Whenever we hear a new piece of teaching music that attracts our attention, and think of exactly the student who will enjoy playing it, we are apt to wonder if it has one or more of those traps that have cost us countless, precious minutes in the middle of a lesson. What really counts, if it truly is a great piece of music, is our attitude toward t...

Although the steady pulse is fundamental to the concept of rhythm, the lilt and forward movement of rhythm is created through the variety of note values. Dotted rhythms are vital to our rhythmic experience. Folk tunes, patriotic songs, hymns, and Christmas carols are replete with dotted rhythms because of the life they give to the rhythmic flow. Th...

From the series Let's Get Physical: Technique Steven H. Roberson teaches Piano Pedagogy at Butler University in Indianapolis where he is acting chairman of the Music Education Department. The author of more than twenty-five articles on piano teaching in leading national and international music journals, he has spoken at major music confer...