Musical Definitions
I’ve subscribed to the Clavier Companion magazine this year and carved out some time over the last week to read through it. Several of the articles were just wonderful! The interview with Louise Goss was inspiring, the Diary of a Cliburn Competitor was intriguing, and both Unlocking the Mystery of Playing by Ear, and Sight-reading Without Music were chock-full of great ideas that I can utilize in my teaching! However, for your reading pleasure today, I thought I would share my three favorite “Daddy-nitions” by Arthur Houle:
Interval: The interminable span of time it takes your student to identify a simple numeric distance of two tones.
Rests: Ignored by students. Only known cure: Hold music over student’s head and say, “You’re under a rest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you play will be used against you.”
Robert Schumann: Politically incorrect. Must now be called Robert Schuperson.
Those crack me up. It reminds me of the time I asked my daughter which direction a sharp goes. She replied “East”. Which was true because going to the right a 1/2 step was also moving east.
Hilarious! I love the one about intervals! Thanks for sharing.