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Teaching Rhythm (All Teachers)
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OK – update on the above.
So she doesn’t read Braille, never got on with it apparently. She seems to find a lot of things quite challenging in general!!
So I got her to touch the speakers as the music was playing which she said she found helpful, although to be honest, I have now discovered the real issue. So, she can actually completely tap and count in time to a song and even hum the melody over it in time! Lyrics is actually what I’ve whittled the problem down to! If she forgets, she can’t pick it up again. She’ll throw herself off by adding a word, and therefore a beat, and then not even notice, until a few seconds later when she’s realised she’s totally lost. I had a “head-in-my-hands-in-dismay” moment yesterday when she asked, “why does it matter if I add a beat if it’s just me?” Then I had to explain to her for the millionth time that the point in doing it on her own is that she can keep to the timing when she goes back to the music..! (I am trying my hardest not to show my frustration!)
Anyway, she now has an mp3 of me speaking the words really clearly and slowly against a beat. But she still can’t seem to get her head round the words. We’re doing “I Will Survive” (understand that it’s a wordy song!) but she can’t even get to “kept thinking I could never live without you by my side” without her adding “kept thinking HOW I could never live without you by my side” and we were stuck on this for about 15 minutes because she just couldn’t stop adding the “how” or regressing and forgetting the entire thing because she would get flustered. And now and then she’ll not really understand why we’re doing any of this, so I spend a lot of time explaining things over and over. And thus it just takes the enjoyment out of it for both of us..
It’s a shame, but I’m persevering and trying to get her to learn bit by bit (tricky when she can’t pause the track and go back to where she was as she can’t see and this would definitely confuse her more!) so I’ve asked her to get her helper to find a way to help her learn the lyrics which I think she’s already doing. She basically just wants to get there straight away though, and will regularly interrupt the slow learning process, asking if she’ll ever be able to do the whole thing on stage or if she’s even any good.
It’s like she’s regressing as she did perform a song on stage with a backing track before, but I think she just happened to know that song really well!
Thinking I should give her an easier song… any further thoughts?
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Wow! The plot thickens! Keep persevering!
Yep, getting her helper on board with trying to learn the lyrics is a great idea.
It’s kind of difficult to explain why someone shouldn’t add a beat if there’s a real lack of musical understanding in the student. This is of course not the real reason, but the most simplistic I could make it would be that if you add in an extra beat then you’ll end a beat late and it’s important that you “finish with the backing track”. This avoids having to explain chords progressions and bar lengths for the millionth time, even if it is a little misleading haha:)I was trying to think of songs with easier lyrics and the first thing that came to mind was Let it Be by the beatles. Don’t know if that helps!
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OK thanks I’ll try it! She only seems to like big diva songs sung by females though!
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I think some songs don’t have very rhythmic melodies especially true of the over articulation of 90s divas (what about singing the tune). If she could sing a bacharach song accurately I suspect the material could be the problem. It takes a long time to develop highly accurate timing. Sometimes you have to accept a student may not be so able but as long as they enjoy learning and you do your best for them accept it and them.
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Phil – this is the thing. Do I get her to just enjoy what she loves without progress (not my preferred option!) and sing a cappella which she loves, or pick something to actually develop her but she may have to deal with a song she wouldn’t normally choose. Obviously I want to go with the latter, and have done before. Tainted Love worked quite well for example. She rocked the Marilyn Manson version at a showcase to be fair! It’s just she’s not like any other student who is happy to just go with whatever all the time! It’s a lot harder for her.. and it’s like dealing with a small child sometimes.
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