Metronome running take one:

170 is nice. I tried to go in first gear, second gear, and think I have no third gear. Two free metronome applications for the iPhone were easy to find. But here’s the thing: if the screen goes dark, the beats become erratic. That’s crazymaking. And the other thing is after a mile, you become pretty sure you can keep the beat while listening to Ken Follet and/or Morning Edition. Then for the last mile, you decide to go back to the metronome to test yourself and you find out your cadence was much slower without it.

I’d like a background metronome that I can be barely aware of while I listen to something else. I think this means I’d like the clip on kind.

Podrunner, the music that you can download at whatever beats per minute you’d like your cadence to be, has awful music! Worse than a plain metronome, I think. Reminds me of one bad time dancing maybe in Kenmore Square in the mid90s. No: Landsdowne Street. Is that it?

I broke my promise to myself and ran five instead of three, but I know I won’t be able to run tomorrow so there’s a built-in day of rest. I’ll be OK.

+5=42/133 (I don’t think I’ll get to 100 this month, and that’s OK.)

Today was the long awaited day: the Chi Running Workshop at REI with Michael Kushinsky who is actually called Kip.

There were a bunch of people–all kinds of people–a few triathalon/personal trainer people, my friend beautiful Heather, and a few people who came in their work clothes. Michael/Kip is obviously a gifted teacher. Here are the best things I learned:

1. If you are running correctly, your ponytail will not bounce that much.

2. Use a metronome. To run faster, keep the metronome the same, but have longer strides. Lean forward. Without leaping forward onto your heels. Cool!

3. Use free iTunes software to get your metronome beats.

4. 80-85 beats per minute (left foot, left foot, left foot…) or 160-170 (left, right, left, right…)

I feel not 10% as chipper as I sound. I feel soft. I feel…like…maybe I am starting to slip into enjoying this not running, having time to shop at five different grocery stores to get the best bargains on yogurts of many kinds, and baking fresh bread so often that our freezer is full of loaves even though I make Joe take a loaf to school every day. Because really, I can’t run much, but shouldn’t I be doing some other exercise like biking or YMCA stuff or even…Wii Fit? After so many beautiful runs, I can’t imagine going back to the YMCA.

After the workshop I went over to the very beautiful Cranston Wholefoods and had a little cup of mushroom soup. I love soup. Tomorrow I’ll be making soup instead of running. Not really. I am going to see if I can play a metronome, listen to Ken Follett, and run three miles and THEN make soup. Cauliflower cardamom soup is what I have in mind, and some more Goodness Soup. I’d also love for me to ride my bike. Also work at the school library and go out to dinner with Joe & Karl & Lloyd.

I was secretly hoping that today’s lesson would be cancelled because I haven’t really been practicing as much as I would like. I went up to the Bay Area for a short three day vacation to visit some college friends and get away from LA for a bit. I tried to practice on Sunday and Monday nights but did very little actual playing.

This morning I get a text from John asking if I was in SF. I said no. (Hello, does he think I don’t work?) But later on, I got another text and voicemail saying that he was feeling sick and we’d have to reschedule. Whew! I have another couple of days to practice my A and D string transitions and rhythm!

So instead of using the time to practice at home tonight, I had a fabulous meal at the Watergrill tonight for DineLA week. But I’m worth it and deserved a treat.

Technology is a great aid to worship leading and preaching. The iPhone brought a stable, dependable computer to our pocket. The platform brought thousands of applications called apps to do anything from database management, Bible reading, personal information management to pitching your songs. Here are a few apps that you might find useful.

Pitch Pipe For iPhone.

This is exactly what the name indicates. It even looks like the old fashioned round pitch pipe we’ve used for years. This app is great because you always have it with you (unless you’re like me and leave your phone at home). The cool thing is you don’t have to worry about pocket lint blocking the reeds. Drawback is you have to leave your phone volume on so there will be a danger of your phone ringing during the service.

TapnTune for iPhone

This little app goes way beyond just giving you pitches. It serves as a songbook to store lyrics for all your songs. Probably overkill in this area since you can’t sync the database with SongSelect or other database. It does let you build song sets to keep a record of what you sang when. It allows you to input key and tempo for each song. It has a feature that will scroll the lyrics for you at your chosen speed so you could use this for a cheat monitor. It would be a bit cumbersome to accomplish that during most services. Great tool for a missionary though.

