Last Updated on June 13, 2022 by Rebecca
If you want to play (and create!) music, you need to learn and internalize a variety of rhythms.
In this post…
- Benefits of Practicing and Mastering Rhythm Patterns
- Rhythm Cards
- Metronome vs. Swaying (A Tip for Beginners)
- 8 Fun and Creative Activities to Practice Rhythm for Piano
Benefits of Practicing and Mastering Rhythm Patterns
Learning to feel specific rhythm patterns is an effective way to expand your musical vocabulary. You want to get to the point where you not only can read and play the rhythms, but you can feel them.
The more rhythms you become familiar with, the easier it will become for you to:
- recognize and play a variety of rhythms when reading sheet music
- use these rhythms when improvising and composing
- notate these rhythms when composing and when arranging pop songs
If you want to learn more about how and why learning rhythm will benefit you in these 3 areas, you can read about it this post.
The best thing about the 8 rhythm activities listed in this post is that you can use them no matter what level you're at!
As a beginner, you can use these activities to practice basic rhythms.
As a more experienced pianist, you can use them to practice advanced rhythms. You could even challenge yourself to practice a different rhythm pattern in each hand. Or make it extra challenging and practice polyrhythms!
Rhythm Cards
To help you learn and internalize different rhythms, I've created some rhythm cards you can use with any of the activities listed in this post.
(I will add more rhythm cards over time.)
Metronome vs. Swaying (A Tip for Beginners)
When you're learning rhythms, it's important that you learn them with a steady beat or pulse.
It's very common for beginners to use a metronome to keep themselves steady.
Set the metronome to a given tempo, count along with it, then start clapping or playing along to the beat.
But many students find it difficult to listen to the metronome and co-ordinate their rhythms with it.
The Trouble with Metronomes
One major drawback is that the metronome imposes an external beat on you. But a steady beat isn't a man-made construct. It's something that exists within you.
Feel your pulse. It's a steady beat. It would be unnatural if it wasn't.
Walk around the room. You'll find you naturally walk with a steady beat to your stride.
Sway from side to side at any speed you like. You'll naturally sway in a steady beat. It's actually very difficult to sway in an unsteady beat.
So the best way to maintain a steady beat is to pull it from within yourself.
And to learn a rhythm well–to really feel it and internalize it–you need to connect it to this internal beat.
The best way to do this is to follow these 3 steps:
- Start swaying gently from side to side to create a steady beat.
- Start counting out loud with your swaying. Say a number each time you hit a side in your sway.
- Once you can feel your beat, start clapping the rhythm you're trying to practice, using your swaying and counting to guide you.
The counting out loud is actually very important because it acts as a bridge between your swaying and your clapping. It's the counting out loud that helps you align everything.
You can also use this swaying technique when learning new songs or pieces.
(You don't want to sway when you're performing finished pieces, but it's a great strategy in the initial learning/practicing phases.)
With time, you'll eventually develop a strong sense of rhythm and beat, and you won't need to rely on swaying anymore.
The Real Purpose of Metronomes
So since rhythm actually comes from within, what's the point of the metronome anyway?
Musicians don't actually use the metronome to help maintain a steady beat. We use is to maintain a steady tempo.
The metronome helps us understand how fast or slow a piece should be played, and it helps us stick to that tempo without accidentally speeding up or slowing down when we aren't supposed to.
Although it's worth keeping in mind that a lot of the time, music is not played with a strictly even tempo. More often than not, there is at least a touch of rubato in any musician's performance of any song. Just as your heartbeat doesn't beat at exactly the same pace every second of every day of your entire life.
8 Fun and Creative Activities to Practice Rhythm for Piano
1. Drill Individual Cards
Take individual cards and practice clapping and counting them.
You can do this with a metronome, or with the swaying technique described above. But whatever the case, make sure you keep a steady beat while you practice the rhythm.
Clap and count the same rhythm card several times in a row, without missing a beat when you cycle from the last note of the rhythm back to the first note of the rhythm.
