What is it about the bounce that makes it so natural to follow?
From Bounce Metronome
The innovative gravity bounce conductor helps you to play exactly on the beat. This is especially useful when you are learning a rhythm with swing, syncopation, or irregular beat patterns.
So, how does it work?
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How does the bounce help, and what is the connection with silent movies?
It is easy and natural to anticipate the moment when a bouncing ball will hit the ground - so that you can sing, play or clap exactly in time with it.
This technique was used in the "Car tunes" movies towards the end of the silent movies era and for the first movies with sound. The ball bouncing on the lyrics helped the audience to sing along with the movie. Bounce Metronome now has a separate "Car Tunes" metronome. The shadow below helps to make the moment of the bounce itself easier to see:
We are used to how things bounce, and it is easy to anticipate the moment of the bounce.
The bounce in conducting patterns
Conductors also use the same technique - they conduct with a bounce of the baton, or "ictus" to show the start of each beat. One style is to bounce the baton off an "invisible plane". These bounces make it easy for the orchestra to anticipate the exact moment of the beat so that they can keep in time.
"The motion is like bouncing a golf ball on pavement. Your performers must be trained to play exactly at the bottom of the beat." P 19, Brock McElheran, "Conducting Technique for beginners and professionals", revised edition (1989).
Indeed, since the bounce indicates the beat with the precision of a conductor's baton, you can switch off the sound for Bounce Metronome and use it for practice as a silent metronome.
So what makes it so natural to keep in time?
So - what is it about the bounce that makes this so natural? I think perhaps it's because it helps you to see in advance the exact moment when the ball is about to bounce. So this gives you that relaxed attitude which makes you all ready for it when you need to play, and helps you to play exactly in time. This helps you to hit all the beats on the beat (when you want to), like following a conductor.
It is a great tool if you have a tricky new rhythm to learn, or wish to refine your ability to follow the ticks of a metronome or click track exactly in time with the clicks.
"It's like having your own conductor to help you keep in time"
It is true that you can also use other types of metronomes visually too - for instance an animation of a traditional pendulum metronome (try that one with the sound switched off). It does work, to some extent at slow tempi. But they aren't designed especially to be used like this, and it's not so easy somehow especially at faster tempi or if you want to hit the exact moment of the beat with precision. For some reason, you kind of get dizzy and confused when you try. It doesn't have the naturalness of the Gravity Bounce.
The naturalness of the gravity bounce is Bounce Metronome Pro's special secret
The bounce is what gives Bounce Metronome Pro its naturalness and makes it so easy to follow. Then the extra visual effects in the software help to reinforce the moment of the beat clearly. Here is a screen shot of it in action:
So - that includes the splash effect, the shadows, and the "ictus" flick of the baton at the start of each beat for the conducting patterns. The shadows help because the ball and its shadow come together and seem to "hit" each other at the exact moment of the beat - just as the shadow of a bouncing ball helps you see when it will hit the ground on a sunny day, and the shadow in the bouncing lyrics.
The bounce effect also makes it much easier to practise rhythms with swing and irregular beats as you can anticipate the exact moment of an irregular beat visually - you can anticipate the moment in the same way you can anticipate when a ball will bounce. So you can see when to play the note before you play it - which helps you play it exactly in time.
That's why it is so suitable for rhythms with swing and irregular beats. It is like having your own personal conductor to help you keep in time.
This is also what makes it suitable as a visual metronome for deaf musicians - see [http://bouncemetronome.com/features/accessibility/deaf-musicians Deaf musician's Metronome#
One tip to help play accurately in time with the beats, play so that it feels as though the notes you play make the splashes. Also try to play so that the sound of the note you play and the metronome tick (if played) merges together.
However, orchestral conductors generally conduct a moment or two ahead of the beat. The baton still indicates the moment of the beat crisply, but the players play each note a fraction of a second after the baton.
So if you are an orchestral player you may sometimes prefer to set the visuals to play before the sound in Bounce Preferences (Ctrl + 220)
You may also be interested in the How to keep exact time with tips to help you make best use of the metronome to learn to keep good time.
