Metronome, friend or enemy?

I finally broke down and bought myself a metronome.  Although, I don’t really know how I feel about it.  As a songwriter/composer, I admit they are helpful, because actually writing music down on paper is like confining sound to note and measure and rhythm, it’s a process of bringing chaos to order.  But I still rebel against it…perhaps because of all those hours as a kid practicing for my piano lessons, perhaps because I like a little chaos in my creation, and perhaps because the ticking is just really obnoxious.

from Flickr user remmahesor

So sometimes I use the metronome, sometimes I don’t.  I suppose it depends most on my mood…today’s a metronome day, at least for a little while. I could use some imposed order.