Developing A Better Sense Rhythm

I have recently been struggling with the some new pieces I am learning. My teacher says I play very beatifully (tone, touch, phrasing), but then there comes a point that a note is rushed and that really destroys the beatiful shape of the music. I tried recording myself as well and I notice that happens very often, especially when playing something in 3/4 time - I tend to rush the 3rd beat (playing it to early) and then rush the 1st beat of the next bar, and as a result many times the songs get a feel of 2/4 instead of 3/4. I tried using the metronome for very slow practice this morning and I found it very difficult not to play slightly ahead of the beat. Alan recommends creating the illusion that playing the beat note causes the metronome to click, but I find it very challenging so far (I succeed about 1 in 4 times). Another thing I noticed is that certain physical movements can throw off my sense of pulse. I think partly has to do with the fact that I still need to learn the notes better so I can totally focus on listening to myself and have accurate control of the pulse. Do you have any suggestions regarding how to develop a more solid sense of pulse? What is your experience with intermediate level students? Some things I am going to try: * more metronome practice, especially in very slow beat (40bpm or less) * recording myself and listening * Rhythmic excercise away from the piano - trying to sing the rhythm and conduct it at the same time. Thanks, Zack

I have recently been struggling with the some new pieces I am learning. My teacher says I play very beatifully (tone, touch, phrasing), but then there comes a point that a note is rushed and that really destroys the beatiful shape of the music. I tried recording myself as well and I notice that happens very often, especially when playing something in 3/4 time - I tend to rush the 3rd beat (playing it to early) and then rush the 1st beat of the next bar, and as a result many times the songs get a feel of 2/4 instead of 3/4. Not that I'd recommend throwing out the metronome or anything, but try doing plenty of your practise without it entirely and simply trying to feel extremely settled and stable on every note and listening in for a sense of both length and definition on every tone. Keeping to a slower beat gives still gives some sense of urgency that you have to get between two points within a strictly defined time limit. Sometimes you want to dispense with even the faintest trace of having to get somewhere in limited time, and simply feel your way around as slowly as you please. I think there's a massive correlation between the feeling of having settled physically (while still feeling involved with the sound) and the inability to rush melodic notes. Honestly- it really should feel like you're literally to play the next melody note if you have not yet settled on the first- even in semiquavers. While I have plenty of technical issues and musical issues to improve on, I honestly find it almost impossible to rush the vast majority of melodic notes (although I do often go the other way and tend to dwell on them for too long at times- personally I'm more on the side where I probably ought to tighten a lot more things up). If you have to get somewhere within a time limit, it's easy to miss that all-important feeling of settling and letting the sound resonate. Forward planning is generally a good thing, but sometimes it actually interferes with musicality and even technique (when you end up getting away before you had time to stabilise the balance). At times, it's even good to play every individual note as if it were a single entitity- and only go on to think of how you are going to connect to the next one a couple of seconds after you played it. Metronome practise can be good, but instead of trying to predict where notes are meant to fall try simply listening for long connected sounds and monitoring the physical balance. It may well make it easier to avoid impulsiveness when you go back to a metronome.

Interior counting helps it sounds trivial but programming the brain to think rythmically from the beginning of a piece does improve the memorization process and the rythm. Many pianists count ALL the time.It's not that easy it's like adding another hand (or foot playing the organ). The metronome is unavoidable when it comes to sorting things out and to "get the rythm" but in the end interior counting (or loud) has to take over. Personally I count not necessarily 1-2-3-4 I use whatever sequence (like 1-12 and then 1-8) according to the phrase and breathing. Listening and getting involved in very rythmic music helps like gypsy jiddish salza. Playing a lot with an ensamble might be a good idea. I have the same problem myself and struggle with it all the time.

Have you done the exercises in the book version of or not): Take some easy piece that has very regular pulse notes, and practice literally trying to the piano on the pulse chords but not doing it anywhere else. Rhythm is a right brain phenomenon. You have to figure out a way to get it over from your left brain (where it seems to be living now) to your right brain... Rhythm needs to be felt in the body. It needs to be visceral and tangible. What Andrew is telling you to do achieves this in an excellent way. Somewhere in I tell the reader to push a friend hard enough that the friend almost falls off the chair: THAT's a good sense of pulse, although achieved in a somewhat grosser way than Andrews fine recommendations! AFF

