• Store
  • Sign-up
  • Sign-in
Menu
Practising the Piano
  • Home
  • Resources
    • Multimedia eBook Series
    • Online Academy
    • Video Lessons
    • Annotated Study Editions
    • Repertoire Resources
    • Piano Technique Resources
    • Amateur Piano Groups & Clubs
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Online Events
    • London Piano Courses
    • Practice Clinics
    • Online Performance Workshops
  • Blog
      • Practising
      • Learning Pieces
      • Technique
      • Performing
      • Teaching
      • Archive
  • About Us
    • Help & Support
    • Contact us
HomeRhythmOn Rhythm: Some Resources

On Rhythm: Some Resources

By Graham Fitch, 2018-10-18 Posted in: Rhythm

A number of pianists report having issues with rhythm. To help solve the problem we need to be able to set a steady pulse and to internalise this as we play, pushing and pulling according to the natural ebb and flow that virtually all music requires. This is vastly different from playing metronomically, since no performance of anything is going to conform to an unbending metronomic beat, and while a certain amount of metronome practice can be beneficial if you know what you’re doing, too much of it ends up being detrimental.

When I was a student at the Royal College of Music, we used Paul Hindemith’s Elementary Training for Musicians as a text book for handling complex rhythms against a steady pulse. Some of the exercises are pretty gruelling, and would challenge anyone. In this exercise, you are required to play the notes with one hand, but a tone higher than written, while tapping the rhythm below the stave on your knee (and then play again in two other stipulated keys). Yes, really…


Hindemith requires what he calls “coordinated action” in the exercises. This might involve speaking the given rhythm while conducting with one hand, or perhaps tapping it with the left hand while conducting with the right, tapping it with the foot while conducting, and so on – a literal embodiment of rhythm.

Rhythmic Training by Robert Starer

There is no doubt that practising the rigorous exercises in Hindemith’s book will prove beneficial for the more advanced player, but let’s start somewhere simpler. I can highly recommend a little book by Robert Starer, entitled Rhythmic Training. It’s been around for years, and is excellent if you follow the directions.

The author states in the preface:

The ability to transform visual symbols of rhythmic notation into time-dividing sounds is an acquired skill. It involves the coordination of physical, psychological, and musical factors and cannot, therefore, be accomplished by the simple act of comprehension. This book represents an attempt to develop and train the ability to read and perform musical rhythms accurately… It is intended for the classroom, for the private studio and for self-training.

The book starts with the basics, how rhythm is organised and with explanations of the concepts of bar line and meter. Starer deals with time signatures (simple and compound), changing meters, rhythmic concepts such as hemiola and polyrhythms. The exercises get harder as the book progresses. As in the Hindemith, you can sing (or vocalise on a neutral syllable) and tap, sing and conduct, play and tap, etc. So, in the following exercise you might conduct with one hand (the “strong-weak-weak” hierarchy represented on the one stave in the stems-down notation) and speak the rhythm (ta-a for the minims, ta for the crotchets; either say “rest” on the rests, or simply say nothing). 

In the final chapter we no longer find notation for the pulse and its suggested subdivisions, the idea is that by now we will have internalised these.

Other Resources

Most of the following resources contain links to Amazon, where you can preview the text to see if it might work for you.

The Rhythm Bible by Dan Fox

Musikal Husky Rhythm Keeper by Steve and Samantha Steitz (only available via Amazon US and EU it seems, although a UK edition is imminent)

Basic Timing for the Pianist by Alan Small

Rhythm Menagerie by Wendy Stevens

Let me leave you with a wonderful example of embodied rhythm, Don Swanson with Nigerian master drummer Baba Ayo Adeyemi.

Tags: hindemithrhythm

Related Posts

An Arpeggio Practice Plan

An Arpeggio Practice Plan

By Graham Fitch, 2014-05-02
Posted in: Practising

If you're preparing your scales and arpeggios for an exam, or if you want to include some as part of your warm-up routine or technical regime, it is a good idea to be creative about how you're going to tackle them day by day. Recently, I gave a practice plan…

Read More

Tags: arpeggiosconcentrationflexibilityperformance anxiety among pianistsrhythmrhythmic patternsRussian arpeggioRussian scalescales generator
An Arpeggio Practice Plan
Chopin’s First Ballade – a Practice Suggestion

Chopin’s First Ballade – a Practice Suggestion

By Graham Fitch, 2013-06-07
Posted in: General tips

Chopin's evergreen First Ballade has never been more popular, thanks in part to Alan Rusbridger's book about his personal quest with the piece, Play It Again. It is a piece that most aspiring young pianists yearn to play (often before they are ready for it) and you'll hear it coming out…

Read More

Tags: alfred cortotChopinChopin First BalladeChopin waltz in A flatchordsPetrucci Libraryprofessionalrhythmspringboardingteaching
Chopin’s First Ballade – a Practice Suggestion
Rhythmic Challenges, Ravel and Pedalling

Rhythmic Challenges, Ravel and Pedalling

By Informance, 2022-09-22
Posted in: Practising

In this month’s Practice Clinic, Graham Fitch answers questions on rhythmic challenges, hand-redistribution, building speed and pedalling in works by Beethoven, Uwe Korn, Ravel and Grieg.

Read More

Tags: beethovenbuilding speedGriegpedallingpolyrhythmpractice clinicRavelredistributionrhythm
One Comment
Rhythmic Challenges, Ravel and Pedalling

Previous Post

The Piano Teachers’ Course UK Continuing Professional Development Days

Next Post

Launching the 2018-2020 Trinity Syllabus

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

*

Sign-up To Our Mailing List!

Sign-up to our email newsletter for free resources, news updates and special offers!

TOPICS

  • Practising
  • Learning Pieces
  • Technique
  • Performing
  • Teaching

LINKS

  • Online Academy
  • Informance
  • Help & Support
  • Contact Us

© 2025 Practising the Piano All Rights Reserved

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • Privacy Policy
  • T&Cs
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website.OkMore Information