It has a metronome feature which is great for practice and learning those complex new contemporary rhythm patterns.

TapNTune has a great pitchpipe built in as well. The pitch pipe has several octaves to chose from making it handy for tuning any instrument.

The same drawback is present in that you have to leave your ringer on.

Grand Pro

Here is an app that could fill several roles for you.  Have you ever had a hard time sight singing a song?  Did you every wish you could pick out a harmony part while the melody was going at the same time?  Gran Pro can help you in both of these situations.  It is a mini piano on your iPhone.  It will allow you to display 4 octaves at a time on screen.  It is polyphonic in that it will play as many tones as you depress.  This is wonderful for giving complicated pitches to a group of people during practice.

The record feature will let you capture a tune you’ve been working on.  It has a metronome feature also.  The sound quality is amazing for something you carry in your pocket.  The piano sounds are sampled so you’re actually hearing piano tones.  Here is the feature list from the AppBeacon website:

• 7 octaves of sampled concert grand piano
• - Master tuning
• - Soft (una corda) and sustain (damper) mode with separately sampled sounds
• - Adjustable keyboard size (up to 4 octaves)
• - Built-in advanced metronome
• - Automatic tempo conversion
• - Built-in reverb with adjustable mix level
• - Optional iPod mode – if turned on you can not play in silent mode (iPhone only)
• - Key labels with universal nomenclature and color indication
• - Record, save and playback with customizable project names
• - Overdubing for complex recordings
• - Play chords with up to 5 fingers
• - Slide your fingers to roll the keys

These are just a few tools that will help you with your role in leading music.  We will cover a few other areas in our next post.  Please take time to recommend this blog to your friends and check out Our Common Salvation blog which is deals more with devotional thoughts.  You might also enjoy my YouTube Channel which features some devotional lessons and various topical studies.

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I have always had a perennial problem with metronomes. I hate to shell out for expensive ones so I end up purchasing devices of poor quality which malfunction within months, if I’m that lucky. In the end, I probably have spent as much on repeatedly buying cheap metronomes as I would on the infamous and powerful Dr. Beat:

I have found, however, that with the exception of the large library of rhythm patterns built into the Dr. Beat, you can get all that you need for free on your computer.  For a basic metronome I use an online one found at this address: http://www.metronomeonline.com/.  Your BPM (beats per minute) selection is limited but I have not found this to be an issue.  One of the best elements of the Dr. Beat is that it is LOUD and can therefore be used in ensemble rehearsals.  Granted, your rehearsal would need to be near your computer, but with an online metronome you can make things as loud as necessary and there are no batteries to worry about draining.

Another big perk of the Dr. Beat is the great range of sustained pitches it can produce which is of great assistance in intonation exercises, scales, and tuning.  I have not found a satisfactory online option for this but with a little bit of creativity you can turn your computer into a powerful pitch generation machine.  You must first download Audacity, which is a very basic and open source audio editing program, here: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/.  Audacity is generally laughed at by folks who do any sort of remotely real audio recording or production which I find unmerited as its purpose is for small-scale, unprofessional activities.  It is completely sufficient for the sort of use we are speaking of here.

After you have installed Audacity, follow these instructions to produce the sustained pitch of  your choice:

1. Open the Generate menu
2. Choose -> Tone…
3. Go to this website: http://peabody.sapp.org/class/st2/lab/notehz/
4. Find the pitch on the chart that you wish to have sustained (the columns refer to various octave transpositions with column 4 being the middle C octave, you will need to make note of the number to the right of the pitch letter name you wish to sustain, the number refers to frequency in Hertz)
5. In the Tone Generator window that opened in Audacity select Sine on the Waveform drop box and insert the frequency number for the chart into the Frequency/Hz box, you do not need to adjust the Amplitude
6. Click Generate Tone
7. Open the Edit menu
8. Choose -> Select -> Select All (or just hit Ctrl-A)
9. Open the Effects menu
10. Choose -> Repeat…
11. The default number of repeats should be 10 which is sufficient, click OK
12. Press play and you should have 5 minutes and 30 seconds of sustained pitch bliss!  (you can make this longer or shorter with the Repeat effect)

If you know you want to change repeatedly between sustained pitches you can generate more than one and just Solo the pitch you want to focus on (if, for example, you are doing intonation work on a piece that fluctuates between two tonal centers, etc.).  I have an Audacity file saved with all the chromatic pitches sustained and simply choose the one I need at the moment which gets rid of all the set up time.  This method can be quite useful for tuning but don’t let it take the place of developing your ability to hear if the interval of a 5th between your strings is in tune.

