The school of music at Queen's University Belfast has appealed for 100 metronomes to keep it ticking over when it performs an unusual musical premiere. This year's Sonorities Music Festival includes a performance of Poeme Symphonique by Gyorgy Ligeti, for which an array of metronomes is needed.

The mechanical timekeepers will all have to be set at different speeds and started simultaneously during the performance.

School of music lecturer Michael Alcorn insists no common or garden 'nome will do and says that the ones needed must be in good order and at least 15 centimetres high.

"At this point we are collecting information about people who are willing to lend us their metronomes," Alcorn says.