Heartbeat, running step, sense of rhythm

Just as the beat of our heart and the ticking of the clock set the rhythm in our lives, the metronome sets the tempo in music.
When Johann Nepomuk Mälzel invented the mechanical metronome around 200 years ago, he turned musical time into a measurable quantity. Since then, the incorruptible ticking device has been a natural part of a musician's equipment. But in the wake of digitalization, the metronome as a physical object is disappearing. For the Museum of Music in Basel, this was reason enough to dedicate a special exhibition to the metronome. Despite the limited exhibition space available to the curators there, they shed light on the subject of tempo and beat from all angles - from the perception of one's own heartbeat to the sense of time in interpersonal relationships.

The first room in the basement provides direct, interactive access. Here you can measure your own pulse, which averages 60 to 100 beats per minute at rest. With the speed information obtained in this way, you step onto a treadmill where you can immediately experience the speed of your own heartbeat physically as a running speed. It is a pity that there is no direct link to the musical tempo: The treadmill cannot be set to speeds such as "presto", "andante" or similar.

At another station, visitors can test their precision by playing a rhythmic pattern and discover that it is impossible to be as precise as a machine - a fact that has led to the development of the "humanizer" effect, which also builds minimal inaccuracies into programmed beats to make them sound more human. You can determine which tempo you prefer for different pieces of music at a listening station that shows you songs at different speeds, each with increments of 40 bpm (beats per minute). This is such a big difference that the sample songs either sound like music from the crypt or like the product of mad Mickey Mice. A lower degree of graduation might have led to results that could have been taken more seriously.

A display wall on the upper floor is dedicated to the history and construction of the metronome, which is based on the principle of the pendulum. Here, too, visitors can lend a hand by using a pendulum model to try out how the frequency of the beats decreases or increases with different chain lengths, or by moving a weight up or down on an oversized metronome so that the tempo indicated by the swaying hand changes. The 175 metronomes, clocks and musical timepieces from British collector Tony Bingham are also on display in large glass cabinets on the upper floor. Because the acoustic level is actually an inseparable part of these devices, the polyphonic sound of the metronomes is played from time to time via loudspeaker. The large number of collector's items, which cover a period of 200 years, also makes it possible to experience the passing of time in another way, as the various materials and designs, from gold leaf to red plastic, demonstrate just how much the world has changed in this period.

Exhibits and film clips provide insights into other uses of the metronome, which was not only used to set the beat in music lessons, but also as a research tool. For example, Pavlov's famous experiment with the dog was initially carried out with a metronome. And finally, the metronome inspired composers such as György Ligeti and Mauricio Kagel to use it as a musical instrument.

The fact that the beats of a metronome can have an almost sensual quality is shown by the Al-Pen-Del by Swiss artist Lukas Rohner, which was created especially for the special exhibition at the Museum of Music. A large milk churn is suspended from a long rope in the stairwell. When this milk churn pendulum is set in motion, it touches ringing cowbells as it slowly moves back and forth. This is how the Al-Pen-Del The result is a meditative atmosphere: a giant metronome that counteracts the hectic hustle and bustle of everyday life with a decelerated tempo.