Like many people who live in my area of the planet, autumn is my most favorite time of year. The cooler temps, the brightly colored foliage, the Halloween candy sales… I mean, really. What’s not to love? 

Fashionably speaking, I also love this time of year for it is the time to pack away the thong bikinis (pffffft. yeah right) and bring out the layers! Lovely sweaters and light jackets become essential for the vastly changing temperatures during the erratic autumn days. And boots! Don’t forget the boots! As if I could. I wear them year round anyway.

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I spent way too much time on this picture and here’s why: I bought this cardigan recently. I’m talking like, four days ago. Now I’m not sure if a LM was included in the folder and I just deleted it at the time of purchase or if one wasn’t included at all, but when I was putting together the details for this post, I couldn’t find where I bought this cardigan. The creator’s profile picks were of no help, which is where I generally get a store’s information.

Sidenote (paragraph): I KNOW I’m not the only one who does this so listen up, designers! I’m begging you, please put the correct slurl to your stores in your profile picks. If I bought something from you before, chances are excellent that I will want to buy from you again. And unless you own Armidi, the search feature is unstable at best. That said, getting to your store again via your profile from the item properties is easiest for me, so yeah. Get on that if you haven’t already. Thanks in advance for your ongoing attention and support to this matter. Hugs ‘n stuff.

Anyway. I IMed Gabby to complain about this, as I do, and while she offered some helpful suggestions, like, dropping a notecard to the designer and simply asking where her store is (why does Gabby insist on being so logical?), I decided I was going to be diligent about it (read: stubborn) and find the store on my own. I mean, it was only FOUR DAYS AGO! How difficult can it be to find again? Hmmm. Nothing came up in search but I know it was in a Japanese sim, so that helped narrow my search down to roughly several thousand sims or thereabouts.

I was a tp’ing and flying fool all over every Japanese sim I could find. I’d say, all told, I spent five solid hours searching for this store with no luck. However, I did venture into other stores along the way and bought some other cute stuff, so it certainly wasn’t time wasted. And I have a sneaking suspicion that I passed the store I was looking for several times anyway because, yes, I’m like that.

At any rate, I finally checked xstreet and YAY! The cardigan is on there at least. I am calling this one good and will shut up about it now.

Details:

Hair: >TRUTH< Cheryl – espresso
Skin: [ROCKBERRY] Farrah F tan
Eyes: poetic colors eyes by LL – grey sea – medium
Eyelashes: Crissy Designs **Double Effect Eyelashes**
Necklace: **~Twinkleberry~** necklace_fiore
Earrings: RH Engel Jewelry – Sahara Collection – Chalcedony Earrings
Jacket: Tiara Rose Cardigan — xstreetsl link
Top: MIEL CALI TANK – cinder
Pants: Zaara, ZC : Ishaya velour slacks *black*
Boots: [Armidi Gisaci] Kyoto Boot – Black

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The coolest thing about this picture (other than the fact that I’m in it… tee hee) is the sim these shots were taken in. It’s called Bentham Forest and Hallie gave me the LM to it a couple days ago. Oh, you must go! You simply MUST! It’s not often I will look at a sim and deem it flawless in terms of design, but this is positively one of those times. It’s so deliciously creepy. Love love LOVE this place!

Details:

Hair: >TRUTH< Sophia – espresso
Skin: [ROCKBERRY] Farrah B tan
Eyes: poetic colors eyes by LL – lava dust – medium
Necklace: *Hexed* Cross Necklace
Belt: Refuge -  United Belt (black)
Sweater: Butterfly of dreams +satisFaction+natsukoi_Cardigan
Shirt: SSH – Essential Scalloped Edge Spaghetti Strap T
Pants: .:*WAvE.:* jeans draw black monbran
Boots: *METRONOME Jockey boots-black

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YAYYYYYY! Newish hair from Exile! I want to marry this one. Hard. <3

The boots were another Gabby find. As you have probably gathered by now, Gabby is quite frugal when shopping for herself but she appears to be quite the spend-thrift when it comes to suggesting how I spend my lindens. *eyeroll*  But she’s always spot-on, so I’ll have to give her that. Smooch.

