How it works
Metronome 72 is the mark over the finale of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony: the score example in Wikipedia's article on the symphony is headed Allegro con brio, half note = 72.
Read the full guide
Start
Tap the pad, or press Space: the higher click opens each bar of four at 72. Tap once more to stop.
Change the tempo
Tap the number under the pad and type a new one, such as 144 for the quarter notes of a half-note 72, or nudge it with minus and plus.
Questions and answers
What does half note = 72 mean?
Seventy-two half notes pass in a minute, so each click is a half note and not a quarter. The Seventh's finale is in 2/4, where a half note fills the bar: one click a bar, and the four dots on this pad span four bars.
Is 72 BPM andante or adagio?
Andante, which Wikipedia's list of tempo markings runs from 56 to 108. Two narrower ranges reach 72: Adagietto (46 to 80) and Marcia moderato, the pace of a moderate march (66 to 80). Adagio stops at 66. The list warns its numbers are rough.
Why does a metronome jump from 72 to 76?
Because 72 is where the threes end. In the usual wind-up scale, set out in Wikipedia's Metronome article, the notches run 63, 66, 69, 72 and then switch to fours: 76, 80, 84. Other scales exist, and the number here takes 73, 74 and 75.
Which other piece is marked 72?
The Andante maestoso in the finale of Beethoven's Ninth: the table of movements in Wikipedia's article on that symphony gives it half note = 72 in 3/2. Three clicks make one of its bars, so this pad's bar of four does not line up.
Why can't I hear the metronome?
Check the ring switch on a phone's side, then the volume, then whether Bluetooth headphones are holding the sound. The four dots light one after another whether or not the click is heard, so the bar stays readable.