Playing with a metronome isn’t limited to following basic beat-by-beat clicking. You can go further and test other options. In this article, we will share some tips and ideas, which, despite their simplicity at first sight, will challenge you once you pick up your instrument.
Why You Need a Metronome as a Brass Musician
By practicing with a metronome, you will learn how to:
- play at a consistent tempo without speeding up in easy parts and slowing down in challenging parts;
- recognize parts in the piece that require more work and refine the whole piece;
- correct your time and rhythm issues.
Tip: Use your earbuds or headphones to hear the click clearly, because when you play your brass instrument, the sound of the click can be drowned out.
How to Practice with a Metronome Properly
One essential thing that makes metronome exercises successful is getting the rhythm into your body. If you just start playing to the metronome immediately after you turn it on, you fail. This happens because you don’t have rhythm in your body yet. You are still not focused on the groove, which prevents you from playing notes correctly in time.
What You Should Do:
Set your metronome to click on each beat or with beats 1 and 3 turned off to hear only beats 2 and 4. Whatever you choose, don't rush and listen to it. Move your body to the beat for a moment and feel the space between the clicks. You can also start by clapping your hands to see if each of your claps matches the beat. You can tap your foot to give yourself the sense of timing.
Start playing. Listen carefully to see whether you’re not slowing down or going too ahead of the beat. You can start with any note you like because your aim is practicing with a metronome, not articulation.
Once you master this, it will be easier for you to nail any rhythm exercise.
Metronome Exercises to Boost Your Skills
Now, let’s explore what exactly you can do when practicing with a metronome.
7 Simple Exercises to Warm Up
Set the tempo at a comfortable speed, listen to clicks for some time to give yourself a sense of rhythm.
- Start with the whole notes leaving four clicks between the notes.
- Move gradually to half notes, leaving two clicks between notes — one, two, one, two.
- Play the quarter notes at each click following each beat.
- Once you do that, move to eighth notes, which are twice as fast as quarter notes — play two eighth notes for each click.
- The next ones — sixteenth notes. Play four notes for each click. To make the exercise more comfortable you can slow down the metronome.
- Play eighth-note triplets — three notes in the space of one click.
- Once you finish these exercises, it’s time to mix and match various rhythms. The trick is to switch between them properly. Move from whole notes to eighth-note triplets.
Move the Metronome Off the Downbeats
Set the metronome on 90 bpm with the click only on beat 1 of each bar. Start shifting the click to 2, 3, and 4 — you’ll immediately feel where your timing fails.
Set the metronome with beats 1 and 3 turned off and try to fill in the missing parts.
Alternatively, you can turn 1, 2, 3 off and leave only the 4th beat. Again, try to fill in the missing beats. For instance, play the quarter notes. You still feel the tempo and groove but move the 4th beat back by an eighth note. Feel the space of that click and then put it at the end of the 3. You will count like four and one two three.
Once you’re ready to challenge yourself, move the click in your head on the off-beat (“and”). When playing the end of two at the click, you get an absolutely different rhythmic pattern. So choose your desired beat and make it the end of two. Once you hear the click, start counting from that point: one and two and three, and four.
Your playing won’t be perfect right from the start with these new ideas, but with perseverance, you get better and better.
Polyrhythm Exercise
This exercise is useful for both brass players and drummers.
- Set your metronome at a steady 60 bpm.
- Play triplets over duplets.
- Play quintuplets over quarter notes.
Work on 3:2 and 4:3 patterns. This helps you refine your airflow control and precision under rhythmic tension.
Dynamic Timing
This is what you can do if you want to practice rhythm and dynamic timing:
- Choose a slow tempo (around 60–70).
- Play crescendo for four beats, decrescendo for four beats, perfectly aligned with the pulse.
By doing this exercise, you can improve your consistency in airflow under controlled timing.
Final Word
A metronome isn’t just a click — it’s a mirror allowing you to see what to improve. By playing with the metronome, you can train your sense of timing and consistency. Sometimes practicing to the click is far from being comfortable; however, you know that if it’s comfortable, you’re not growing. These exercises may scare you first but they will pay off in the near future and you will hear the difference.
Work not only on your timing but also on your technique! Check out our article How to Improve Brass Instrument Technique to get helpful insights.
Also, check out our huge collection of brass instrument accessories, featuring everything from padded bags to sound enhancers.
Source
Advanced Metronome Exercises for Any Musician - YouTube
Mastering Your Metronome: The Essential Metronome Practice Technique - YouTube
7 Exercises to Help You Play with the Metronome
Using a Metronome With Your Trumpet - Open Trumpet Lesson - YouTube
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