At the center of yesterday's blog post is my relationship with the metronome. And before I go on, I almost feel that I have to present an apologetic (defense) for the metronome before I can continue. Particularly if you are a music student (at any level), you likely have an opinion, and it may not be favorable. Whoever you are, and whatever your relationship with music is (or isn't), let's agree on this basic definition before going on. A metronome keeps a steady beat, or pulse. So does a clock (and sometimes a dripping faucet), but the tempo (speed) of a metronome is reliably adjustable. That's it. Now, set any other feelings or opinions aside.  

Some years ago, I stumbled on an approach to practicing with a metronome that I had never considered, or would have thought of. I was improvising freely while the metronome was ticking in the background. I was probably using it for something earlier, and just allowed it to continue to tick without really noticing or caring. And as my free improvisation settled into steady time, I began to notice something. I was rhythmically in sync with the metronome in terms of "agreeing" with the time, though not the organization of the time. I was playing with (what would be notated as) 4 beats a measure, but syncing with the metronome on every 7th beat (or some other odd number that didn't make sense). Put another way,  it was like the metronome tick was attaching to me, rather than me purposing to attach to it. And as I now understand, I had to be in the position of an observer, rather than a participant, for this to continue to happen. In other words, there was no mathematical consciousness of what was going on. Nor could there have been, as this was coming from another angle of entry. And if I would have tried to math it out, the portal to it would have closed. This was an indication to me that I had arrived at the point where I could observe myself engaging in a process that I was not actively thinking about. Though I was actively thinking, just not about the process, rather the observation of it. And there is a difference.  More to come ...