alright whats the trick?

[deejeff442]

i have been learning for a short time.i can put the notes to the keys pretty good now.what i am having a very hard time with is tempo.timing .my teacher has tried to teach me to count ,slap my hand on my lap when playing one hand.i just cannot seem to figure out the speed .when she taps her pencil on the music as i play i follow no problem.as soon as she takes the pencil off i am done.maybe i am missing something or i have no rhythm?are there any other ways i can try to get this down.seems this is holding me back at this point.

[becky8898]

Hi:  So it sounds like to me you need to learn to calibrate your brain first.  Try this first.  go away from the piano. Start counting from one to sixty .  Try counting one count per second. See how long you take to count to sixty.  If your off from a minute you need to fix that first.  Once you can do that.  Try counting 2 counts per second, etc.  Learn to develop a clock in your head.  Once you can do that , then your work at the piano should get a lot better as far as tempo goes.  Counting is like anything else. practice and you get better at it.

Thats my minute of wisdom .

Cheers, Becky.

[deejeff442]

well thank you very much i will try that.i am open to anything.i asked my teacher about the metronome and she said i have to get it in my head before i even try that thing.
hope your feeling more cheerfull )

[fleetfingers]

Hehe, you sound like me. Well, not so much anymore, but when I was taking lessons my teacher would slap the top of the piano and count while I played. You're already one step ahead of me...I wasn't even able to stay with the beat when she was counting. Many aspects of piano playing have always come naturally and easily to me, but keeping a steady tempo is my weakness, and I really had to work at it. Still do sometimes.

For me, improving in this area was a matter of:

1. Realizing that there is always a beat. I used to play whatever my little heart desired and it always sounded lovely to me. Slow down, speed up, whatever I felt was appropriate I did, without regard to keeping a structured tempo. Before taking musical liberties, you have to be able to play it straight.

2. Gaining confidence in myself to feel the beat from within and follow it. I was convinced for a long time that I had no rhythm. But I do! You do! Practice by tapping your feet or hands, a pencil you're holding - whatever - when you're listening to music. Again, realize that there is always a beat. Listen for it and react to it. Feel it. When you play the piano, count out loud. Tap your left foot or nod your head as you play. And tap/clap/nod confidently...I usually mess up the tempo when I question myself.

Another thing. If you're just starting piano, make sure you know all the note values and how to count them. Count away from the piano, as well as while you're playing - count out loud as you play. Write 1 2 3 4 (or whatever time you're counting in) under the correct notes in each measure to see where all the notes lie in relation to the beat. No one ever taught me to do any of these things, and it was part of my problem. Once I did them, it helped me out a lot.

Good luck!

[quantum]

It is not enough to detect a beat, one has to feel a pulse.  The origin of that pulse is not the slap of the hand, snap of the finger or tick of the pencil - it originates in the core of the body.  Your entire body needs to be synchronized in feeling a unified pulse.  The clap of the hand whenever used needs to be in sympathetic vibration with and initiated by the pulse of the body. 

Try singing your music while walking.  Unless you have a physical impediment, most people can walk at a steady even pulse.  Don't walk to the music, make the music to the stride.  

[deejeff442]

i am thinking,my teacher gives me new stuuf to learn every week.i might just get something i have and work on it a bit more to get that piece right .i obviously dont have a natural beat in me.well not yet anyway.after 10 or 12 lessons i am happy to play the right notes.i figure the tempo will come soon eneough.thanks everyone

[thinkgreenlovepiano]

Try singing your music while walking.  Unless you have a physical impediment, most people can walk at a steady even pulse.  Don't walk to the music, make the music to the stride.  

I definitely second this one... I am horrible at maintaining a steady pulse
 so often when I'm learning a new piece I'll sing (at least in my head...) the piece I'm learning while I walk home from school. It works really, really well.
 I also find it helpful listening to recordings and counting while I listen.

[jimbo320]

I'm chiming in to thank all the good ideas I'm reading. Keeping a good steady beat is my struggle at times too. A lot of good suggestions here and I'll try them and see if they will help me. Thanks again...

Musically, Jimbo

[wyman]

Great ideas shared by you all..It will help me in learning it more quickly so thanks for sharing them here...

[bleicher]

Go to some salsa dancing classes.

[scottmcc]

have you ever tried a rhythm-based video game like guitar hero?  it might help!

[deejeff442]

well i feel a bit better.i am not the only one with this problem.
i poured a concrete patio for someone yesterday and went to seal it today.well talking to the woman she has been playing piano for 8 years ,her son for 4 and her daughter for 2.
its a new home so their piano wasnt there to have a competition :O)

[carbe]

It might sound a little bit boring, but many problems are solved with the time. Of course there's necessary to do exercises and that kinds of things, but the more you play, the better you become. Especially on these kinds of things; rhytm, tempo, coordination and musical sense.

I think that the best thing you can do is to: play, play, play and play. Fight on hard and these problems will be solved with time. Good luck!

[omar_roy]

Practice with metronome, count out loud.  Try to feel not just the actual ticks, but the numbers as well.

Something that really helped me develop a good pulse (and something I do to this day out of habit) is counting when I walk, all sorts of time signatures and all sorts of subdivisions.  If i'm walking to the cafeteria, in my head I'll be listening to a recording or thinking about a specific piece, and counting "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and...."

Knowing where the beat is, and more specifically where you are in the measure, will better teach you how you can stretch those beats when you start playing music that allows for the use of rubato.

[nygiantsfan3342]

I think practice will help, but some people have more natural rhythm than others.  I find it hard keeping multiple beats at one time, and really admire drummers for that skill.  Piano-wise, I find 3/4 tempos more difficult than others for some reason...