There's a song by Mozart called May Time. It's in compound meter and has an upbeat, which means there are a number of levels in teaching it. It's important to feel all the subdivisions, but it's also important to feel the big beats. This evening my student had mastered all 6 "beats" nodding his head for every one. What is this song about? It's lulling sway, gently flowing.....the beauty of May and the blooming of spring....
"Allergies," he said.
April may be the cruelest month, but May is not without it's complications.
I worked with his nodding, eventually putting my hand on the back of his head, moving it up and down, not to the subdivision but to the beat, saying, "Play head, play head, play head, head...." oh so musically with the song. He got it to the point of a Pirate's Jaunt, which is maybe a little bit closer to the glory of spring. As we laughed at this game, we forgot about the frustrations of extensions from the early part of the lesson, and winter melted into spring.
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