How “Rubato” Can Make it Easier for You to Sound Like a Pro

There's something called "Rubato" that pros use to make songs easier to play and gives them freedom to play songs the way they want to play them.

I've often found that using easy concepts can actually make your piano playing sound better than strictly following rules about music. One such rule is tempo. Another way to say it is to keep a steady beat. This is essentially the rhythm of the music you're playing. One of the most fundamental elements of traditional music lessons is to keep a steady rhythm while you're playing without speeding up and slowing down.

This is good instruction because it's something that many beginners do without realizing it. When this is the case, it's very noticeable and not in a good way. Traditional piano instruction requires you to play the "notes" exactly as written.

But what about when you've already mastered playing music with the "proper" tempo? Can you deviate from what's written and play songs the way you hear them in your head? If you're assuming the answer is yes, you'd be right.

This is where Rubato comes in. Rubato literally means Italian for "robbed time". The concept is to play parts or sections of songs with a faster tempo than others. The purpose of doing so is for musical expression. The opposite of this is to play the song exactly as written in as near perfect tempo as possible. Of course this sounds mechanical and like a computer playing music.

Like many other concepts in music, even rubato has evolved over time. It use to refer more to the speeding up and slowing down of the tempo of the melody and harmony. Of course it still can, but I want to focus on rubato as it concerns the melody just to keep it simple.

Have you ever heard a singer and thought there was something different about the way they were singing the melody of a song? They may have still been singing all of the notes you're used to hearing but they we're holding on to some notes longer than others and cutting some shorter. The accompaniment may sound the same, but the singer is expressing freedom in the melody.

You can apply Rubato to any melody on the piano as well. You may be playing a melody from memory, or you may have a lead sheet in front of you. If you're familiar with lead sheets, you know that they're a simple one note melody with chords symbols. This is the tool that I'll use to share to illustrate rubato as it concerns the melody. These are very short excerpts so the chord symbols won't be necessary.

Here's a simple song excerpt that can be sung in an infinite number of ways, but for the sake of time and simplicity I've given you 9 examples to listen to.

Rubato Melody Example 1

Rubato Melody Example 2

Rubato Melody Example 3

Rubato Melody Example 4

Rubato Melody Example 5

Rubato Melody Example 6

Rubato Melody Example 7

Rubato Melody Example 8

Rubato Melody Example 9