pocket metronome (pendulum)

[Warren Steel]

Over many years I have illustrated the moods of time using a "pocket metronome" consisting of a retractable sewing measuring tape calibrated on one side in inches and on the other in beats per second. For example, a pendulum approximately one meter long (39.1 inches) will vibrate at one beat per second (in a single direction), appropriate for our first mood of triple time (3 over 2), among others. I've received many inquiries from those wanting to buy a similar one.
I purchased mine in the 1970s at Shar Music in Ann Arbor, but haven't seen another since. It was manufactured in England by "Dean," perhaps Dean Sewing Notions, Ltd. of Cinderford, Gloucestershire, located near the "Forest of Dean." Perhaps one of our West Country singing friends can track this down.
I notice that EBay UK has or had an identical metronome described at this link: http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-dean-made-england-pocket-244648376
I have also learned that the idea is not a new one. An advertisement in Novello's Musical Times no. 131 Oct. 15 1854 p. 188, reads.

Just published, price threepence,
A Treatise on Time and Accentuation.
By D. Scholefield. Metronomes warrented
to give Maelzel's Time accurately, 1s. each.
Metronome and Letter Seal combined, 1s. 6d.
Metronome, Pen, Pencil, and Letter Seal
combined, 3s. each. Metronome and Measuring
Tape combined, 4s. each. To be had of J. A.
Novello, or by post from D. Scholefield,
Trinity-street, Huddersfield.
From B. Hanson, Inventor of the Pocket Metronome.
"I beg to state that Mr. Scholefield's Metronomes
are exceedingly correct; they are calculated on the
principles of gravity to the hundredth part of an
inch, and I have proved them many times by the
seconds hand of a clock, and find the number
always correct."

--
Warren Steel mu...@olemiss.edu
Professor of Music University of Mississippi
http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~mudws/

[Wade Kotter]

Here are some pictures of pocket metronomes from England:

http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/units/trades.htm#met

I've found advertisements for J. Curwen & Sons metronomes dating back to 1858; one recently sold on eBay in Canada but I was unable to find the price. In the U.S., I've found advertisements for the "Carl Fischer Pocket Metronome" from the 1880s. Unfortunately, I don't find any currently for sale on the Web.

Wade Kotter

South Ogden, UT

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From: Warren Steel <mu...@olemiss.edu>
To: "fasola-di...@googlegroups.com" <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2013 1:32 PM
Subject: [fasola-discussions] pocket metronome (pendulum)

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[Robert Vaughn]

Interesting, Warren. Thanks for posting this. 

I tried a Google search for "pocket metronome" that yielded a plethora of digital metronomes! I was intrigued, though, by these pocket watch metronomes:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ANTIQUE-VINTAGE-RARE-SWISS-BREVETE-CADENCIS-POCKET-WATCH-STYLE-METRONOME-/200836921900

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Superb-Vintage-Pocket-Metronome-Cadencia-Pocket-Watch-Style-/321135589618

 

His glories sing,

Robert Vaughn
Mount Enterprise, TX
http://baptistsearch.blogspot.com
Ask for the old paths, where is the good way
http://mtcarmelbaptist.blogspot.com
For ask now of the days that are past...
http://oldredland.blogspot.com
Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land.

---

From: Warren Steel <mu...@olemiss.edu>
To: "fasola-di...@googlegroups.com" <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com>

Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2013 2:32 PM

Subject: [fasola-discussions] pocket metronome (pendulum)

[John Garst]

Instructions for making you own are here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=m_AsAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA8-PA11&lpg=RA8-PA11&dq=%22pocket+metronome%22+%22tape+measure%22&source=bl&ots=SAlzzz9J7f&sig=ri1rh0zQQja9nBAFoTZrkej5yTY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=uPzKUazuIoWC9gTrxoDoBA&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22pocket%20metronome%22%20%22tape%20measure%22&f=false

Warren:

