metronomes...mmm

Metronomes....our time keeping devices. Some days you might love them, others, want to simply hurl them across the room and smash them to smithereens. But of course they're a necessary evil that we must practice with to ensure strict rhythm. I actually enjoy playing with a metronome sometimes...not sure why, but it sort of dictates you how fast you can go, no faster, no slower. In any case, playing with a metronome actually shouldn't be the crime most people make it out to be. In fact, if you're playing with it correctly, you really shouldn't hear the clicking at all (assuming you play an instrument louder than your metronome) because you should be playing exactly with it and thus covering the beat. Often times though, I find myself listening for the metronome to make sure I'm with it, and thus playing slightly after the click. I suppose if you're extremely consistent doing this, its not a bad thing (and would actually help when playing with orchestras who like playing slightly after a conductor's downbeat), but I would argue (and for all of you who hate playing with a metronome might use this as an excuse) that metronomes encourage playing late to the downbeat. Simply because most people are waiting to hear the beat to play with. Of course if you have good rhythm and know the pulse, this shouldn't and won't happen, but I'm just saying its a tendency which happens easily. Speaking of good pulse, have you ever been listening to pop music (or any other music in which the tempo stays exactly the same) and you leave the room short for a moment to where the music goes out of earshot, and you're singing along in your head, thinking you're with the music still, and when you come back, you're off by a beat, or heaven forbid a couple? For orchestral musicians, this is simply just blasphemy, but I'll bet it happens to the best of you. Its a test I'd like to give many of the jurors (and fellow orchestral musicians) sitting behind those screens in auditions, tapping away their pencils as if they're God's gift to perfect rhythm. After all, I wonder if they were all looking at each other's tapping whether they'd even agree with one another. Just a thought.