You want to repeat the rhythm until it becomes almost trance-like. Until you feel it in your bones. At this point you could stop counting and you'd still be able to keep the rhythm going because you've internalized it and it's become a part of you.
(I know. This all sounds very woo-woo. But try it. You'll see what I mean.)
2. Drill Combinations of Cards
Combine 2 or more rhythm cards to create a longer rhythm. Repeat the same clapping and counting activity as #1, this time with your longer rhythm.
*If you're a more experienced piano player, you can make activities #1 and #2 more challenging by practicing different rhythm cards in each hand at the same time!
3. Use the Cards as Rhythms in Compositions or Improvisations
Use the cards to create rhythms for your original music, then all that's left to do is select pitches to go along with them.
It's very common to have a rhythmic motif in a piece of music. To create a rhythmic motif, select one rhythm card and have it come back for multiple repetitions within your piece of music.
You can also combine 2 cards to create a longer motif.
If you're creating a longer piece of music, you could also incorporate more than one rhythmic motif.
If you find the idea of composing or improvising your own music intimidating, check out these improvisation rhythm challenges. They're great for having fun practicing rhythms, no matter what level of experience you have with piano (although they're intended for beginners).
4. Play a Guessing Game with Friends
Play a rhythm guessing game friends, family, your kids… basically anyone!
Lay the rhythms out between you, face up. Select a secret rhythm. Count and clap it until your friend finds the card that you're clapping.
Then swap roles and let the fun continue!
5. Challenge Your Friends to a Clap Back
Lay the cards face down between you and your friend/family member/child/whoever.
Draw a card from the top of the pile, being careful not to let your partner see it.
Count and clap the rhythm 1-2 times. Then see if they can count and clap it back to you.
If they don't get it right, count and clap it again for them.
If they still can't get it right after a few tries, start to continuously count and clap the rhythm (as in activity #1 above) and let them feel it out and try to join in until they are able to figure it out and they're successfully clapping along with you.
Then swap roles.
A More Competitive Version of the Clap Back Game
Alternatively, you could always turn it competitive and decide together on a maximum number of attempts they get to copy the rhythm.
If they are able to copy your rhythm, they get to keep the card. If they are unable to successfully copy it within the allowed number of attempts, you get to keep the card.
The player with the most cards at the end wins!
6. Spice Up Your Scale Practice (Level 1)
Challenge yourself to play your scales matching the rhythm of a given card. Or create a combination of 2 or more cards and play your scales matching the longer rhythm.
This is a great activity because it not only helps you learn different rhythms, but it also makes practicing scales more fun and musical.
7. Spice Up Your Scale Practice (Level 2)
One of the best ways to make scale practice sound and feel really musical is to combine scales and chords.
To do this, play a chord in your left hand while you play your scale in your right hand.
Related post: How to Build Any Triad in Seconds!
You can experiment with which chords you like with which scales, but the simplest place to start is with a simple tonic triad. So if you're playing a C major scale, play a C major triad, if you're playing an A minor scale, play an A minor triad, etc.
Challenge yourself to match the rhythm card with both the chords in your left hand and the scale notes in the right hand.
Make It Even More Challenging
If you're ready for a more difficult scale rhythm challenge, try playing your scale in steady quarter notes in your right hand while matching the rhythm card with the chord in your left hand.
Or reverse it and play the chords in quarter notes and match the rhythm card with the scale notes in your right hand.
In either case, this creates a bigger challenge for you because it challenges you to play a different rhythm in each hand.
8. Spice Up Your Scale Practice (Level 3)
For an even greater challenge, take activity #7 and play a chord progression in your left hand, rather than just a single chord.
The simplest way to do this is to change to the next chord in your progression on every beat one. But you can change chords as frequently or infrequently as you like.
Need some chord progressions to get you started? This freebie gives you 10 you can play around with in the key of C major!
And if you'd like to learn how to create your own chord progressions, head over to my shop and check out the eBook Create Your Own Chord Progressions.
Great info