Just the time for SCARY stories on Halloween!
In one of her recent lessons, Ginger was sight-reading a new piece. NEW PIECE is always tricky to read at first sight, especially in front of YOUR TEACHER.
One must be very careful not to make mistakes, be very focused and alert. Sight Reading a new piece is like walking in the dark. You don’t know what the new piece sounds like yet, so you need to go slow and watch out for obstacles.
Everything was going well. Ginger is such a good music reader - she found her notes quickly and was proceeding at a steady pace, even observing correct dynamics and articulation, UNTIL…AAAAH!
Ginger stopped and exclaimed ‘Oh No! An Intruder! A dotted quarter note right in the middle of staccato quarter notes! Tricky - But I got ya!’ She played again, correctly, and we both laughed.
There is such a small visual difference between a quarter note with a dot on top and a dot on the side. But that tiny detail signals us to play that note in a totally different way.
There are so many details like this in music. That’s what makes music students so smart, actually. At times, all those details may seem overwhelming. But if presented the right way, the students will have fun with them and see them as ‘tricky intruders’, and not ‘another dotted quarter note.’
