lesson

Teaching could be an enjoyable experience, more so if you are tutoring music to gifted students.

Children seem to have an inborn ear ( and eye ) for music. A good teacher seems to to have the ability to look at the subject from the view point of a child. Or see it thru the eyes of a child.
Thus most piano and music theory books start with children's songs. Let us take the song MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB.

A music teacher can tell many things about MATH and MUSIC from this simple children,s song.
No. 1-The entire song -MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB is made up of 8 measures...
All songs that I know are written in 8 measures, or multiples of 8..

Written stories make use of sentences to relate something.

Songs make use of Musical pharases to convey something: a story, an expression of love, a ballad about a country.

A musical phrase has always 8 measures...Not 7 not 9 but 8. It is the magic 8. Check any song and you will always discover that each line of the song is made up of 8 measures..Why?..I do not know. That is how it is..

Let us analyze MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB from a music teacher's point of view..
First measure of the song covers the words MA-RY HAD A ..

second measure covers LIT-TLE LAMB...
THIRD measure covers LIT-TLE LAMB...
FOURTH measure covers LIT-TLE LAMB...
FIFTH measure covers MA-RY HAD A ..
SIXTH measure covers LIT-TLE LAMB...HIS
SEVENTH measure covers FLEECE IS WHITE AS SNOW
EIGHTH measure covers SNOW!

Music conductors make use of their hands to count the 1-2-3-4s in many songs.
This is called BEATING or MAKING BEATS..

To make a 4/4 beat follow only 4 simple steps are done with your hand or with a baton stick.
In the first beat the right hand goes down, in the second beat the hand goes to the left, 3rd beat it goes to the right, 4th beat it goes up and 1 measure is finished. You again will repeat the cycle, first beat goes down, left, right up and so on, and so on..

Try singing MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB while making a beat on 4/4 time..
MA - is one beat, RY is another beat, HAD is another beat, A is another beat, One measure is done..

Now we go to the 2nd measure
LIT- first beat
TLE - second beat
LAMB - 3rd and 4th beat..
3rd measure is just a repeat of the 2nd measure
4th measure is just a repeat of the 2nd or 3rd measure,
5th measure is a repeat of the 1st measure
6th is a repeat of the 2nd measure but it includes IT'S
7TH MEASURE has the syllables FLEECE IS WHITE AS ( four syllables, four beats )
8th measure has SNOW which is sang very long. It is a WHOLE NOTE..
WHOLE NOTES ARE SUNG with 4 beats
HALF NOTES are sung with 2 beats ( The note that goes with LAMB is a half note )
The note that goes with SNOW is a WHOLE note. The rest of the syllables are quarter notes.
QUARTER NOTES are sung with 1 beat..
Can you see a pattern emerging?..Not yet?..Read this piece again from the beginning. It takes a while before the lesson sinks in.

Lessons are:
MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB is written in 4/4 time, and in 8 measures..
IT makes use of a combination of quarter, half and whole notes..
If you add the value of the notes inside each measure, you will always arrive to the sum of ONE!
The last meausre has only one note..It is a whole note..the value of a whole note is ONE!
tHE VALUE OF A HALF NOTE IS 1/2 OF A whole note
The value of a quarter note is 1/4 of a whole note..
So as you can see, MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB is not just a kiddie song. It is one way of teaching an aspect of MATH AND MUSIC..MM!!!!
four quarter notes make a whole note
two half notes make a whole note
2 quarter notes make a half note..
But the kind of notes with regards to life span does not end here.
Divide a quarter note and you get a 1/8 note
Divide a 1/8 note and you get a 1/16 note..
Mind boggling?..I do not think so...

Til next time.
vic.

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