Posted by Lesley on December 04, 2001 at 21:32:50:
In Reply to: Best tuners and metronomes posted by Catherine on December 04, 2001 at 17:20:24:
I have found that the most useful metronome I ever bought was one of those little credit card sized ones that allows you to move up the tempo one "click" at a time. They're cheap, relatively, so they don't run a theft risk, they sit on any stand or surface, don't block the music, and the size lets you store it anywhere without a problem, and they put out a "powerful loud" beep. Plus, a lot of them subdivide into twos or threes, or beep higher on the beginning of the measure.
I have used the Dr. Beat type metronomes, and besides the fact that they're cool to play with, I haven't found anything that makes all those bells and whistles necessary - if you can't feel out a subdivision in your ear, having a box bleat out 4s over 7s won't really help...
But that's just an oboist's opinion...(but an oboist with a masters degree in performance)