It was too obvious, too simple. Yet no one had done it before. Why not teach time and ear training simultaneously? Enter Bruce Arnold’s MetroDrone. For 200 years musicians have been using metronomes to perfect their technique and time sense; and to get their speed up to snuff cleanly and efficiently. But music educator and guitar guru Bruce Arnold had another idea. Why not combine traditional and new time studies with contextual ear training? The result is MetroDrone, an essential new addition to a musician’s toolbox. Used with Arnold’s books on muse-eek.com (or any other books on the subject), the student can practice singing and playing exercises in time and speed them up, thus mastering real-time ear-training recognition and execution. The student can practice ear training even while practicing scales or any other technique on their instrument, and develop amazing speed, using what Mr. Arnold calls “long line rhythm.” And they can do it just about anywhere, it is as portable as an iPod, and the files are downloadable and ready to go. “As soon as I thought it up, I started using it in my own practice regimen,” says Bruce, “and it worked so well all I could think was why didn’t someone else do this ages ago? And then I started having my students use it and they were crazy about it. I also made sure that the drone sound is a real pleasure to listen to, it’s a gorgeous acoustic bass sound, not some annoying electronic-sounding tone.” Arnold started developing a method for using the MetroDrone as its potential became more and more clear, and now a video accompanies Muse-eek.com’s Metrodrone mp3s explaining the many ways to use it. Still, as with all his educational products, Arnold maintains that if a student really wishes to tailor their regimen, they are encouraged to contact him so that he can assess their strengths and needs and assign a specific course of study. “The possibilities for study with the MetroDrone are just about endless. I think up new things almost every time I use it. But of course it is important to focus people on what they need here and now,” says Arnold. “You don’t want to overload them.” “Besides, we can get into the really heavy stuff later,” he adds with a wink. For more information on Bruce Arnold’s cutting edge ear training methods visit Bruce Arnold’s blog or visit http://muse-eek.com.