Reconsidering Metronomic Precision

Lessons from the Thyratron

Abstract

This paper explores the historical and contemporary implications of the metronome’s role in defining pulse and tempo in Western art music. Far from 18^th-century conceptions of pulse anchored in the tempo giusto and described with reference to the musician’s literal heartbeat, the 21^st-century performer is much more likely to consider the metronome as the source and arbiter of a “correct” pulse. The evolution of the metronome from its earliest mechanical iterations through to contemporary smartphone apps also maps neatly onto the increasing societal trust placed in the metronome as authority. This relocation of the source of pulse from internal (the performer) to external (the metronome) also brings psychological impacts, particularly with reference to music performance anxiety; the expectation of matching digitally precise timekeeping with a fallible human body is a contributor to anxiety and self-doubt among musicians.

Using detailed pulse analyses of mid-20th-century electromechanical metronomes as case studies, this paper describes how the idiosyncratic pulse shifting and surging of these devices inadvertently gesture toward a reimagined role for the device. The author concludes by proposing the development of digital metronomes with a switchable “fallibility” mode, which might introduce varying degrees of pulse variability to the metronome, thereby granting musical artists the creative agency to follow or resist the device, much as they would a live musical partner. Such a development is also proposed as a step forward toward understanding constructive approaches to other nascent music practice aids such as increasingly precise tuners or apps which propose to objectively define “quality” tone.