I just thought I would share this with you guys as I find it is helping my students understand and feel the infamous "beat".

My objection is to try and get the student to a)hear the metronome b)play the notes and c)count out loud, all at the same time. Usually only one or two of these can function at the same time. So, what I have been doing is having the student hear this "triangle" from each of the different angles, adding and subtracting certain variables. I generally follow this format, but not always.

-Student writes in counting.
-Student/teacher say counting together.
-Student/teacher say counting together w/metronome.
-Student plays(no count)and teacher counts/points no metronome.
-Teacher plays, student counts/points, no metronome. (They like sitting in my chair :D)
-Teacher plays/counts/w/metronome, student observes.
-Teacher plays, student counts/points, w/metronome.
-Student plays (no count) and teacher counts/points (w/metronome).
-Student plays, student counts, teacher counts/points, w/metronome. (Almost doing all 3 on his/her own).
-For reinforcement, teacher and student both play, both count, both listening to the metronome.
-Now slowly disappear from the picture and voila!

Honestly, it seems to be working. They learn to hear what it SHOULD sound like and feel like and then once they are on their own they can catch when they are off with the metronome. Just my thoughts...

I like it! I have a student I should definitely try this with.

I appreciate your thoroughness - and I trust that your students do, too. I'll try the entire sequence with a couple of students next week and see how it goes.

I'm curious as to what happens afterwards; when you take one side - or even two sides - of the triangle away? Keep us posted.