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PatWhite
Registered User
Posts: 151
(7/13/01 11:26:56 am)
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Metronome
Question
Perhaps this is one of those things that doesn't confuse anyone
else in the whole world...after all, when I was young it did take me
a while to truly comprehend that a pound of lead was NOT heavier
than a pound of feathers...
BUT, here goes:
There are
words for different tempi, such as allegro, adagio, etc. Then, there
are speeds that are associated with various tempi. (I.E. Allegro is
120-168.)
If a piece is in 3/8 and the tempo is marked
"Allegro Vivace", one would set the metronome to perhaps 168, right?
The fastest side of Allegro, due to the Vivace indication. However,
168 to the 8th note is not really all that fast. So, is the
assumption then that the metronome should be set instead for the
dotted quarter note, or the measure? Then, in that case, 168 is
terribly fast.
Now, I basically know the tempo of the pieces
that I play. The above-mentioned conundrum occurred during a lesson
yesterday. A student was to play Popper 36 for me and before he
began to play, he said, "I didn't know how fast you wanted me to
play it..."
I have a standard answer to that question, which
is "Play it as fast as you can maintain a steady tempo." However, I
chose to lecture a little more, and pointed out to him that the
indication clearly states "Allegro Vivace". I grabbed the metronome
and was going to drive the point home that he could have figured out
for himself how fast to play, but that's when I realized (and I have
wondered this before) I am not sure how to arrive at the proper
metronome setting...
Does my question (since there is one in
there somewhere) make sense?
~Pat White~
P.S. If anyone
has thought to miss me, I have planted over 200 plants in the
gardens surrounding my house this summer so far and am feeling much
more like a gardener than a cellist!
What a wonderful
summer...!!!
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TerryM
Registered
User
Posts: 463
(7/13/01 11:39:38
am)
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Re: Metronome
Question
A great question and we have missed you! I look forward to some
good responses to this, as I have struggeled with the same
uncertainty regarding tempi.
Terry
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CordulaR
Registered User
Posts: 77
(7/13/01 1:45:30 pm)
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Metronome
Question
Pat, good to have you back!
And right away you touched one
of my sore spots.
How I hate those metronomes that couple allegro
to a beat from 120-168!
Coming from the baroque music ( my
first instrument was the recorder) I look at the words
'allegro','adagio' more as characterisations of the mood of a piece,
following their original meaning, (allegro=happy, carefree,
adagio=slowly etc.) That were the meanings that were used long
before the metronome was invented. Of course that has consequenses
for the tempi as well, but it gives you more freedom. For me it
makes a big difference whether the composer puts 'vivace' or
'metronome=168' with a piece. If he gives you an exact tempo, you
must of course try to follow that. If he says 'vivace' I think you
must find a tempo that makes the piece sound lively, no matter what
is in that metronome-list.
For pupils this can be confusing
of course. They just got that metronome for their birthday and now
the teacher says that there is a lot of nonsense on it. But mostly
they can work with my explanation, and they like the idea that they
can more or less choose their own tempo according to what they feel
the mood of the piece is.
This doesn't mean I let them get
away with playing their fast etudes slowly "because they feel it
that way"!!
I know I'm rambling, but I hope I make some
sense. It would be very interesting to know how others tackle this.
Enjoy your garden,
Cordula
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Ellen
G 
Registered User
Posts: 805
(7/13/01 1:56:39 pm)
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Hey,
Stranger!!!!
I, too, have missed you and don't have an answer to your question.
I haven't planted one new thing this season; am merely
taming the hanging gardens of Rotterdam currently growing in my
yard. However, my mom undertook the planting of a small Feng Shui
garden in the front of my place.
I hope you planted some
things for Bunny, and I REALLY hope we see more of you around here.
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dennisw
Registered User
Posts: 214
(7/13/01 4:47:11 pm)
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Re: Metronome
Question
This can certainly be puzzling....
My 2 cents worth goes
something like this: "it's really a judgement call".
Not very
helpful??? No, I guess not.
Well, here goes...
For me,
anything that goes at a clip of about 8 notes per second (regardless
of denomination) is a lower-level allegro (allegro non troppo). The
qualifier is this: are the notes scalar or arpeggiated or are there
lots of long shifts or awkward double-stops?
So, I would say
you could do worse than Popper #6 @120/quarter (8 notes per second).
Starker does it faster (I think around 160/quarter). You could do
the last movement of the Haydn Cmajor concerto @120/quarter, but it
wouldn't sound brilliant enough (138-144/quarter would be better).
The same could be said for At the Fountain and/or The Concerto in
aminor by Saint-Saens (last mvt). However, I would say that this
same tempo would be a bit too fast for the Boccherini Bb concerto
(1st mvt).
I think that Popper #36 should be the same speed
as the gigue to the Cmajor suite by JS Bach. If it's in 3/8 time (I
can't remember) and you want to count it in 1, then multiply the
pulse rate * 3/2 to get the quarter-note equivalent. So, if you set
the metronome @80 to the dotted-quarter it's the equivalent to 120
to the quarter..
It seems to me that metronomes are set up to
assume 4/4 time counting quarter notes. Since that isn't always the
case, we have to make certain adjustments...
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