What this tempo test measures
A metronome is a crutch in the best sense: while it clicks, it quietly corrects you on every beat. This test takes the crutch away. You get four beats to hear the tempo and eight to lock in with it, and then the click goes silent and you keep tapping for sixteen beats on your own. Everything you tap in that silence is the sound of your inner clock.
At the end you get three numbers. Tempo you held is the typical tempo of your silent beats. Start to finish follows a line drawn through all your silent beats, so it shows whether you gradually sped up or slowed down, and by how much. Tap to tap is how far individual beats strayed from that line, as a percentage of the tempo. Your steady score combines how close you stayed to the given tempo, drift included, with how even your beats were.
What your score means
| Score | Range | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Rock steady | 85-100 | You held the tempo within a couple of percent and your taps stayed even. A band could set its clock by you. |
| Steady | 65-84 | A reliable inner clock with a little drift or a little unevenness. Great for playing with others. |
| Finding it | 40-64 | The pulse is there and carries you through, with some movement. Usually a counting habit away from steady. |
| Warming up | 0-39 | A common first result, especially at 60 BPM. The quickest band to climb out of with the tips below. |
Three ways to steady your inner clock
Count the space between beats. Drift lives in the gaps. Count "one and two and" or "one e and a" in your head, and the gaps stop being empty time you have to guess across. This matters most at slow tempos, which is why rushing gets worse at slow tempos.
Practise with the click switching off. Play along with a metronome for a few bars, then mute it for a few bars and listen for whether you land back on it when it returns. It is this test, turned into a daily habit.
Measure your timing as well as your tempo. Holding a tempo and landing each beat cleanly are related but different skills. Try the rhythm test for the second one, and how to improve your timing for why measuring the result is what makes practice work.
Questions about tempo tests
What does the steady tempo test measure?
Does my device's audio delay affect the result?
Why do I speed up when the click stops?
Is this tempo test free?
Build a clock that holds.
Metro Gnome's Speed Trainer steps the tempo up bar by bar, and Groove Check scores your playing through the microphone on the same consistency principle as this test. Free, no account, no subscription.
Get it Free on Google PlayUse this on your own site
This test embeds on any website with one line of HTML, free, with no sign up and no API key. Music teachers, choirs, studios and band programmes are welcome to put the steady tempo test straight onto a lesson or resources page rather than sending students elsewhere. Get the embed code.