The boots are far better than any picture I can take of them and the proceeds are for a good cause, so whatcha waitin’ for? Go get ‘em. NOW.

Details:

Hair: Exile Angelica remix, greystone
Skin: [ROCKBERRY] Farrah A tan
Eyes: poetic colors eyes by LL – lava dust – medium
Necklace: Dark Mouse Scorpions Crawling Necklace
Bracelet: Aluinn Black and silver deco bracelet
Belt: [MANDALA] Saicho Belt Black circle
Vest: fri. – Halter Vest (Black)
Shirt: Action Surf&Sk8te, Women’s Deep V-Neck -  Gray
Jeans: :: DUTCH TOUCH :: Jeans Def 3
Boots: ANEXX Leather Riders Boots – Gray

Poses: *Kru’s Boutique

*resumes gobbling fun-sized Milky Ways*

Metronomes are musical devices that produce regulated aural, visual or tactile sound beats or ticks. Popular among music composers, the use of metronomes enables them to get a consistent tempo for their musical compositions. They are very helpful to subdivide sound notes to create distinctive and unique music sounds. They also give a musician the option to make musical time signatures as well. Because of their simplicity and accuracy, metronomes are much in demand among music composers today.

Metronomes can be broadly classified into three types and they are as follows:

Mechanical Metronomes: They are the most common types of metronomes that are available. This device comprises of an inverted pendulum rod that has an adjustable weight attached to its end. When the weight is slid up the pendulum the tempo increases and when it is slid down the tempo decreases. A second pendulum is hidden in the case of the metronome and this helps the production of a clicking sound with each oscillation. Mechanical metronomes are also commonly known as double weighted pendulums.

Electronic Metronomes: These metronomes are modern and upgraded versions and they use a quartz crystal that is very similar to that used in wristwatches. The simple metronomes that are available in the market have buttons that can be pressed in order to produce the tuning notes. The sophisticated metronomes are advanced and they can produce two or three distinctive sounds. The tones and the pitch differ and hence diverse beats can be composed. The electronic musical keyboards that are available in the market have built in metronomes in them for the purpose of producing signature sounds and beats.

Software Metronomes or Online Metronomes: With the advancement in technology software metronomes have entered the market and they produce multi track audio sounds. They help in creating stand alone music signatures and create enhanced music sequencing. They are very popular as film scoring applications in recording studios and they are of immense benefit in synchronizing musicians to the sound beats. These metronomes are the mostly used ones today and they can be easily downloaded online.

An online metronome is a quick and easy music tool that is very popular for practicing music. It is a type of software metronome that musicians can access online. They help in tempo selections and in creating music rhythm with ease. This device helps musicians to produce accurate pulses and beats. They help in understanding the time signatures of the music and help the musicians to play accurately in accordance with the notes. These online metronomes are easily available on the net and they can be used for music tuning and compositions. They are of extreme benefit to those who need to make signature music with the diversity of unique sounds and beats.

In conclusion, it can be said that metronomes have a vital role to play behind the successes of signature music beats. Musicians rely and depend on them for composition of original and unique music scores as they provide accurate and synchronized pulse beats with ease.

I know what’s going on and the worst part is, I have no idea what I’m supposed to be doing except my lips think they do. They’re curled up into some smile and the bottom one is quivering so much I have to bite down on it. Everyone is staring at me and I’m too drunk too stand still, and I’m shifting my weight slowly from side to side like a sloppy metronome.

The stride rate of top runners is similar to the rate of average runners, usually 170 to 200 spm when racing from 5k through half marathon. Most all of the difference is in the length of the stride, a major difference in the ground that is traveled by the runner with each stride.

Five time World Cross Country Champion and Olympic 5000m Champion John Ngugi had a nice long stride, and a relatively low stride rate for his speed, as can be seen in his amazing victory in the 1992 World XC Championships in Boston, over a rough 7.5 mile course in the snow. Ngugi was dominant in cross country, the first ever five time World Champion. Ngugi moved up during part 2 of 5 of this exciting race, recommended to see from the start.

Lasse Viren had a shorter stride and made up for this with a high rate through his races. He ran at 200 spm during his 1972 Olympic 10000m race, and up to 214 spm the last 800 meters. Viren again ran 200 spm in the 1976 Olympics 10000m.

