What is the idea behind practicing in different rhythms?

About 40 years ago my high school piano teacher taught me to practice difficult passages in a variety of rhythms. My impression is that some people think this is a great idea while others think it's pointless. I don't think my old piano teacher ever explained WHY practicing in different rhythms should be helpful. Back then we just did what our teachers said to do without questioning why(at least I did). I have to admit that this practice technique is somewhat helpful to me and I think that maybe by using different rhythms on the same notes(which often forces one to accent differnt notes than normal) the muscular finger control is somehow improved but I'm really not sure.

So I am really posting two questions:

1. Do you think practicing in differnt rhythms is useful?

2. If yes to #1, WHY do you think it works(what is the theory behind using this method)?

Do you mean rhythm (latin, disco, rock, waltz, rag, ...), or tempo?

My best piano teacher (I had many!) made me practice Czerney in many different rhythms. NOT LATIN, WALTZ, and BOSSA NOVA!!

But, each 16th note passage with long and three shorts, three shorts and a long, short long, short long, double dotted rhythms, etc. It made the brain relate to the muscles in such a way that there would be short moments of thought gathering followed by short explosions of energy.

Also, fingerings that were awkward for me worked better when they were preceeded by the brief pause of the long before the short.

Anyway, I'm not sure that I explained it correctly, but it certainly helped me. One piece that really helped me was in the Chopin E Major Etude middle section. I also did a lot of 'rhythm practicing' on the Beethoven Concerto #2, which is very Haydnesque and has many eighth note and sixteenth note runs.

Now................if I could only do Beethoven's 2nd as a tarrantella!

The pianist formerly (and formally) known as Irwin Goldberg Damion Bertram, pianist, conductor

Me2. I found the rhythmical variations in a Czerny edition (School of velocity).

The big problem with Czerny passages is that fingers tend to 'stick' to each other and the playing becomes very uneven. I see these rhytmical variations as a mean of 'unglueing' the fingers, especialy as 3,4,5 tend to 'fall' together in a fast run. Morover, the recommendation were to play detached/staccato and legato. I found that after many hours of playing detached it becomes a 'habit' and the passages sound better, as 'pearls'. It is very good when playing Bach. BTW, in a recording of Debussy's Graduss ad Parnassum with Arturo B. Michelangeli, although he uses the pedal, it is obvious , from the 'attack' of the sound, that he plays detached.

I'm 'proud' that I succeeded to teach the rhytmical variations method to my older son and he uses it now without asking me for instructions.

(Perhaps. I always hear Mozart in the first and second Beethoven's concerti.)

But you could try Chopin's tarantella !

The 'eytzes' giver formerly known as Rodolpho Fritzweill von Tierra del

Well I have have found it helpful, but usually for exercises. Think of it like this. Playing 4 notes at 120 on the metronome is the equivalent of playing 3 notes per beat at 160 on the metronome. I find it easier to play at faster speeds if I play it in the equivalent triplet speed first. Same with trills. I am not sure why this is. I think that it is just another way of getting your brain and nerves used to the new speed.

I found it useful for passages with even notelength, say only 16th. If I practice something like that in different rhythms, I can play it more evenly. I think it's good because if you use different rhythms, your fingers can't get into the habit of making the same rhythmical glitch at the same point all the time. It forces playing each passage differently every time you try a new rhythm.

Bye, Christof