I don't currently have a metronome, and have to say that I really don't feel the need for one myself. My watch has always been sufficient. OTOH, I have suspected that my son might benefit from one (he seems to have inherited his father's sense of rhythm, rather than mine ), and his new trombone teacher confirmed that last night.

I don't want to spend a lot, as I want him to be able to carry it with him to lessons. I was looking on the Fluteworld site and found this one:

http://www.fluteworld.com/index.php?action=prod&wart=13728

It's a Seiko-DM50. Does anyone have this one? How is it? This one will do various rhythms (8th, 16th, triplet) with beat accents, which is probably the function he needs the most. Any other recommendations in the $30 range?

--Judy

those are good but have a quiet sound, i found, on Ebay, this Korg MA-30 for under $20 including shipping and it is great.

here it is:

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-KORG-MA-30-METRONOME-great-for-school-band_W0QQitemZ120048422637QQihZ002QQcategoryZ41404QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

That's a great little metronome that Patrick suggested, and can be had from most music stores too, if eBay doesn't appeal to you. My personal favorite, though a bit outside the price range you set, are the Boss Dr. Beat mets. I believe even the most basic one (the DB30) has the ability to do basic beats and subdivisions like you wanted.

OK, good suggestions. I think we're going to trek down to the music store on Friday, since he has the day off, and see if either of these is available for instant gratification, or at least to examine in person--otherwise, I'll order online.

Now another question, which may show my age and the fact that my last metronome was a wind-up Seth Thomas style. How easy to operate are the metronomes you recommended? The Dr. Beat says that it "handles time signatures up to 17 beats per measure"--doesn't a metronome simply give you a beat (or a split beat, i.e. triplets, 8ths, etc) at a certain rate per minute? Or am I missing something here? He is 10--is it fairly simple so that he can look at a piece of music and program it himself? Or is this question like my mother and her fear of the VCR, when the children knew how to use it at age 3? IOW, if he can use a Gameboy or play a complicated computer game, is this not even worth worrying about?

The Dr. Beats (and probably other mets too) can accent beats however you want them to, even in really wierd patterns, which is where the 17 beat bar function comes in. I wouldn't consider it worth worrying about. Most likely he won't need that particular function for a while anyway (or at least not as complicated as a 17 beat bar), which will give him time to become accustomed with the met. I have no problem programming the things, and I'm not particularly tech savvy. The music store may have Dr. Beats for sale, in which case you could probably get someone to demonstrate for you and decide for yourself if it's too complicated.

I bought a WMT-555C combined tuner metronome for my daughter (aged 7) and she has no problems using it (and unlike the VCR I can also use all its features). These are now around $25 on various Internet sites although I've seen them cheaper.

My favorite metronome is the Seiko SQ-50 simply for it's analog dial. It allows for extremely quick time changes and it has a very strong click much like you would find on a pendulum metronome. Any other metronome after this is just painfully slow to operate by comparison.

http://www.amazon.com/Seiko-SQ50-SQ-50-Quartz-Metronome/dp/B0002F7GX2/sr=1-2/qid=1163053596/ref=sr_1_2/002-2889898-5009667?ie=UTF8&s=musical-instruments


A good thing to have around the house is a pendulum metronome. They are generally too large to lose, but do come in various sizes, can serve as decoration (various wood or even animal designs), and do not require batteries so that they will always be accessible as a good backup.

Here is a range of Wittner Taktell metronomes:
http://www.jhs.co.uk/wittner.html

That's a UK site, but they are sold everywhere.

I found a website with just about every metronone which also gives you play back examples of their sound! (Look for the little gray play arrow)

http://home.rica.net/tdm/

Seiko SQ50:
http://home.rica.net/tdm/SeikoSq44.htm

Korg MA30:
http://home.rica.net/tdm/KorgMa30Metronome.htm

Wittner Taktell Piccolo:
http://home.rica.net/tdm/WitPiccolo.htm

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I'll add the the Seiko SQ70, although a quartz (dial) metronome it uses a different type of speaker which is kinda cruddy compared to the SQ50 even though it allows for volume control. It lacks the hard dark sound of the SQ50.

I almost bought it when I saw it thinking it was kind of neat till I tried it out. Ugh.

>>A good thing to have around the house is a pendulum metronome. They are generally too large to lose, but do come in various sizes, can serve as decoration (various wood or even animal designs), and do not require batteries so that they will always be accessible as a good backup.
<<

Oh, that was on my Christmas list last year. I just didn't get it, and haven't bothered to buy one myself. It's going back on this year, or I may just buy one. I will probably get the mahogany one, but the cat is rather tempting.

I bought a Korg MT-40 very recently and I am very happy with it. It is a combined tuner-metronome + tone generator, small, quite audible and with a reasonable price (about 40$. You can check Greensburg Guitar, I bought it form them, through Ebay and got it shipped to Spain.

Plese note that saving 10 $ when buying something cheaper may prevent you from having a tuner, something you will probably need if you have not one already.

Even if you do, I find it handy to carry just one unit with me instead of two.

I recommend this nice device (I posted a short report about it, a couple of months ago)