Practicing to a metronome?

I had a flash of inspiration during my lesson the other day. I'm working on spins, so I'm slowing them way down, to get the mechanics, then gradually speeding them up. Then an idea came to me. Practice with a metronome. You know, that little tick-tocking box that musicians use to set the tempo, and gradually increase it. Has any of yuo dancers out there ever tried using a metronome, or do you have other ideas of how to slow down your practice for better learning?

I have never tried it, but it sounds like a good idea because the metronome forces you to stick to the tempo. When i practice without music i tend to slow my counting when it gets difficult .

At a dance class our instructor takes a fast song and slows it down, then as we gain confidence in the excecution of our moves he gets the song back to its normal fast tempo.

pygmalion said:

I had a flash of inspiration during my lesson the other day. I'm working on spins, so I'm slowing them way down, to get the mechanics, then gradually speeding them up. Then an idea came to me. Practice with a metronome. You know, that little tick-tocking box that musicians use to set the tempo, and gradually increase it. Has any of yuo dancers out there ever tried using a metronome, or do you have other ideas of how to slow down your practice for better learning?

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Jenn,
Mmmmm . . .

I have one, but only use to practice my music (scales, etc. ) with.

I do what Sagitta said . . . I have a cassette player (mini-disc player works better) that I will record a song on, then I'll slow it way down to learn a particularly difficult move. Then, as I gradually get the move, I'll increase the speed until I get up to normal play speed. Try it! Carolyn and I use this method a lot . . .

I remember some folks talking about a teacher who used this method in a workshop. Their comment was that it was a song that they were all familiar with and so was distracting because in their heads they heard it at the familiar tempo and they found it to be jarring.

just antoher POV to through in the mix

Swing Kitten said:

I remember some folks talking about a teacher who used this method in a workshop. Their comment was that it was a song that they were all familiar with and so was distracting because in their heads they heard it at the familiar tempo and they found it to be jarring.

just another POV to through in the mix

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I can see that happening . . . and that has happened to me. Many times I want to emphasize a move, and learning it too slow could screw you over!!! However, to learn a particular move in a routine to a particular song? - it works for us.

To me, counting while learning a new pattern or dance is important, although I do not do it during dancing.

The reason I say this is, there have been many times, at the studio, that I may be learning some Waltz stuff, and another couple has a cha cha on and is dancing to that music. You just have to count . . .

There's just a couple obsticles that I can see:

1. if you have one of the older models that actually tick tock back and forth, don't use it. I've found that if you turn it on for 5 minutes or so, it can get off a whole beat!

2. This is great for doing a dance without music, but if the dance has music, as somebody said earlier, it can be jarring to hear it at a different tempo in your mind.

Who knows if I know what I'm talking about, so go for it, if you think it will help.

Yeah. The old mechanical models are less accurate than the newer electronic ones. And yes, trying to listen to two tempos at once must be totally distracting. :x :?

pygmalion said:

Yeah. The old mechanical models are less accurate than the newer electronic ones. And yes, trying to listen to two tempos at once must be totally distracting. :x :?

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Okay. I saw someone get excited about losing their Sabine Metrotune 9000, a Metronome , and I was wondering what do you think is the best one out there if I wanted to buy one for myself?

Metronomes can get very expensive, and many individuals no longer use those ones that just have an arm that swings back and forth - click, click, click . . .

Go to your search fuction, and look up Musician's Friend. When that page pops up . . . go to their search and type in metronome. You should get one or two pages of them.

The newer DIGITAL metronomes are much more popular. Brands like Boss, Korg, Seiko, and yes, Sabine are there.

The digital ones have great features for dancers:
-Some can even do 2&3, 4&5
-Some can do eight notes, and even triplet
-These are smaller, require batteries or an AC adapter, and are easily stored in your suitcase if you want totake it with you on vacation

I've never used one for dancing . . . I have a "trainer" that lets me slow the music down up to 50% - w/o changing pitch. It works for me.

For salsa I would suggest practicing to a timing cd. I would discourage the metronome for salsa.

I danced with a few dancers that dance like they are dancing to a metronome and it is always frustrating, I wouldn't want to encourage that. The timing cds tend to incorporate some subtle changes of pace that the metronome can't.

Vin said:

For salsa I would suggest practicing to a timing cd. I would discourage the metronome for salsa.

I danced with a few dancers that dance like they are dancing to a metronome and it is always frustrating, I wouldn't want to encourage that. The timing cds tend to incorporate some subtle changes of pace that the metronome can't.

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I agree . . . even though I gave info for a metronome above, I would think that anyone who practiced with one, their dancing would would like very, very mechanical . . . and not "to the music."

Although some metronomes can do timing changes, I would recommend . . . if you have to have such a mechanical device - get a drum machine . . . at least you'll dancing to some music - though very mechanical.

My suggestion . . . get an assortment of CD's . . . slow to fast . . . keep the remote control for your player in your back pocket to joggle the music back and forth, and practice your derriere off!

Hmm. This topic is so old, I'd forgotten I started it. :lol: Yes, I agree that anyone who uses a metronome as a basis for their dancing will look mechanical. I also know about the years I spent practicing various musical instruments with a metronome, in order to develop the discipline break down difficult passages by doing them very slowly, then progressively faster, as I mastered the concepts. I think where I started with this topic was something to do with breaking down spins, not interpreting music. 8)

I'm not suggesting that using a metronome is the right thing to do. For someone who doesn't know how to use it as a tool to develop a specific skill set, it might be more hindrance than help. But I would like to suggest that breaking down difficult technical concepts is a separate issue from learning to listen to and interpret music with slight tempo variations.

Although maybe finding music at various tempi is a better way to go. *shrug*

Instead of a hip-hop robot we could do a ballroom robot!

I love practicing to the metronome.
When I was a beginner it was about all I used when working on technique (mentor's insistence--which, in retrospect, I am profoundly thankful for).

Now I use it to work on expression.
(Yes, mechanical as that might sound, knowing where to deconstruct a figure without the distraction of the music opens up avenues where I would not normally look to playing with the movement).
I can stretch the timing of a figure here and there--in order to find out where the expression can come in. After that, I practice the movement with the music.


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