Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Music speed with metronome clicks

Hello,

I am just learning to play piano. I unfortunately waited late in life but I am enjoying it thus far. My question is guidance with the speed of the metronome with what the tempo o f the music calls for on the sheet music. Example, a piece of music calls for a slow tempo then what would be the metronome range for what is considered slow? Also, if the music sheet calls for brisk or fast what should the range on the metronome clicks for this speed. I just need some type of range of metronome clicks for each tempo speed.

Thanks for any advice.

John

John,

Older-style wind-up metronomes typically had a scale that assigned labels like Largo to the slowest speed (usually 40 beats per minute) and Prestissimo to the fastest (around 200 bpm, I think).

But it's arbitrary and meaningless without reference to which note value receives the beat and thus is represented by one click.

For example, a very fast piece in 4/4 time marked Presto might be 160 bpm, with each quarter note receiving one beat (i.e., one click).

But one could also choose to set the metronome at 80 bpm for only two clicks per measure, with each click/beat then representing the value of a half note.

One might even choose to have the metronome click just once per measure at 40 bpm, in which case each click would have the value of a whole note.

In any case, the tempo of the piece would be exactly the same. It would still be fast; only the pace of the metronome would be slower.

The reverse is also true. A piece marked Largo or Grave might be marked for 40 bpm with each quarter note receiving one click/beat.

But if one wanted to have one click per eighth note instead, the metronome would be set at 80 bpm; for one click per sixteenth note, it would be at 160 bpm.

Music that bears a metronome marking in bpm will always specify which note value the number applies to.

Hope this helps, and welcome to the PW forums!

Steven

here's a good starting point for BPM numbers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempo#Basic_tempo_markings

Thanks for all the information everyone. I liked the wikipedia page. It was helpful. Never thought to search there.

John