Not that I'd recommend throwing out the metronome or anything, but try doing plenty of your practise without it entirely and simply trying to feel extremely settled and stable on every note and listening in for a sense of both length and definition on every tone. Keeping to a slower beat gives still gives some sense of urgency that you have to get between two points within a strictly defined time limit. Sometimes you want to dispense with even the faintest trace of having to get somewhere in limited time, and simply feel your way around as slowly as you please. I think there's a massive correlation between the feeling of having settled physically (while still feeling involved with the sound) and the inability to rush melodic notes. Honestly- it really should feel like you're literally Sounds like a great idea. I tried playing like this once today and it felt quite different - it was like an exaggarated rubato with extreme lingering on some notes. I wouldn't perform the piece this way, but I do think it will help me perceive the music differently and rush less frequently. While I have plenty of technical issues and musical issues to improve on, I honestly find it almost impossible to rush the vast majority of melodic notes (although I do often go the other way and tend to dwell on them for too long at times- personally I'm more on the side where I probably ought to tighten a lot more things up). I would love to develop the opposite problem. I think it is an important step in finding the balance. Zack

? I would love to try those, except I don't have the book. I have pre-ordered the the 2nd edition and still waiting for it. I would recommend those, plus this next (I can't remember if I wrote about it in or not): Take some easy piece that has very regular pulse notes, and practice literally trying to the piano on the pulse chords but not doing it anywhere else. Rhythm is a right brain phenomenon. You have to figure out a way to get it over from your left brain (where it seems to be living now) to your right brain... Rhythm needs to be felt in the body. It needs to be visceral and tangible. Somewhere in I tell the reader to push a friend hard enough that the friend almost falls off the chair: THAT's a good sense of pulse! Hope this helps! AFF I will definitely try this. Should the pushing also have a metric accent or simply outline the beat notes? Also, to make sure I understand the excercise correctly - it is OK if this will sound horrible and "bangy"- we are intentionally exaggarating the feeling of the beat so that we keep a physical residual of it when playing "normally", right?

I would push on the metric accents only, not on every beat note... And I think, if you then it won't necessarily sound bangy. I suppose it might, but try to get a kind of a push going that makes the metric accent "oomphy" more than bangy... It's a little bit more controlled than a bang would be... The good news is, the 2nd edition is very close to being finished, in the very final stages of proof correction. It should be out within a month or so... AFF

Sounds like a great idea. I tried playing like this once today and it felt quite different - it was like an exaggarated rubato with extreme lingering on some notes. I wouldn't perform the piece this way, but I do think it will help me perceive the music differently and rush less frequently. Zack Yeah, that's the idea. It's like you're feeling a logical sense of a long stretched out line- rather than dwelling on the notion that any note is supposed to come in any particular place. Although everything is long, it's good to make some notes drastically longer sometimes and only fairly long other times- so everything is 'felt' rather than lined up to anything. I sometimes get students to practise some of their sight-reading with no rhythm whatsoever- but the expectation that every note must be perfect and there is no guessing at all. It's a similar kind of thing here, where the rhythm you feel the better. No rhythm at all (in a way that is different every time) actually makes it less likely to interfere with going back to the correct rhythm, than if it's largely the correct rhythm but with a few diversions. It's so different from normal playing, it cannot interfere with it. It should feel like improvising, with no habits being allowed to determine exactly where any single note is going to go. All you worry about is having long sounds but logical musical connections. Although this is the extreme version, I think that a surprising amount of this carries across into normal playing very usefully- as long as you couple it with regular rhythmic practise. I'd listen to Nyiregyhazi plenty- especially his Nuages Gris by Liszt. His timing has nothing to do with metre but simply a logical flow of connected sounds. The timing is almost entirely down the" feel" for when the sound is ready for the next note to be introduced. Training this feel for dwelling on sounds is a great way to prevent physical habits pushing you ahead. Also, Alan's comment about rhythm being in the body reminds me of Abbey Simon's writings. While a lot of what she wrote is incomprehensible, her explanation of "rhythm" (a word that she basically redefines entirely) is very interesting indeed. It's probably the most useful part of her book.

Just had a look but the Nuages Gris doesn't seem to be on youtube. Could have sworn it was there before. The recitative at the start of this conveys a very similar kind of thing though. In a sense there's scarcely any pulse at all, but just a series of musical connections. Sorry Abbey Whiteside, by the way- not Abbey Simon.

then it won't necessarily sound bangy. I suppose it might, but try to get a kind of a push going that makes the metric accent "oomphy" more than bangy... It's a little bit more controlled than a bang would be... AFF Thanks for clarifying this. I think this is similar to a chapter on the DVD when you say "pump on pulse notes, not on every note" and then make a demonstration of the difference. I find that when I play in slow tempo I need to "push" every beat note. For example, playing a piece in 3/4 time at 60bpm for the quater note I need to push on every quarter note to feel the pulse, although I push less in beats 2 and 3 than I do in 1. If I try not to push at all on beats 2 and 3 I find that the physical pulse is too slow for me to feel. On the other hand, when I play at higher tempo (for example a waltz of 150bmp for the quater note) I "push" only every bar. Overall I think it improves my playing in both cases, but I still need to get more instinctive, as sometimes forget to push and "lose" my place in the beat.