Music speak

It's so nice to be done with jury duty! I thoroughly enjoyed my cup of coffee up at my desk this morning.

This afternoon I had a few piano lessons. One of my Monday students is quite young (6) so we have to review a lot. Music, like lots of other areas of study, has it's own language and it's so hard for kids to remember. This is a conversation we had today:

Me: "Okay, so let's review. What are these lines here?"
Him: "Umm, ... I don't remember."
"They're called bar lines. Say that."
"Bar lines."
"Great! And they divide the music into....?"
"Groups?"
"Okay, groups of what?"
"Groups of four?"
"Good, they divide the music into groups of beats." (I was impressed he got the concept!) "We call the space between bar lines something... it begins with an "m."
"Mmmmm...."
"It's called a measure. Say that."
"Measure."
"Good! So the lines are called ... ?"
"I don't remember."
"They're called bar lines. Say that."
"Bar lines."
"And they divide the music into mmmmm....?"
"I can't remember..."
O dear, here come the tears.
"That's okay. Bar lines divide the music into measures. We'll talk about it some more next week, okay?"

Given my past experience I expect to have this conversation or something like it at least 4 more times before he gets it. Probably just in time for spring break during which he will forget everything. That's okay.

Sharon

Psalm 27:6
I will sing and make music to the Lord.