Piano Teaching Q&A: Teaching Eighth Notes

April 12, 2012 Jennifer Boster

I recently got this question from a good friend:

I have an adult beginner student who is having some difficulty with reading eighth notes and dotted quarters. If it’s a song she already knows, like hymns, of course she can play it, but if I give her an unfamiliar piece with those rhythms she has no idea.

She already got through Alfred for adults level 1 with her other teacher, but she is very frustrated because she can play those songs by memory but not because she can read the notes. I’ve been doing a lot of sight reading with her (very basic), which helps, but counting songs with eighth notes is frustrating. I’ve tried using colored papers of different shapes as a visual demonstration: squares for quarters, rectangles half as long for eighths, etc. Part of the problem is that she says math was always her worst subject…My counting method is one-and-two-and-three-and-four-and, but if you have a better method I’d love to know.

What ideas do you have for teaching how to count rhythms with eighth notes and dotted quarters so that she can sight read them?

I think this is a fabulous question! I have had the same problem with students, particularly when they are transfer students, and it can be tricky to figure out what to do. Here are a few quick suggestions (and I hope to hear lots of input in the comments section as well!)

Feeling the Beat

In a situation such as this, it may be wise to go back to the basics…as in, the very basics. I have sometimes been amazed to discover that a student who is struggling with rhythm and counting has an underlying problem understanding and feeling the beat. So while math can be a big huge part of counting, rhythm is also quite related to physical movement.

It is good to find out if your student is able to feel the underlying beat of a song. Can they tap their foot, clap their hands, march or otherwise move to the beat of a song? I was recently teaching a teenage student when I surprisingly realized she was struggling to feel the beat. I immediately asked her what kind of music she listens to, went to my computer and opened up iTunes. We spent the rest of the lesson listening to all sorts of songs (rock, country, whatever) and trying to feel and clap the main beats. It was surprisingly challenging for her, but after some practice it got much easier.

It may be that a student may need to practice listening and moving to music for awhile before they really get good at finding the beat. I have no qualms assigning a student to listen to music and walk, jog, clap or march to the beat for their practicing. If they can’t feel the beat and are struggling to fit eighth notes into each beat, this is an essential step.

Subdividing

Once they are able to feel the main beats, you can then venture back into the actual rhythms within the framework of even, steady beats. It may be helpful to have them walk or march or tap their foot to the main beat, and then practice subdividing into eighth notes by clapping their hands. Or have them play a steady beat in the left hand while counting out loud, subdividing into eighth notes (“one-and-two-and…”).

I also wonder if you could help teach this visually by using a highlighter or colored pencil to draw vertical lines through the notes, highlighting each main beat in the measure? That way the student can see exactly how the main, steady beat (which they are now PRO at feeling) fits underneath the rhythm of the measure.

Hear – See – Do

I grabbed my copy of Practical Piano Pedagogy off of the shelf to see if Dr. Martha Baker-Jordan had any tips on this subject. Just a couple of brief ideas – she mentions the “Hear – See – Do” idea. In order to learn a concept, students should hear it (so you could play and count the rhythms aloud for them), see it (see how the rhythm fits within the steady beats – maybe by highlighting the main beats), and do it (play it and count aloud by themselves).

Dotted Quarters & Eighths

Baker-Jordan likes to count aloud on a dotted quarter-eighth rhythm and she says the count on the dot VERY loud. So if the rhythm is dotted quarter, eighth, dotted quarter, she would count: “one-and-TWO-and-three-and-FOUR-and.” This helps the student hold out the dotted quarter for its e n t i r e length (since it is often shortchanged) and I imagine it would really help the student to feel the beat well.

Count Out LOUD!

I have to also add the counting loudly with CONFIDENCE is an excellent idea! Too many people count very quietly and timidly, and it is very easy to fudge on the steady beat if you are talking very, very softly. Speak up and say the counting as steady and as confidently as possible!

I hope this helps anyone who may be experiencing this speed bump in your student’s progress. I would love to hear YOUR excellent ideas as well!

Don’t forget to enter our giveaway!

Poll Results & Making Piano a Priority

September 7, 2010 Jennifer Boster

2 Comments

Uncategorized

Thank you to all who participated in our poll – it is great to see the variety of ways that we teach rhythm to our students!

How do you teach beginning students to count rhythm?

Other Answers & Comments:
1: “ta-ta-half note”
2: “ta-ta-ta-ta or ti-ti”
3: “Gordon method”
4: “I start with the 1-1-1-2, but I move them to 1-2-3-4 as soon as I possibly can, based on when they ‘get it.'”

This week we would like to talk about The Over-Scheduled Student and Keeping Teenage Students Interested. Although two different topics, I think that these are very related to one another in that they both fall into the category of Making Piano a Priority in a student’s life.

How can teach effectively to help make piano an important part of our students’ lives? Are piano lessons fun, exciting and engaging? Are our students progressing enough to keep them loving it? How can we communicate to our students and their parents the importance of consistent practice? What can we do to keep an open line of communication going with the parents to help encourage practice and continued piano study?

