How it works
A 69 BPM metronome sets the pace for the long introduction that opens Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. Wikipedia's article on the symphony gives that Poco sostenuto the metronome mark quarter note = 69, which makes each click here one quarter note.
Read the full guide
Start
Tap the pad, or press Space, for 69. No click is raised above the rest, so the bar is whatever you count over it. The next tap on the pad stops the click.
Change the tempo
Tap the number under the pad and type a tempo, or step with minus and plus. Type 104 for the Vivace that the introduction leads into: the same article marks it dotted quarter note = 104.
Questions and answers
Is 69 BPM too fast for adagio?
Narrowly, by the usual figures. Wikipedia's list of tempo markings ends Adagio, Larghetto and Largo at 66. Three words hold 69: Andante (56 to 108), Adagietto (46 to 80) and the march-like Marcia moderato (66 to 80). The list stresses how rough its numbers are.
Why is a fast movement marked 69?
Because the mark counts a long note. Wikipedia's article on Beethoven's Eighth Symphony prints the first movement, in 3/4, as Allegro vivace e con brio, dotted half note = 69: a click to each whole bar, 207 quarter notes a minute by our sum.
Do metronomes have a 69 setting?
The usual wind-up scale does. Wikipedia's Metronome article lists the most common layout of that scale: threes through 63, 66, 69 and 72, then fours from 76. So 69 has a notch where 68 and 70 have none. This pad takes any whole tempo.
Why can't I hear the metronome?
On a phone, three things silence a click: the ring switch, a volume slider resting at zero, and Bluetooth headphones that have taken the sound. The 69 carries on regardless, as two dots swapping sides on the pad.