A Day in the Life: Metronomes... Who needs 'em?

So today I learned the importance of metronomes. Oh, all my music life people have been telling me the importance of metronomes, and I always ignored them. Why? Why would somebody as bad at counting as me reject something as helpful as a metronome? A few reasons. First, I was just lazy. I usually played through my orchestra repertoire once a day, without going over any problem spots, and then I would go straight to playing Kingdom Hearts songs on my flute for an hour. That was practice, haha. Also, the constant ticking of the metronome set off anxiety and made me nervous, and unable to play right.
But today... I was practicing Sergei Prokofiev's flute sonata, and I've been having a terrible time with that piece, allright? It is super difficult, full of awkward fingerings and insane high register gymnastics. I've been listening to the Marina Piccinini version, admiring her control and tone. She plays it with beautiful energy, and her interpretation of the piece makes it soar. However, her interpretation is also taking it way above tempo. Prokofiev's metronome marking on the music is Quarter note =80. Today I decided to actually take my teacher's advice, and I played problem spots of the sonata with the metronome. The first thing I noticed that I was actually getting way ahead of it. It was then that the sun came out and I realized that I didn't have to play it as fast as Marina Piccinini for it to sound good. In fact, this is the tempo that Prokofiev actually wanted. Most people play it faster than that, but who says that I have to take it that fast right now? When I'm older and more experienced I can tackle it at a faster tempo. For now, 80 works for me!
Working with the metronome made it easier for me to coordinate one of the most nightmarish passages in all of flute literature- the dreaded high d triplets! With a metronome, you can make it sound a little less slushy and messy, because you know when the downbeat is coming, and you can better pace your notes!

So, what is the point of this post? Using a metronome can really make your day. Give it a chance, even if you hate them, because you might be pleasantly surprised at how you play with one!

And no, the council of metronomes did not pay me off for this post.