud noise at the door, you approach the door, but slowly, right? (At least I do, and on my toes!)

That's the first thing you want to do when you feel the least bit of apprehension when even looking at your metronome...start slowly. 

Take something that you can play well...even if it's a C Major scale.

• Set your metronome on a low setting...45. Now play each note of the scale ( use one hand if you need to) with each beat of the metronome. The slower you play, the easier it is to listen to the beats and match them with your playing. Now that you've done that once, do it again and even again. Do it until it seems to flow easily. 

Next, move the metronome up 1-2 settings and do the same thing.

• You can try a different scale this time, or try playing both hands together. (There are always way to mix things up to make it more interesting).

This process is exactly how you use the metronome with anything that you are practicing on.

The biggest connection to make here is that fear is 'calmed' by slowness.

• If you try to rush into playing a hard piece at a really fast tempo with the metronome the very first time, you are going to get frustrated...it's a no win situation. The only time this will happen is after years of steady practicing and playing...with the metronome. 

The other way you combat apprehensions about the metronome is by consistently challenging yourself with it in your practice sessions.

• This means that once you are comfortable using it with some scales, then start using it with an exercise that you're working on. Remember...go slow. 

Then you'll want to start using it in your pieces. This means that you are going to be working/practicing on your pieces...not performing them.

• This is an important difference. Metronome work is slower than performance tempos so get set in your mind that you are not going to play your piece perfectly in this practice session, but you are going to get the tempo steadier and faster by using the metronome. 

Just like learning the piano, we learn to use the metronome easily and comfortably in steps; building one upon the other.

• There's no worry about feeling afraid of the metronome, but there's no reason that it should keep you from using it if you remember to go slowly, be steady and patient about moving up your tempo settings each practice session, and continue to challenge your playing and tempo accuracy by using it with all of the repertoire that you are working on. 

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