How it works
An 87 BPM metronome clicks exactly 29 bars of waltz a minute, three beats to the bar: the middle of the range the World DanceSport Federation's rules allow in competition. The rules count bars, so the 87 is our sum.
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Start
Tap the pad, or press Space. The click at 87 is level, with no beat raised, so the one, two, three of a waltz is counted over it. A second tap stops it.
Change the tempo
Tap the number under the pad to type another tempo, or nudge it with minus and plus: 84 and 90 are the two ends of that waltz range. A wind-up metronome usually has no 87; the most common scale in Wikipedia's Metronome article goes from 84 to 88.
Questions and answers
Where does 87 BPM fall in the competition waltz range?
At its centre. Rule E.3.2 of the World DanceSport Federation's 2026 rules prints 28 to 30 bars a minute for the Waltz; the 3/4 bar in Wikipedia's Ballroom dance list makes that 84 to 90 beats. Between those ends only 87 fills whole bars.
What does crotchet = 87 mean on a metronome?
Eighty-seven quarter notes a minute. Crotchet is another name for the quarter note: in 4/4 time the beat is 'a crotchet, or quarter note', in the words of Wikipedia's Tempo article. So each click of this pad at 87 is one crotchet.
What is 87 BPM in double time?
174, which has its own metronome here. By our sum that is 58 bars of three, where the World DanceSport Federation's Rule E.3.2 starts the Viennese Waltz (58 to 60 bars a minute). Half time would be 43.5; the field plays whole tempos only.
Is 87 BPM andante on a metronome dial?
On one of three. German Wikipedia's Tempo article pictures a 20th-century German dial with Andante over 76 to 108; Wikipedia's English list gives Andante 56 to 108. The article's Japanese dial puts Maestoso at 87, its French one Larghetto. Both articles call their figures approximate.
Why can't I hear the metronome?
On a phone the click is usually lost to the ring switch, a volume turned right down, or Bluetooth headphones in another room. Watch the pad meanwhile: its two dots change over on every beat of the 87.