Piano students-using a metronome to improve timing is helpful; using a drum machine found on most keyboards can be even better & more fun

I agree with this.

99% of the time I only use the piano functions on my CDP.

I started experimenting and found I could use some of the drum and rhythm settings as a pseudo metronome. I don't like the tick tick tick tick chime of the on board metronomes.

A rarely mentioned aspect is proper breathing. Seymour Bernstein even has breathing exercises using a metronome to help with phrasing. Posture tends to get a more attention, breathing not so much. Especially when performing in public, some folks forget to breath or take short shallow breaths that the body associates with fight or flight conditions, and then have a bad performance.

Many use counting out loud, or clapping of hands while counting to the score to get a better sense of timing.