It's important to include contemporary pieces as part of the course of study for a piano student. However, the rhythm patterns in these pieces are frequently more sophisticated than the rhythms in pieces found in many typical early level piano books, even if both are tagged as "intermediate level" pieces. Yet, the rhythms in these pieces are sometimes the most natural and fun for students to perform. These pieces provide variety in the student's program. They have immediate appeal to both students and audiences. For these reasons, intermediate level students often ask to learn and play more catchy contemporary piano pieces. But when teachers assign pieces that are supposedly at this level, students often stumble. Why?

Why Rhythmic Pieces Fail

In these pieces, the description "intermediate level" is deceiving. The rhythms in these pieces aren't really intermediate level for a student unaccustomed to practicing music that is primarily rhythmic in origin. For a student who has commeasurate rhythmic skills, they are not a problem. But for many, these pieces and the practice skills that go with them, are assigned more as an exception rather than a norm. It may even be that for every five or ten "classical" pieces the student is assigned, he is asked to play (or has asked to play) one contemporary piece.

These rhythms are also more complicated, and more difficult to execute, than the rhythms in other traditional intermediate level piano pieces from past eras. What makes them harder?