In February 2024, I had the privilege to travel to Cuba to attend the first ever “Jazz Emprende” event, which was sponsored by UNESCO. Among the many talented musicians who shared their knowledge at this seminar-styled event, Robert Glasper was one of them, and he left some gems of advice regarding practicing with a metronome.
In this blog post, we will delve into how most musicians practice with metronomes and then take a look at Mr. Glasper’s advice.
How Musicians Normally Practice With A Metronome
Funny enough, throughout my musical journey, practicing with a metronome wasn’t something I was ever advised to do, so no one taught me how to use one.
When I actually started to experiment with them, most of the information told me to practice with the metronome beating on each quarter note, which is what most of us do. This way, it is easy to follow, and you hear every quarter note.
Some even practice with every 16th or 8th note on a click, which to me can be overkill. You will be able to hear every beat, but you will soon discover that hearing every beat may not be the most important thing.
Robert Glasper’s Advice
If you know Robert, you’ll know that he is very blunt in the way he expresses himself. While speaking to me and the other Jazz Emprende attendees, he mentioned that a lot of people practice with metronomes incorrectly. I was wondering where he was going with this, but I continued to listen. He urged all of us to work on our internal metronome.
Your internal metronome is your natural sense of timing that can be adjusted to work with different tempos and time signatures.
He then went on to say that we should practice setting the metronome to click only on beat one, so that we can learn how to feel all the other beats on our own.
I thought to myself, “That’s so true!”. Constantly hearing all the beats while playing doesn’t really allow us to practice feeling the rhythm; it just boxes us into a mechanical way of playing that I like to call “match the music to the beat.” When you do this, you rob the music of all potential emotion. This is why it is so important to be able to feel the beats instead of hearing them.
When you set your metronome to click on beat 1 alone, you have to rely on yourself to feel the beats that you don’t hear, improving your internal metronome and your sense of feel.
Summary
- Work on your internal metronome
- Set the metronome to click on less beats.
Conclusion
In summary, building your internal metronome is crucial for developing a natural sense of timing and feel. By practicing with fewer clicks, such as setting the metronome to click only on beat one, you can train yourself to feel the rhythm rather than relying on mechanical cues. If you’re looking for an app to help with this, “Pro Metronome” is a great option. It allows you to easily silence or accent any beat, making it perfect for experimenting with different rhythmic exercises.
Happy practicing!
