|
|
Miss Joy |
|
IS COUNTING REALLY DIFFICULT?
I HATE COUNTING! Why? Do you have trouble counting to 4? Can you do it over and over again? Well, that’s all your music teacher expects you to do. And……do you really have to be so careful about holding half notes for 2 counts? Or do you still have to say “one-and, two-and” for eighth notes? These are important questions! Let me see how I can make you understand that this is important. Can you say the words to this song without stopping until you see the period? “Mary had a little lamb little lamb it’s fleece was white as snow and everywhere that Mary went the lamb was sure to go.” Aha! That’s hard! And do your know what? That’s what your teacher hears when you don’t give those half notes 2 counts! Yukky, isn’t it? Now tell me, what’s so hard about thinking of “2”?….or counting “1-2” .. Or feeling 2 beats in your body when you see a half note? (The half note: I always called it a white note. One of my students said one time, “Oh, that note! You mean the clear one! ) As long as you know it’s not black! And you know it’s held longer than the black quarter note.
I DON’T WANT TO PLAY SLOW! I don’t blame you – when you play as fast as lightening, people think: “Boy, that’s good and it sure sounds hard!” (You wouldn’t want them to think that, would you?) Well, guess what – “fast” happens all by its self. In fact, I have a sign in my studio over the piano that says “FAST” Happens! Here’s how it works. You did what your teacher said and practiced it real S-L-O-W…all week! Then, on about the day before your lesson (or some other time when you’re not really thinking about it) – all of a sudden!! - You will be able to play it fast! WOW! Isn’t that amazing? Lot ’s of practice made that happen! Now that doesn’t mean every song has to be played fast. Know what? Sometimes it’s harder to play slow than fast! I know you don’t believe me. But take out one of your pieces that you know really well that you can play fast. Now, play it real slow. It’s hard, isn’t it? I guess that’s why teachers assign both kinds of music (fast and slow) to give you a chance to play both kinds really well
IS ‘5’ REALLY THE MAGIC ANSWER?
One of my teachers told me about this one time. I had a very difficult part in one of my pieces and when I finally could play it in my lesson, she said, “Now play it 4 more times.” Sure enough! It got better every time! I told one of my students and he did the same thing in one really hard part. He got so excited and said, “I’m going to do it a couple more times.” You guessed it! On #7, he started messing up and by the tenth time it was really bad. If you have a hard part, practice it 5 times. Now, STOP! Try it again at another time. Wierd, isn’t it? TRY IT!
|
|
