Yes, metronomes are certainly useful for practice -- they (or an attentive dancer) can alert you to variations in tempo: are your jigs all faster than your reels? B parts slower than A parts? If during practice you can get an idea of appropriate tempos -- perhaps with the help of a caller -- then you can get a feel for those tempos. Use the metronome to check yourself at the beginning and end of a tune or set of tunes. Do you have a tendency to speed up or slow down?

A good dance musician and band use all the cues mentioned above, but for learning, use all the tools available.

A strong rhythm player who has the idea is a good thing, but it's pretty hard to drag the whole band along. Everyone's got to work on it, individually, as well as together.

One last thought - a band of players who are all staring intently at written music will be much less likely to be playing together in time and maintaining good tempos. I'm not entirely against having the dots handy, but you need to know the music well enough that the entire focus is not on the page: ears and eyes elsewhere are essential.

~ Becky in Tucson