Digital Tuners & Metronomes vs Phone Apps

Digital Tuners & Metronomes vs Phone Apps

Ed Dumas

I have heard pros and cons about cell phone tuning apps ever since cell phones grew up to be “Smart Phones.” Note that this is not a debate about the merits of using digital technology, but rather which digital technology. For a discussion considering the merits and use of tuners and metronomes, have a read in topic 10 “Digital Tuners” for more on that subject. Take particular note of the biofeedback kind of problem when using digital tuners!

All of this digital equipment has come a remarkable distance since the days that I was in secondary school as a student. I remember back then my band teacher used a big steel box called an oscilloscope to check if a pitch was flat or sharp. This box was about a cubic foot in size and weighed about 10-15 lbs, so handheld it certainly was not! For you younger folks, that would be something like 30 cm cubed, and about 4-5 kgs! (This story requires cubic feet and pounds because that is what we studied back then!)

So, this oscilloscope had some spinning wheels inside a little screen to indicate if the pitch was sharp or flat. The student would play a note into a hand-held microphone as a sample. The teacher had to know transposition, as the machine was smart-nothing! To top it off, this “tuner” was likely the most expensive piece of equipment in the music program. Yet, despite all of its drawbacks, I wish today that I had one, just for the cool vintage factor, but I seriously doubt I would put it in my trumpet case to take with me!

Today there are so many good options for students and teachers to use, none of which weighs more than a few grams. This article is just about considering which digital technology to use, either cell phone apps or dedicated handheld equipment, as there are positives and negatives to both sides.

Cell Phone Apps for Tuners and Metronomes

On the plus side, there are numerous cell phone tuning apps available free for download. For tuner apps, there are many good options and many different styles of tuner displays. There are rotating displays, needle displays, or linear displays. There are also tuner apps that are designed for the six strings of a guitar, the four strings of a ukulele, or the four strings of a bass.

The best choice of a phone tuner app for concert band would be one that is chromatic (all pitches) and can transpose for you if you are unable to do it for yourself. It would also have a clear display free from too many distractions such as ads. The app would also be able to adjust the pitch target up and down from the normal A=440.

Smartphone metronome apps also come in all sorts of styles. In the same way, look for one that is clear, accurate, and easy to read and use.

Now I have heard some folks tell me that the cell phone apps are not precise enough in their measurement of pitches to make them a valuable tool to use in class. That might be true if one considers the quality of the microphones that are typically used in cell phones.

Yet, I have no way of assessing that belief at this time, and I think a few much larger issues should be considered in this debate. First, the amount that a cell phone tuning app will be off the correct pitch will be minimal as compared to the students' “out-of-tune-ness” we hear each day. In other words, the phone being “off” is practically nothing as compared to the students being “off.” Maybe that is the least of our worries right now.

Yet, the biggest drawback that I see with cell phone apps for tuners and metronomes is that they are slow, clunky, filled with ads, and difficult to work with as compared to a dedicated hand-held tuner. Smart cell phones are neither smart nor cell phones. They are small dedicated computers, which also can act as phones among their many other capabilities. As such, cell phone tuner apps do not have dedicated controls, but rather a touch screen where programmers can create “touch buttons” to make adjustments while using the tuning app.

For example, if you were using a metronome app on a smartphone, and you wanted to adjust the tempo up from the last tempo input, you would press and hold a screen button and wait while it scrolls up from say 60 beats per minute to 150 beats per minute. If I was doing the same task on my dedicated metronome unit, I would grab the rotating dial and quickly whip it up to 150 bpm within a second, literally. The difference of say 5 or 6 seconds may not seem like much, but to students with a micro attention span, that time is an eternity!

The same concept is true of tuner apps. How many on-screen buttons would you have to press to get the tuner to raise the pitch to say A=444? Do you need to go to another screen to do this? On my dedicated tuner, there is an up button and a down button. I can press one button four times in no more than 2 seconds, and it is ready to go.

Here is a lesson that is being lost in our rush to digitize the world. Dedicated equipment will always be faster, more accurate, and easier to use than generic equipment because it is built to do just one task and only that one task! If someone asks me the time, I can flick my wrist and have it in my head in a half-second, but it will take me longer to get my phone out and press a button or two and wait for the phone to boot up.

Now here is another thought that should be considered regarding cell phone apps vs dedicated tuners and metronomes. My digital tuner is worth about $20 dollars, literally. A good one might be more like $30, but that is a far, far distance from the $600+ that my cell phone costs! I have seen dropped tuners more times than I can count. They have fallen off of tables, music stands, and chairs, dropped out of hands, and been tossed across the room! Most of the time they keep on working, but I certainly would not want to risk that with a cell phone.

Still, if you looked at my phone you would find a tuner app and a metronome app. I keep them there in case I am stuck with no other options. But, I keep my tuner and metronome in my trumpet case so that they are always with me when I go to play or conduct, and put them back in the case when I am done. They are one of the most valuable investments for so little money. Dedicated students and teachers should consider it a must.

Now, there is one more thought for the use of cell phones as tuners and metronomes. That is, they may be helping to encourage the use of a tool in classrooms that is more akin to toys. In other words, I didn’t want my students to bring in cell phones and have that temptation during rehearsal when most students see cell phones as a place to play games, socialize, and waste time, rather than a place to help them complete their work.

Most people, not just students, have games on their phones as well as texting and social media apps. Having that phone available and within eyesight is a huge temptation to pick it up and get another endorphin rush with a game or text. Until we reach the day when people can resist that desire, most band teachers would rather not have the cell phone within sight or sound. Using a dedicated tuner and metronome in class simply does not provide that temptation, and in my opinion, is well worth the investment.

Asking your section leaders to do the same will help reinforce that standard for your classes. You could even provide the tuners and metronomes to your section leaders as a loaner, though I have never found it difficult to convince students and parents that purchasing them is worthwhile. Many parents will purchase them as Christmas or birthday gifts to help support their musicians.

If you would like some suggestions, contact your Tapestry rep, or visit the TapestryMusic.com website to view some tuner and metronome options. Just be thankful they don’t still weigh 12 pounds each!