I just read a great post on this subject on the “Music for Tots” blog. One thing I loved about this post was that the author talked about weighing the importance of music study as a family and then prioritizing accordingly. So what does that mean to me as a piano teacher? To me it illustrates the importance of educating parents about the importance of music in their child’s life and about the importance of effective and consistent practice. It reminds me of my important role in making lessons a positive part in my students’ lives, in discovering each student’s unique strengths and abilities and in teaching each student in such a way as to help them learn and progress.

Thoughts? Comments? 🙂

p.s. Don’t forget to take our new poll!

Teaching Eighth and Sixteenth Notes

September 2, 2010 Jennifer Boster

1 Comment

Uncategorized

Once a student has a pretty good grasp on basic rhythm, they are probably ready to move onto some trickier concepts – eighth notes, sixteenth notes, dotted notes, etc. Now what??

Understanding Meter

When teaching eighth notes, sixteenth notes, dotted notes, triplets, etc., I think it is good to make sure the student understands meter. Aside from knowing that 3/4 time means that there are three counts in a measure and the quarter note gets one count, can your student feel the strong and weak beats in each measure?

I just came across a great game on Susan Paradis’ Piano Teacher Resources blog – this would be a wonderful game to play at a group or performance class to get your students thinking about and listening for meter.

For a crash course (or a great review) on simple vs. compound meter, check out this lesson on musictheory.net.

Teaching Rhythm

But how do we actually teach these rhythms? Now there are so many out there who have shared much more creative ways of doing this than I have ever used (which I am so grateful for! I am excited to try some of your ideas and to use a lot more hands-on teaching methods in my own teaching). A good way to explain eighth and sixteenth note rhythms is to use fractions. This especially works well if your student loves math! I like to draw out a little chart for them, so they can see that there are two half notes per whole note, two quarter notes per half note, two eighth notes per quarter note, etc. There are so many ways you could make this more fun and exciting and hands-on. Check out Susan Paradis’ awesome Rhythm Pizza game, and Jen Fink’s Lego Rhythms. (In fact, Susan Paradis’ blog is an AMAZING resource – check out all of her rhythm activities and games!) The possibilities are really endless. How about taking a little “field trip” to the kitchen to do a little hands-on rhythm lesson using measuring cups – 1 cup equals a whole note. You need to pour two half cups of water to equal a whole cup, or four quarter cups, or eight eighth cups.

Counting Out Loud

I have always believed that counting out loud is so important when learning rhythm. I have had many a student who has struggled playing the correct rhythms during their lesson, but when they start counting out loud almost everything gets fixed. I know there are many ways to count (as seen in our poll this week!). For eighth and sixteenth notes, I personally prefer the “1 and 2 and 3 and” and “1 e and a 2 e and a 3 e and a” method. I think counting like this can serve as a good reminder of the main beats in the measure, helping the student to remember that all of the notes must fit into the overall rhythm and meter of the measure.

Practicing with the Metronome

A great help in learning this and playing the correct rhythm is practice with the metronome. Once a student can play the correct rhythm while staying with the beat of the metronome, they probably have a pretty good grasp on the rhythm.

What fun ways have you come up with to teach rhythm to your students?

I’ve got rhythm

September 1, 2010 Jennifer Boster

1 Comment

Uncategorized

The moving truck is long gone. My piano is acclimating to the humidity. At least half of my boxes are unpacked. I have a couple of new piano students, and my piano room is pretty much set up. I am back! And this week we are going to be discussing Rhythm.

Image Source

We have had many readers tell us they are interested in talking about how to teach rhythm. A few readers particularly mentioned eighth notes. I think this is a great topic and hope to have lots of discussion about this. (Don’t forget to take our poll this week!)

A few thoughts upfront about teaching rhythm to beginners:

Rhythm can be pretty tricky for some students! I have had many a student (as I am sure we all have) who just can’t get it. They can’t feel the rhythm very easily and have trouble getting the counting right. This can be mucho frustrating and hard to listen to week after week, am I right? (Takes me back to a favorite college music professor who loved to sing “I’ve got rhythm” while clapping his hands and tapping his feet completely out of sync with each other.)

I think it’s important to help our students internalize the beat. Not only should they be able to recite the names of the notes and how many counts each receives, but more importantly should be able to feel it. So how can we help our beginning students understand and feel the rhythm?

using a metronome?
tapping a foot?
counting aloud?
listening to a waltz to internalize the beat in simple triple meter?
{dancing around the room to said waltz??} – who of us are brave enough?? 🙂
listening to a march to hear the strong and weak beats in simple quadruple meter?

I found a great article about teaching rhythm and meter that said, “Human speech, poetry and music moves in patterns of twos and threes.” And isn’t it so true – this basic rhythm is so natural and innate in so many areas of our lives – how can we tap into that to get our students to really feel it?

What ways of teaching rhythm have you discovered to be successful with your music students?