Jeff Berlin is a great bass player. He is also a great teacher and engages in discussion with his friends, fans and students. Another characteristic that I like is that he is very opinionated and not afraid to issue his thoughts.
In his words it is a waste of time to use a metronome when practicing your instrument because it doesn't help making you play better. You will reach the same level of proficiency by practicing without a metronome. Also, if you know how to play your instrument, you should be able to tune your instrument.
Those are some powerful statements and they usually force many responses (especially from people that use these tools).
In order to fully comprehend the message behind these statements I am going to introduce two scenarios that need clearly distinguished between:
1. Making music or learning an instrument
2. Making money with music or playing an instrument
When I interpret Jeff's statements I immediately think about the first case. When learning or making music, there is no need for tuners and metronomes. To make music, you need an instrument and a set of ears. To learn said instrument and make music with it you need to practice. One of the things you need to learn to play your instrument is tuning. This might not apply to players of instruments with keys but it does apply to all stringed instruments, brass, woodwinds and drums. Not many people have absolute hearing by nature so you might need a reference point in the beginning but by practice you can develop good hearing and soon enough tune your instrument without reference points.
A metronome does not improve your internal clock or beat. I think this is one of the biggest misconceptions in the history of music. The ability to play with a relative time source doesn't change and is not comparable to playing to your internal time source. It shows that you can play with a relative time source. The only way to improve the internal time source is by practice.
Since the internal time source is a human element there are variations between people. In my musical career I have played with hundreds of people. Some of them I have always been in synch with and others not. This is natural. When it comes to bigger groups of people making music together chances are increasing that there are slight differences in time among the players. Contributors to Jeff's discussion mentioned a conductor and drummer as the "keepers of time". In my opinion that is not the case at all and it wouldn't surprise me if drummers and conductors were offended by that statement. The conductor is a musician who interprets the score and leads a number of instrumentalists. Once again, the bigger the group, the more variety in time and the need for a driving force. The case of the drummer is slightly different. A drummer is not a human metronome. Take a look at a big band. Once again, the size of the band exceeds a handful of people that can communicate easily aurally and visually when making music together. Big bands have a band leader as well that conducts the music. In popular music drums add color and expression to the music more than just being a time source. Interpretation and groove are much more important than that. Any musician that relies on the drummer to keep the time for whatever reason should start some soul searching.
When I turn my focus to case number two I would like to offer my personal insights as follows:
Using metronomes and tuners can be practical in certain situations and I noticed that most of the participants in the discussion used examples that were non-musical to justify the use of both metronomes and tuners. If you're on stage and need to tune your instrument in between songs without interfering or even to save valuable recording time in the studio the tuner is very handy. I have used a metronome before to learn certain technical skills and I know Jeff is going to say that I would have mastered those skills anyway. He's probably right; you can consider it a shortcut at best.
When I speak as a songwriter I can utilize non-musical elements like a rhythmic pattern that doesn't stem from musical instruments or players and work it into my music. But that's all it is, an element within the music like a train or a ticking of a clock. It is not a metronome or click-track and shouldn't be considered as such. It doesn't add to or take away from my playing; it is a choice of artistic freedom that adds flavor to the end result.
A final word on practice:
Always start by listening. Listening to recordings, others playing or yourself always helps to develop your skills. Also, you don't always need an instrument to practice. I find driving in the car a great place to practice time by snapping fingers, slapping the wheel or humming. The most important thing is to visualize the groove in your head. Once you hear the beat in your head and your body starts moving to it you will be surprised how well you can keep time. Take your time to feel the beat before you start playing or practicing.
There are many examples of otherwise brilliant people holding completely bizzare and demonstrably false ideas. I believe that this is the case with Jeff Berlin.
ReplyDeleteProving that practicing with a metronome can improve a person's internal sense of time is not exactly rocket science. Many musicians have proven this to themselves (which is probably why Jeff is attacked on this subject by so many people). Most teachers advocate practicing, at least some of the time, with a metronome. In fact, Jeff Berlin is the only professional music educator that I know of who has ever made these types of claims about metronomes. You'd think that in over 25 years of studying music and taking lessons, I would have met one or read about one.
Used properly, a metronome is an excellent tool for improving one's sense of time. For someone wanting to become a profesional studio musician, they sure better be able to play to a click track!
I see no reason to believe that a sense of time is so innate a talent that it cannot be improved through practice, in particular, with a constant time source. People can improve pretty much anything they do with practice. Why should this be different?