Abby Whiteside's primary prescription for learning was: "Put a rhythm in your body and keep it going." It is rhythm that makes the difference between phrasewise listening and notewise listening. With notewise listening there is little chance for an emotional rhythm because our focus is on the smallest common denominator. With phrasewise listening rhythm is the governing factor. We hear the hills and valleys in a succession of notes pertaining to rhythmic stresses. From this we feel a forward momentum that moves us - physically. Abby Whiteside loved to use images of skating to explain things. She wrote: "The synchronization of the push-offs with the music, which creates the follow-through activity that brings about the swaying and pleasure in skating should be the same, not different, for the pianist." When we feel the same balancing and swaying as the skater our larger muscles, namely the upper arm linked with the torso take control of the important tones or beats - the musical push-offs. It is in this way that phrasewise listening becomes a phrasewise performance and how technical problems are gently disarmed.