Rhythm

Physical Expression of Rhythm. Rhythm is fundamentally a muscular rather than an auditory experience, and should be taught as this. Our natural impulse to a march or strong downbeats is to keep time in our bodies. In training the student in rhythm it is important to develop the physical awareness and response to the beat. The simplest form of this drill is to tap the hand or the foot synonymous with time keeping. Note that much music in 4/4 measure has the feeling of two beats to the measure, as has much music in 6/8 time.

Clapping. From the first lesson the students should clap the music. The hands are clapped for each note and held together during the value of the note. For a long note the hands are held lightly together with a slight swing at the moment of each beat. Between the notes the hands must be separated briefly to prepare to clap again. For a rest, the hands should be separated with a definite motion, the opposite of the clapping motion. For notes, hands move towards each other; for rests, away from each other.

Clapping the music is an excellent device for clarifying the meaning of the notes with respect to time. Students readily distinguish between quicker and slower motions of hands, and apply this analysis to the notation of their music.

Phrase Rhythm. The relationship of the phrase rhythm and the beat is too often taught in reverse order, on the assumption that the beat will eventually develop a feeling for the phrase. Rather, the reverse is true. In fact, a degree of relaxation between the phrases is desirable, even sometimes with a slight interruption of strict time. Every phrase should be played as a unit, just as it should be sung to one breath. Understanding keyboard phrasing is also fundamental to sight reading.

Counting Time. Counting time really presupposes an understanding of rhythmic experience. Otherwise it is mechanical and loses its musical significance. In the earliest years, occasionally the piano teacher may count time, especially in connection with a discussion of time values and signatures. But students should be introduced to counting and rhythm shortly thereafter and introduced to listening to music to actually hear the beat in music that they may duplicate the experience in playing pieces. Counting and rhythm are not the same thing. Rhythm has much more to do with groupings of notes and accents. Counting has to do with actualizing the time signature per measure.

For more information about learning tempo in classical music, contact Barbara Ehrlich Piano Studios.

Ear Training and Imitation

Music is primarily a matter of hearing; why not use the ear in piano playing? Some teachers believe that playing "by ear" leads to carelessness and indfference to the exactness of the keyboard sheet music. When you think about it, though, much early musical experience happens naturally through imitation. The imitative faculty is one of the child's strongest means of development, one of his most effective ways of learning. Why not let the young student study to utilize this powerful process in ways that are most effective?

The only potential problem with imitation is failing to develop the child's powers of initiative and independent effort. But this failure is not due either to the use of or neglect of the child's natural tendency for imitation. It really means that the piano teacher is not terribly inventive herself to take advantage of this great natural gift and use it to further growth. It is the teacher's, not the child's, limitation.

Here are some steps that could help piano students grow in mastering music notation by learning to play by ear and imitation:

1. The student learns to sing a song
2. By imitation, combined with the use of his own "ear," the student learns to express the melody on the piano as well as vocally. Note that this process makes the piano an instrument of self-expression from the very beginning, and not just a medium of impressions.
3. The student is shown the notation of the song, printed both as a song and also as a piano "variation," with the phrases in various octaves on both the treble and bass staves. He plays the familiar material in the various ways.
4. Marginal material summarizes the essential tonal content of the song. The student uses this marginal material for sight reading and technical drill.

After repeated experiences the student acquires two powers: a) to progress through each of the above processes more rapidly and accurately; b) to discover similar tonal progressions in new material and to learn the new music without assistance.

For more information about piano lessons NJ, contact Barbara Ehrlich Piano Studio.