Effective rhythmic control may have a lot to do with distinguishing between internal and external rhythms. My internal rhythm is fast--always has been; I can't help it. I first became aware of this as a child unable to bear slow movements. I had no interest in them; I couldn't wait for the tempo to become "normal."

Cultivating awareness of vibrations--the fastest thing on wheels, so to speak--has saved the day. I will never get my mental rhythm to go that fast. I am convinced that this is how children hear if encouraged to get involved in the sound of the piano's strings. This is how I can listen with real interest to students playing under tempo. I hear as they hear; I don't impose upon them the highly communicable rate of that other, more primitive beat, which registered for them and for me as impatience.