How it works
A 50 BPM metronome clicks once every 1.2 seconds. Beethoven chose this number: German Wikipedia's article on his Sixth Symphony prints his 1817 metronome mark for the second movement, the Scene by the Brook, as dotted quarter note = 50.
Read the full guide
Start
Tap the pad, or press Space, and the slow click starts on beat one of a bar of four. Tap again to stop.
Change the tempo
Tap the number under the pad and type another, or nudge it with minus and plus. Any whole tempo from 1 to 1000 plays.
Questions and answers
What tempo marking is 50 BPM?
Five slow markings in Wikipedia's list of basic tempo markings include 50: Largo and Lento begin at 40, Larghetto and Adagio at 44 and Adagietto at 46. The list adds that its figures are rough and that a word alone never fixes a number.
What music is played at 50 BPM?
One example with the composer's own figure is the brook scene of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony. The table that prints its mark gives the bar as 12/8, which holds four dotted quarter notes, so the four dots on this pad make one bar of it.
Is 50 on a mechanical metronome?
Yes. Wikipedia's Metronome article says a mechanical metronome usually runs from 40 to 208, and in the most common arrangement the slow end goes up in twos as far as 60. That makes 50 a marked setting, between 48 and 52.
Why can't I hear the metronome?
Wait for two clicks first: at this tempo they are over a second apart. Then check the ring switch on a phone, the volume, and whether Bluetooth headphones have the sound. The dots go on marking each beat in silence.