Seven common metronome practice mistakes

Mistakes about tempo

1. Starting at the target tempo

At the target tempo your hands are already hurried and you cannot hear yourself. Find the speed that allows three clean passes in a row and begin there instead.

2. Jumping in large steps

Going from 80 to 120 means learning a different motion. Five at a time is the same motion getting slightly faster, with nothing to relearn.

3. Never going back down

Repeating something you are getting wrong sets it. When a tempo fails, drop five and earn the three passes again. Going down is procedure, not defeat.

Mistakes about settings

4. Leaving subdivisions on permanently

With subdivisions running, the metronome is holding the time for you. It feels good, so it stays on, and then nothing survives without the click. Switch them off the moment the pattern feels secure.

5. Never reducing the click

Practising only with every beat clicking never grows your internal clock. Work through beats 2 and 4 only, then the downbeat only. Those stages are not optional extras.

Mistakes about method

6. Only ever playing the whole piece

A run-through is an assessment, not practice. Isolating the two or three shaky bars is always faster. One run-through at the end of the session is plenty.

7. Continuing when tired

Inaccurate repetition subtracts from your playing. Three twenty-minute sessions beat one hour nearly every time. When concentration goes, that is the end of today's practice.

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