Introduction by Bruce Berr, Editor
hose of you who are longtime readers of KEYBOARD
COMPANION and have a splendid memory may notice that the question for this
issue's Rhythm Department is a "re-run"; that is, this same question
appeared nine years ago (slightly re-worded) during the magazine's first
year of publication. We have not yet repeated any questions in
any of the departments at KBC, so this is a first. We decided to explore
this same question again, not because of any shortcomings of the four previous
authors' replies in the Autumn of 1990, but because the solid learning of
eighth notes by our students seems so important, and yet so challenging,
to accomplish. This topic seems just too significant not
to go back and cover it again.
You will probably want to read ALL of the replies to this question - the two authors in this issue and the four essays provided nine years ago. Some of you can just dig out your copy of that issue, but even if you were not a subscriber that long ago, you can still read the original 1990 Rhythm Department articles and compare them to these newest ones - we've put them all on our internet website! (Sorry, that issue is not available as a back issue.) If you log on to our site (which you've obviously done, or you wouldn't be reading this here!), you can peruse the complete Rhythm Department installment from the 1990 probing of this question, including Marvin Blickenstaff's lead-in and the essays by Karen Koch, Kay Moore, Jill Christian, and Annette Conklin.
Also here on our website, you can see a video clip of one of the current writers on this subject, Stephanie Myers, involved with her delightful young student while they do an off-the-bench eighth note exercise together.
An interesting twist to this re-visit is the presence of one of the original authors, Annette Conklin. This gave Annette a chance to reflect on what has changed in her viewpoints on this vital teaching issue, and on what aspects she feels the same about now, nine years later. And, it gives us an opportunity to partake in the comparisons as well.
I share our writers' views that effectively teaching eighth notes, really effectively, dogs us all in our daily quest to help students attain rhythm independence in their piano playing. The more thought and attention we direct to this, the better.
Article (1999) by Annette Conklin
he more I teach and it has been nine years
since I first wrote about eighth notes in this publication the more
I realize how long it takes to really solidify a new rhythm element.
For a great many students, a comfortable and accurate feeling for eighth
notes-clapping them, tapping them, counting them in their pieces, playing
them evenly and accurately, writing them in dictation-takes about three
years.
In my first interview with prospective young students, we do eighth-note rhythms in clap-backs. This can be very telling. Some can parrot them back exactly, no problem. Others have to listen two or three times in order to "get it." These are the students I'd like to focus on for this article.
GETTING STARTED
Students need to experience the feel of eighth notes two or three weeks before they appear in the pieces they will practice at home. The kinds of experiences they can have before playing them in pieces are:
Once students know how eighth notes feel, I have them look at rhythm
notation on the board or on flash cards, swinging their arms in quarter-note
rhythm as they verbalize notation such as
using words
like walk run-ning run-ning walk, or one one-na one-na one, or tah
tah-tay tah-tay tah whatever works.
For young students, it's fun to use their names, or names of famous people, to demonstrate the rhythm. A favorite piece of my students is Famous People in Book 2A of Piano Adventures by Nancy and Randall Faber (FJH):
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