How it works
An 88 BPM metronome beats the parade step of the French Foreign Legion. Wikipedia's article on the Legion gives it an 88-step-a-minute march, says legionnaires call it the crawl, and adds that the slowness puts them last in any parade.
Read the full guide
Start
Tap the pad, or press Space, and 88 begins: four clicks a bar, beat one above the rest. The next tap ends it.
Change the tempo
To hear the 116 that the Legion's article gives other French units, tap the number under the pad and type it. Minus and plus move one beat at a time.
Questions and answers
Why is the 88 BPM march so slow?
Tradition, by the official account. Wikipedia's article on the French Foreign Legion says the rule seems no older than 1945 and was explained as a return to the slow step of the foreign regiments of France's old royal army, the Legion's forerunners.
Which symphony opens at 88?
Beethoven's Ninth, in 2/4. Wikipedia's article on the symphony lists its first movement, Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso, at quarter note = 88. One click is a quarter note, so each bar of four here covers two bars of the score.
What is 88 BPM in tempo words?
Andante, moderately slow, which Wikipedia's list of tempo markings stretches from 56 to 108. Andantino and Andante moderato, both 80 to 108, cover it as well, and Moderato begins at 108. The list warns that its figures are very rough and vary by composer.
Is 88 a notch on a pendulum metronome?
On the usual one, yes. In the arrangement Wikipedia's Metronome article gives as the most common, the numbers from 76 to 120 stand four apart, and 88 is one of them, with 84 under it and 92 over it. Not every maker follows it.
Why can't I hear the metronome?
Three usual culprits on a phone: the ring switch flipped to silent, the volume at nothing, or Bluetooth headphones playing it somewhere else. The count goes on regardless: four dots light in order, the large one on beat one.