Sunday, May 3, 2009

Thematic Photographic - Musical


For the next week, Carmi's Thematic Photographic will be exploring Musical themes. Musical is more than melody - it's rhythm. And you need to have tempo....

This is a mechanical metronome. It winds up like a clock, and then the inverted pendulum swings back and forth, and makes a ticking sound with each pass - so that musicians can practice to a set tempo. The weight slides up or down the rod to change the tempo of the pendulum's swing. This type of metronome is said to have been invented in 1812, by an Austrian named Dietrich Nicolaus Winkel.

Today you can get mechanical or electronic metronomes, and you can get metronomes in fine wood or made of plastic in a range of colors. Or, as this website shows, you can get metronomes shaped like penguins.

I still haven't found my dust-rag.

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2 comments:

  1. Lulda CasadagaMay 4, 2009 at 9:17 PM

    I'm sure I would love to have one of these, since I love the sound of a ticking clock, but then I would have to purchase an instrument and learn how to play! :) Great find...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Karen (formerly kcinnova)May 5, 2009 at 12:52 PM

    I didn't notice the dust until you mentioned it and I thought, Where??

    I was much too busy admiring your metronome. :)

    ReplyDelete