comprehensive musicianship through performance
spontaneously is the most joyful and direct way to discover exactly what the music needs. And teachers need to move, too! Our singing and dancing unselfconscious- ly can be the just the spark students need to be free and spontaneous themselves.
“How Fast Can You Play?” Students LOVE to play fast, yet very often we tell them to slow down until they can “do it correctly.” But why not capitalize on that energy? “How fast can you play one note?” (Sure, it’s a quirky question, but let them enjoy tangling with it!) If it’s clean and in tune, then add another note – and if those two notes sound great, repeat them faster and faster, like a trill. Then add a third note and create a loop, slowing down to incorporate the new note, then gradu- ally speeding up again. The more notes added, the more students discover the value of good technique – staying loose and relaxed, fingers right over the keys,
valves, or strings; and good coordination between fingers, bows, embouchure, etc.
“Puzzler of the Week.” Offer a weekly challenge (like the weekly “Car Talk Puzzler” on NPR): a riddle, a puzzle, a treasure hunt, specific to the instrument or a composition. It can be solved during the lesson, or solutions can be brought to the next lesson. Try a “guess the composer” listening game; form identification; modu- lation discovery; a motif tally; find the balance point on the bow; discover a new harmonic, play all the D’s you can find on your instrument. I don’t know about auto mechanics, but with music, the possibili- ties are limitless.
“Musical Jokes.” Finally, have fun dis- covering how to create musical humor. Demonstrate an unexpected timing or exaggerate a dynamic and see them smile; then let them return the favor. Other times
it’s our students playing a joke on us, like my third grader who plays the last long note of his piece by pulling his cello out from under his stationary bow, or the shy seventh grader who, with a sneaky look on his face, astonishes me by performing a lower position exercise perfectly in the upper register.
For me, the “sunny side” of music will al- ways be the joy of seeing students discover a new possibility, watching them grow with it…and then glow with it. Abundant sunshine, indeed.
Cornelia Watkins has been a member of the CMP Committee since 2004, and is a recent transplant to Wisconsin from Houston, TX. She is a lecturer in pedagogy at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music and teaches cello privately in Madison. Email:
rosindust@earthlink.net
MUSIC
WILL MAKE YOU SMILE
What do music educators do when a pandemic forces classes online? At UW-La Crosse they take the break in the clouds to use the sunny, virtual options to their benefit. Great educators utilize the latest technology to mix performers virtually. And before returning to perform together, they seek reputable research as a guide toward returning to in-person music-making. UWL musicians know how to be part of a team — playing their part in the universal language.
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