33 Comments
Oct 5·edited Oct 5Liked by Andrew Smith

At one time, "Metronome" was the name of a well-regarded magazine on jazz music, which picked musicians of the year by instrument via reader polls, like athletes. However, over time it lost ground to its rival "Downbeat" in that product category.

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This seems really appropriate since the beat is the one thing that really stays consistent with jazz music!

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Always. Music is nothing without a beat.

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What instrument(s) do you play the most, or have you played the most over the years?

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I spent a long time taking piano lessons, although I haven't played for a while. so that would be it. Along with its electronic cousins (organ, synthesizer, clavinet, Fender Rhodes, etc.)

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I can play a mean version of Axel F, but that's about it for piano! I played bass in a couple of bands, though, so I generally have this desire in me to play again at some point. Ever get that inkling?

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Oct 5·edited Oct 5Liked by Andrew Smith

Ever seen the Tacoma Narrows bridge falling down? wave amplification/synchronization can seriously mess you up!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XggxeuFDaDU

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Yes! Can't believe I missed my chance to use this clip (twice in two days now, counting today's eye contact piece).

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If only you wrote *every single day* i bet another chance would come up pretty quick

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True, but I was really taken aback today with how synchronization somehow cropped up and became what the thing was about! Between that and emergence, I've got to be careful not to insist that's what everything is.

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Oct 5Liked by Andrew Smith

I never knew about the ability of metronomes to get themselves in sync— that is so cool! It reminds me of drum circles, one of my favorite things ever to be a part of though I possess no musical talent. It’s amazing how all of these different people playing different instruments and different beats and rhythms in time can somehow flow together and then apart again. Also, the metronome reference is timely as Hubs and I just finished the second season of Dark Winds, which I highly recommend. They metronome figures heavily into the plot.

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I think you're onto something with the drum circle observation. This phenomenon might be really subtle, but when you're playing with a group live, you can feel the little nudges.

Dark Winds is on our watch list, and we are already excited to watch it! Now I'm even more stoked.

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Oct 5Liked by Andrew Smith

That's a fascinating little nugget I didn't hear before. It makes a lot of sense.

Still, for me the metronome will forever be associated with doing my piano drills back in the early years of school in Ukraine. *shudder*

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Yikes. Did you learn any other instruments?

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Oct 5Liked by Andrew Smith

Nope. Just the piano. And I've gotten very rusty since as I haven't practiced for decades. But I'm pretty badass on the PC keyboard. *cries*

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I'm extremely rusty on bass, the instrument I played the most, but I just bought a little cable and device doohickey thingy that allows me to play bass and record it with my phone, so I'm gonna play around a bit this year and next.

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Oct 5Liked by Andrew Smith

There's a pretty decent "Learn the piano" app that listens to the keys you're pressing and guides you through. Could be worthwhile for me to try and refresh my memory.

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Do it! I can be like your accountability buddy or something, although the "accountability" part will be very mild and limited.

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Metronome - A dwarf that lives in the city.

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Metrognome, IMO, but we can account for some linguistic drift.

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Oct 9Liked by Andrew Smith

Some folks argue that too much synchronicity/quantization kills the human elements of music making.

What would the counter arguments connected to being anti-metronomic be?

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Oct 9Liked by Andrew Smith

Does the use of a metronome kill human elements of music making?

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Oct 9Liked by Andrew Smith

Some folks argue that too much synchronicity/quantization kills the human elements of music making.

What would the counter arguments connected to being anti-metronomic be?

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I think the trade-offs are the same with music as they are with life, honestly. Do we want a more predictable existence? it's safer in many ways, so to that end, yes, but we also don't want to throw out what makes us human.. whatever that is. Some of the unpredictability is good, and I think nearly everyone would agree that some variety is almost always better than total monotony. Where exactly we draw that line, and exactly where, is important.

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I HATH TELEKINESIS!

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It's like: anything that can be imagined, there's an actual corollary already out there in nature!

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The more I read about Galileo the more fascinating I find him. I think he’s my favorite scientist! 😎

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He was a true pioneer! You might really enjoy doing some dives into these folks as well, if any are not yet on your radar: https://goatfury.substack.com/p/becoming-polymathic

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I will do that right away! Thank you! 😊

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I'm always happy to see an intellectual flame continuing to flicker, whether it came from inside my own head or from someone else and into my own!

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Yeaaah! 😊

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It's amazing that gravity and metronome are interrelated. Two seemingly dissimilar phenomenons following similar universal principles.

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I love how interconnected everything turns out to be!

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