How it works
A 144 BPM metronome clicks at Chopin's mark for his Etude Op. 10 No. 2. Wikipedia's article on the etude gives it as quarter note = 144, and names playing its chromatic scale evenly at that tempo as the difficulty.
Read the full guide
Start
Tap the pad, or press Space, to run the click at 144 with a higher note on beat one of four. The next tap ends it.
Change the tempo
Tap the number under the pad to enter a tempo of your own, or nudge this one with minus and plus, a beat a minute a press.
Questions and answers
Which piano piece is marked 144 BPM?
Chopin's Etude Op. 10 No. 2. Wikipedia's article says every later editor but one kept his 144; the exception suggested 114. The Mutopia Project's edition, set from the Peters score, prints Allegro, quarter note = 144, in 4/4: four dots here, one bar there.
Is 144 BPM the same as half note = 72?
Yes in speed: two clicks make one half note, and half of 144 is 72, by our sum. Wikipedia notes that a copy of the autograph of Chopin's etude reads cut time, the bar counted in half notes, though its first editions print common time.
Is 144 BPM allegro or vivace?
Allegro. Wikipedia's list of tempo markings holds 144 in two ranges: Allegro, fast and bright, at 120 to 156, and the livelier Molto allegro or Allegro vivace at 124 to 156. Vivace begins at 156. By the list's own warning, no word fixes a figure.
Do wind-up metronomes have a 144?
The usual ones do. Wikipedia's Metronome article lists the most common scale, and 144 is its last step of six (126, 132, 138, 144) before the steps widen to eight. The next notch up is therefore 152, with nothing marked between.
Why can't I hear the metronome?
Most often a phone is muted at its ring switch or its volume is right down; sometimes the click is playing through Bluetooth headphones left in a bag. The dots do not wait for sound: all four go on lighting, bar after bar.