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Summary: A metronome is used to keep the tempo for an instrument and is especially important for practicing. Learn how to use a metronome with tips from a professional saxophone player in this free music lesson video.
Brian Medeiros has been playing the saxophone for more than 10 years. He has played the saxophone professionally for the past 5 years. He currently plays in the Wilmington-based band,...read more
"There are several different kinds of metronomes that you can buy. There are several different kinds of tuners, there are metronomes and tuners for lots of different kinds of instruments. Some have inputs for guitars, for me playing the saxophone all I need is a clicker and this particular one has a clicker and it also has a note that you can tune with to get a good pitch right off the bat before you even start playing with it. Basically it is probably the most important thing you can do is to use a metronome. If you are playing by yourself you may not have somebody playing behind you or a tempo per say to practice with so if you don't have a pulse going while you are practicing you are really missing out on the whole idea. You have to keep the beat going and this is the most accurate way to do that. Basically the average metronome goes about 40 beats per minute on up to 200 beats per minute depending on what one you have, they have different ranges. It is just a clicker and this is on a pretty standard setting I would say, a good practice tempo of about 100 beats per minute, that is how they measure it is by beats per minute and you can hear it, it is just a clicker everything that I practice through is going to be through this tempo at this pulse. As you work out an exercise you can always turn it up a little bit just to get the tempo up. It is a great way to practice and it is probably the only way to practice, you need to use a metronome all the time and that is my speech on metronomes."
eHow Article: How to Use a Metronome