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In this clever and thoughtful exploration, Matthew Birkhold reveals how a simple ticking device became both liberator and tyrant, reshaping not just how we make music but how we understand rhythm, precision, and ultimately, our own humanity. * Christopher Cerrone, Composer, and Faculty, Mannes School of Music, The New School, USA * Matthew Birkhold reveals the fascinating history of the metronome that not only covers music, but touches upon dance, art, education, philosophy, physics, psychology, and sports medicine. Devised by Johann Nepomuk Maelzel in 1815, Beethoven was an early supporter, but soon Maelzel’s metronome (the original M.M.) inspired passionate debates amongst musicians, conductors, composers, pedagogues, and musicologists. Birkhold has successfully unveiled the deeper meanings of an innocuous device that spells out perfect time, as opposed to human time. An illuminating read. * Fumi Tomita, Associate Professor of Jazz, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA *

Author Information

Matthew H. Birkhold is Associate Professor of German at Ohio State University, USA. He is the author of Chasing Icebergs (2023) and Characters before Copyright (2019). His writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, The Paris Review, Foreign Affairs, and Atlas Obscura.

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