How much do you make them keep the pulse?

[Bob]

I saw another teacher's student recently.  The student could not tap a steady beat while playing.  I consider the pulse to be as fundamental and basic as you can get. 

What do you think of that?

How much do you "force" your students to keep the beat while they play?  I'm talking about a beginner-intermediate student here.

[pianistimo]

sometimes it is helpful to coach them with learning this.  one college prof. used the eraser end of the pencil (no, not on my head) on the piano lid as i played.  it used to irritate me, but he occasionally did it for a measure or two to show the places that i wasn't 'getting it.'  then, he'd also give metronomic markings (slow/med/fast) to practice with and would reinforce the idea of breaking down a beat in my head.  sometimes we hear the major beats but not the minor.

with my students, i say the type of note at the same speed as playing it.  for instance, i would say 'four six teenth notes'  using one word per beat.  sometimes playing scales in rhythms can help with this simple task.  have them play one octave in quarter notes.  two octaves twice as fast (eighth notes), three octaves (triplets), four octaves (sixteenth notes) etc.  it helps to start slowly and build to the tempo at hand.