> Over many years I have illustrated the moods of time using a
>"pocket metronome" consisting of a retractable sewing measuring tape
>calibrated on one side in inches and on the other in beats per
>second. For example, a pendulum approximately one meter long (39.1
>inches) will vibrate at one beat per second (in a single direction),
>appropriate for our first mood of triple time (3 over 2), among
>others. I've received many inquiries from those wanting to buy a
>similar one.
>I purchased mine in the 1970s at Shar Music in Ann Arbor, but
>haven't seen another since. It was manufactured in England by
>"Dean," perhaps Dean Sewing Notions, Ltd. of Cinderford,
>Gloucestershire, located near the "Forest of Dean." Perhaps one of
>our West Country singing friends can track this down.

--
john garst ga...@uga.edu

[Nikos Pappas]

William Walker did the same thing in the introduction to The Southern Harmony.  Here is a link to the LOC digital copy: http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200038824/zoom.html?page=12&section=&size=640.  For those with access to a facsimile of the 1854 edition, it's on page viii of the introductory portion of the text.

Moods 1 and 3 of common time (C and Ɔ), the first mood of triple time (3/2), and the first of compound time (6/4) = a pendulum length of 39 2/10 inches.

Mood 2 of common time (), mood 2 of triple time (3/4), and Mood 2 of compound time (6/8) = a pendulum length of 22 1/10 inches

Mood 4 of common time (2/4) = 12 4/10 inches

Mood 3 of triple time (3/8) = 5 1/21 inches

Even though many of the rudiments included timing for the various moods of time (time signatures), Walker was specific on each mood and pendulum length.  He noted: "If teachers would fall upon this or some other method, for ascertaining and keeping the true time, there would not be so much difficulty among singers, taught at different schools, about timing music together; for it matters not how well individual singers may perform, if, when several of them perform together, they do not keep time well, they disgust, instead of pleasing their hearers."  In other words, Walker was trying to standardize the tempo for the repertory in the south.

The Sacred Harp did away with some of these time signatures so you would have to infer what their original moods would have been if you do not have a copy of the original presentation of these tunes from the eighteenth-and-nineteenth-century repertory.  But then again, this is more of a historical exercise.  Most important, Walker deviated from the tempo descriptions in the older New England books.

What I think would be interesting is this exercise. If we knew what pitch the Walker tuning fork was at, we could sing Walker's music at his specified tempos at his understanding of pitch, lending a greater understanding of nineteenth-century performance style and technique to then contrast with that of 20th-century practice.  There might be little change between the two, or the differences might be quite drastic.  Either way, it would be an interesting comparison.

Nikos Pappas

Tscls

On Wed, Jun 26, 2013 at 10:40 AM, John Garst <ga...@uga.edu> wrote:

Instructions for making you own are here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=m_AsAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA8-PA11&lpg=RA8-PA11&dq=%22pocket+metronome%22+%22tape+measure%22&source=bl&ots=SAlzzz9J7f&sig=ri1rh0zQQja9nBAFoTZrkej5yTY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=uPzKUazuIoWC9gTrxoDoBA&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22pocket%20metronome%22%20%22tape%20measure%22&f=false

Warren:

  Over many years I have illustrated the moods of time using a "pocket metronome" consisting of a retractable sewing measuring tape calibrated on one side in inches and on the other in beats per second. For example, a pendulum approximately one meter long (39.1 inches) will vibrate at one beat per second (in a single direction), appropriate for our first mood of triple time (3 over 2), among others. I've received many inquiries from those wanting to buy a similar one.
I purchased mine in the 1970s at Shar Music in Ann Arbor, but haven't seen another since. It was manufactured in England by "Dean," perhaps Dean Sewing Notions, Ltd. of Cinderford, Gloucestershire, located near the "Forest of Dean." Perhaps one of our West Country singing friends can track this down.

--
john garst    ga...@uga.edu