Instead of "Don't Rush," Try This

Do you rush? Do your students?

I’m guessing that for many of you, the answer is yes. Sure, a lucky few of us seem to have been born with a metronome welded to our hearts, but most of us have a tempo tendency: we either push forward, or pull back. And of the two tendencies, rushing is far more common.

In fact, I’ll go ahead and confess: pulling forward is my own tendency, and I have worked very hard over the years to mitigate it. Which is why I know how frustrating it sometimes can be, as a learner, to be told, simply, “don’t rush.”

Sure, sometimes “don't rush” is all it takes. There are times when merely having an awareness that you’re rushing allows you to direct your attention toward playing in better time. But this generally only works with experienced musicians who have already developed the skills to monitor and alter their playing in relation to an internal beat. They might have momentarily been distracted from doing do, but once their attention is called to that fact, they’re fine.

But for other learners, hearing “don’t rush” is a bit like like hearing “be happy.” I mean, sure, yes, OBVIOUSLY. Be happy. And don’t rush. But. how???

Over the years, I’ve worked with many, many rushers, and I’m constantly on the hunt for new ways to help them master keeping time when “don’t rush” isn’t enough. Here are three of my more successful strategies:

1) Feel the pulse Sometimes rushing arises from the fact that the student has not yet learned, or been taught, to keep a conscious pulse (or in some cases, any pulse at all). These students feel adrift in the rhythm, often able to memorize the approximate rhythmic contour of a melody, but unable to pinpoint where the beats fall and prone in particular to eating time during longer note values. With these students, I work specifically on developing the ability to keep a pulse while simultaneously receiving or generating auditory input. We choose a way to physicalize the pulse (my recommedation is often to tap a big toe, though any small, unobtrusive motion will work) and then build up: First listening to a known piece while tapping the pulse, then speaking the rhythm while tapping the pulse, then playing while tapping a pulse. Working on pulse is not a quick fix, but it helps to shore up a vital foundational skill.

2) Think about vowels One of my favorite tricks (I use it with myself) is to ask the student to think about notes they are rushing as consonant-vowel-consonant words, paying special attention to the vowels. When you’re speaking, if you don't leave enough time for the vowel, the words sound clipped and strange, and since the experience of speaking is near universal, most of us have a ready-made mental template we can access to help us learn to leave enough time between our beginnings and endings. It’s just a matter of calling it up.

3) You’re James Dean! If rushing is part of general over-functioning, tension, and/or nerves, adopting a nonchalant body posture, as I discussed in this post, can be immeasurably helpful. If your overall body positioning is broadcasting ease and comfort, as it might if you pretend you’re a very cool cinema idol just noodling around, your'e much less likely to rush. Along these same lines, I often tell myself “there’s no hurry,” as I play, which helps me achieve a feeling of confident calm.

Student-generated bonus strategies!

One of the great pleasures of teaching adults is that they become partners in their own learning. Occasionally a student who rushes doesn’t respond to my go-to strategies, but, as we tackle the issue, he or she is able to generate a tweak or an entirely new tactic that helps achieve the desired result. Here are a couple of strategies students have self-generated in the recent past. I wouldn’t have thought of either of these off the top of my head, but for these particular students, they worked amazingly well.

4) Commas I have one student whose rushing was immeasurably improved when she drew commas into her music after notes she was shortening. The visual cue reminded her not to move on from that note too quickly.

5) I have a right to be here! Another student saw significant improvement when she told herself she had a right to be playing and a right to be heard. When she said to herself “I have a right to be here,” she stopped hurrying forward in her playing and took her time.

What else have you tried in place of “don’t rush?”