metronome
- 5 dictionary results15-35% off beginner metronomes Buy Korg, Yamaha, Wittner models
www.musicbasic.com
met⋅ro⋅nome
[me-truh-nohm] 
trəˌnoʊm
| a mechanical or electrical instrument that makes repeated clicking sounds at an adjustable pace, used for marking rhythm, esp. in practicing music. |
Related forms:
[me-truh-nom-ik] , met⋅ro⋅nom⋅i⋅cal, adjective Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source
| met·ro·nome (mět'rə-nōm') n. Music A device used to mark time by means of regularly recurring ticks or flashes at adjustable intervals. [Greek metron, measure; see mē-2 in Indo-European roots + Greek nomos, rule, division; see nem- in Indo-European roots.] |
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Metronome
Met"ro*nome\, n. [Gr. ? measure + ? distribute, assign: cf. F. m['e]tronome, It. metronomo.] An instrument consisting of a short pendulum with a sliding weight. It is set in motion by clockwork, and serves to measure time in music.Cite This Source
metronome
Cite This Source
metronome
instrument for marking musical tempo, erroneously ascribed to the German Johann Nepomuk Maelzel (1772-1838) but actually invented by a Dutch competitor, Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel (c. 1776-1826). It consists of a pendulum swung on a pivot and actuated by a hand-wound clockwork whose escapement (a motion-controlling device) makes a ticking sound as the wheel passes a pallet. Below the pivot there is a fixed weight; above it, a sliding weight. A scale of numbers indicates how many oscillations per minute occur when the sliding weight is moved to a given point on the pendulum. Thus, the notation "M.M. (Maelzel's metronome) = 60" indicates that at 60 oscillations per minute the half note will receive one beat. The conventional metronome is housed in a pyramidal case. Pocket and electric metronomes are also made. Metronomes have occasionally been used as musical instruments, e.g., by the Hungarian Gyorgy Ligeti (Poeme symphonique, 1962, for 100 metronomes).
Learn more about metronome with a free trial on Britannica.com.
Cite This Source
