About Me

    Andrew SwinneyAuthor, Performer, Teacher

    Who Am I?

    Hi, I'm Andrew. I'm a French horn player, performer, and teacher. I've performed with the Baton Rouge Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, and the Milwaukee Symphony. I was a student at the Aspen Music Festival and performed with the Chicago Civic Orchestra. My primary teachers included Seth Orgel, Greg Flint, and David Wakefield.

    I grew up in rural south Louisiana with pretty limited resources. As a teacher, I taught in low-income areas and saw how challenging it can be for students to have access to the tools they needed to improve. So, I decided to make the site I wish I had, and my students had.

    My goal is to make The Online Metronome the best digital and free resource for music students.

    But I can't do it alone.

    I need your feedback about ideas you would like to see articles on and tools you would find helpful. Maintaining the site also has a cost, so if you enjoy seeing this site free of ads, please consider making a donation through Paypal. If 1% donated a dollar per month, we would have the site funded for years to come.

    Practice makes perfect, right?

    If only it were that easy. Getting great at an instrument requires more than practice, it requires mindful practice. What's the difference? Mindful practice comes when you are focused and have the right tools to work through any problems you might encounter.

    On The Online Metronome, you'll find all the tools you need to answer musical questions and practice smarter. Things like:

    Online Metronome: Our metronome works from 20 bpm to 300 bpm and allows you to practice with either eighth-note or sixteenth-note subdivisions. On this page, you'll also find some tips for practicing with a metronome more effectively and a quick guide to checking tempo ranges in beats per minute.

    Instrument Tuner: This chromatic tuner works with any instrument and displays pitches in concert pitch. You can use it to tune your instrument or check the intonation for a specific pitch. This tuner is a needle tuner, which gives you a visual indication of pitch accuracy. On this page, you'll also find tips for practicing with a tuner and tuning members of chords.

    Piano Drones: This keyboard will play drones for whichever pitch you select. This can be very helpful if you are a vocalist or brass player looking for a reference pitch. It's also a great way to practice intonation in a specific key.

    Practice Journals: Documenting your practice sessions is critical for improvement. It helps you keep track of your problems and learning so you can discuss them with your teacher in your next lesson. We have several templates you can use.

    Musical Blog: If you're looking for practice inspiration, tips, or tricks, check out the blog. If you're interested in contributing to the blog, please check out the support page.

    This is a passion project for me born out of a want to create an ad-free space where students of any age could access useful musical tools without being tracked or marketed to. If you would like to support this project, please consider making a donation using the link below or by reading more about this project on our support page. If everyone who visited this site in just 1 week gave $1.00, we'd be able to cover the costs for 5 years.