After his 3:51.0 WR mile in Jamaica in 1975, Filbert Bayi continued around the track at 153 spm and 6:00 pace to warm down. Try this, it’s not easy, for me anyway! This demonstrates how the same runner has a different stride length and rate at different speeds.

Stride rate is easy to test with a stop watch, by counting the strides, and converting the result to 1 minute. For example, time from 0 up to 20, counting every third step, which is 60 strides total. The formula [ (60x60) / time ] shows the stride rate per minute.

The Korg ma20 metronome has a convenient tap function. By tapping the metronome every 3rd stride and multiplying by three, the spm is determined for any moment of a run.

Another way is to count the strides for 110 yards or 100 meters; or set the metronome for a rate, say 55 beeps (165 spm), and adjust this to match the rate you are running.

I have found that gradually lowering the rate for a given pace gives me more power in my stride. Similarly, it is fun to keep the cadence the same, and gradually go faster, which means the stride is getting longer for that rate.

I’ve always been a huge fan of Megg Demina. Chapeau Tres Mignon was one of the first stores I found after arriving in SL. I was intrigued by Megg’s incredibly diverse and amazing collection which range from hats featuring a blue lobster or a grasshopper perched on your head to a Spanish Galleon floating above your curls.  Every hat she makes is full of whimsy and detail. Now fall is here and (yay!) she has released a new group of hats. All with pom-poms. Larger ones and smaller ones and a range of colors too. I took two of my favorites and made a couple of different outfits with them. I love this larger version of the pom-pom hat in black and white. (This hat comes in four other colors as well.) I decided to put it with something a little sophisticated to create a Parisian, walking-along-the-Seine feel. The shoes with anklets add to that look as does the short sleeved striped sweater from Pink. A “Chanel” bag and cuffed leather gloves lend the the final French touch.

For the second outfit I picked the smaller hat in the tartan version. The scarf is from Musim and although it isn’t an exact match I think it works. The coat from Lelutka’s 2008 Fall collection has become a staple in my wardrobe…. I love the shape, the way it stands open and the tweedy texture. It is layered over a sweater from DeLa and a prim shirt from Ce Cubic Effect with a zippered front. (The shirt doesn’t show very well here but it is really cute. It blouses around the waist very realistically.)  Tesla’s Diva oxfords in red bring a little more color to the look. And a tip…remember when wearing hats it is important to find the right hair that works. In this case Lamb’s Egomaniacal (hehe—love the name) hair is flat enough that there is no need to mod the hair in order for the hat to look right. OK…got to run…..be sure to check out Megg’s wonderful hats….See ya, Elisabeth

Details:
First Look:
Skin: &Bean; The Light Anger Serene
Hair: Maitreya; Reign, Peroxide Blond
Shoulder trench: (P-K); Shoulder Trench, Noir
Sweater: Pink Outfitters; Emme Knit Sweater, Black
Skirt: Lelutka; Valentina, Black (from dress)
Shoes: N-Core, High School Xtreme High heel, Black
Belt: MAiiKi; High Waisted Belt, Patent, Black
Hat: Chapeau tres Mignon; PomPom Hat, Black/White
Scarf: Metronome; Color Scarf, Opera
Bracelet: Armidi Gisaci; Snakeskin Bracelet, Steel
Watch: Muse, Classic Tank Watch in Black/Gold, Dark Face
Purse: CoCo & Co; Cambon, Noir
Earrings: Muse; Claris Pearl Earring, Gold
Goves: Indyra Originals; La Capitaine Kid Skin Gloves, Black

Second Look:
Hair: Lamb; Egomaniacal, Twix
Skin: Curio; Beach, Sundust Frex, Black Pearl
Hat: Chapeau tres Mignon; PomPom Hat, Petit Tartan
Coat: Lelutka; Mimi Coat; Dark Grey
Blouse: CeCubic Effect; Shirt H6, Black
Sweater: DeLa; Emilia, White
Scarf: Muism; Chunky Scarf, Tartan, Red&White
Jeans: Armidi; Grace, Faded chic (bought on website)
Belt: COCO; Wide Belt(Embossing), Black
Shoes: Tesla; Diva2, Rouge
Socks: Shiny Things, Nubby Socks, Black (freebie)
Handbag: Lelutka; Gym bag, Grey
Earrings: BO COCO & CO; Channel Pearl, Black