Children’s piano lesson knowledge question: what is the name of the musical traffic light?
Sometimes piano students avoid learning “musical facts” because they see them as rules they must follow. Teaching musical facts in a way that is interesting to children offers a creative perspective to children in piano lessons. This is important so that they do not fall into the trap of being enslaved by “musical rules” in order to be “good students”, without learning to play creatively; or, so that they do not go to the other extreme and completely ignore the learning of musical facts.
The musical symbol called closed, for example, means pause. It’s like stopping at a traffic light. In print it looks like a bird’s eye, but this analogy doesn’t really help piano students know what to do when they see one. Young learners will remember that this musical symbol reminds them of a bird’s eye, but they can’t remember what to do. Fermata is the Italian word for “high”. When the fermata is placed over a note, it means to pause or stop on that note and then resume normal tempo.
If you think of the fermata as a musical traffic light, imagine that you are traveling through the music at a moderate to lively speed when you suddenly hit a note with a red “traffic light” above it. What is your job? Don’t park your careful and get out! Don’t go through the red light! Just wait at the intersection with the car moving until the light turns green, and then continue your musical journey at your previous moderate to upbeat tempo. The idea of a fermata is to create anticipation in the music, or the feeling that the melody is playing again, but you have to have a little patience and wait. This creative technique adds interest to the music that provokes the listener’s ear.
Now, admittedly, as a parent who may find red lights more than a little annoying, this explanation may ring false. But I guarantee you that it is a creative idea that will work for your piano student. And who knows, when your piano student becomes a driver, he may see traffic lights as simple fermatas to make his journey more interesting! You will be making the world a better place.
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