“Is a Physically Gifted Student Likely to be Rhythmically Reliable and Musically Aware?”
Anyone who has taught piano or any other instrument for more than a short time invariably must deal with one of the major challenges facing a music teacher. That is, becoming a good player simultaneously involves diverse kinds of learning: perceptual, physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, etc. To make...
How do you teach the rhythm challenges in Debussy’s Clair de lune?
March 2010; Vol. 2, No. 2
In this department over the past thirteen years, many authors and myself have alluded to two different meanings of the term “rhythm.” Prosaic rhythm (also called counting rhythm) is the mere timing of events decoded from the printed page using counting or other methods. Poetic rhythm is much broader, encompassing virtually everything...
Can young students learn rhythmic flexibility?
November 2011; Vol. 3, No. 6
It has been said by many that in music, rhythm is what happens between the beats. That is true, yet those words don’t sufficiently communicate what we actually experience in rhythm. Much of what we teach is from notation, an inherently artificial and scant symbolic...
What aspects of teaching rhythm are the most difficult for your intern teachers?”
March 2011; Vol. 3, No. 2
Yes, you may remember seeing this same topic previously in this Department—twice! When pedagogy teachers are confronted with this question (either artificially by us in this magazine, or in reality in their classrooms by the inherent complexity of helping other people learn how to teach...
Why should I consider having my piano tuned in anything but equal temperament?
July 2011; Vol. 3, No. 4
Three years ago my piano technician, Robert Guenther, asked me if I wanted to try out a well-tempered tuning on my 1913 Steinway Model O. We have known each other for decades so he was aware of my interest in the science of music, including...
What is the “Practice Toolbox” You Use With Your Students?
May 2012; Vol. 4, No. 3
Helping our students learn how to achieve expression, ease, and accuracy in their playing requires that we impart effective practice procedures. Some of these involve the how of playing, what we commonly call technique: awareness of how we move and use our bodies; how to...
How Do You Decipher Rhythms When Transcribing the Recordings of Bill Evans?
March 2012; Vol. 4, No. 2
I have been a devotee of the music of jazz pianist Bill Evans since my early teenage years. I own many of his recordings and have listened to them numerous times over the decades, constantly hearing new things in them. I also was fortunate to hear...
What are the Most Important Rhythmic Skills for the Early-Level Student?
July 2012; Vol. 4, No. 4
I remember the first time I heard Elvina Pearce talk about piano teaching. I was a doctoral candidate in piano performance and pedagogy at Northwestern University in the mid-1980s, and a special class of master’s and doctoral students was assembled so that “Mrs. Pearce” could...