If a student has pre-programmed thoughts on musical time, how do we approach teaching our unique perspective of musical time and interpretation?
Here’s how I approach teaching tempo and musical timing:
This seems so simple, but after 15 years of teaching, it remains true: have the students write the meaning of the word in their music.
It used to surprise me that students did not know they needed to look up musical terms. I’ve often found that students do not know that many of the words in our music are Italian. I realized a while back that part of my job is to teach them to do this step! We don’t know what we don’t know. I do not specifically remember who taught me to look up terms I didn’t recognize, but for me it happened early on. For some students, it just takes a little longer.
I keep an old-school music dictionary on my shelf and have students search for words. Most kids today do not use paper dictionaries, so it’s like watching them use ancient artifacts. Send them on a paper quest through the dictionaries of old (highly recommend…)
These markings include (but are not limited to): Largo, Adagio, Andante, Allegro, Vivace, and Presto (there are more of course!)
I use embodied experiences to help students with tempos- crawling, walking, running, etc. In addition to the speed ranges for these terms, I also teach their musical meaning. Largo isn’t just a speed, it's a whole vibe (to use the parlance of our time).
Ask students to ask this question:
Did the composer indicate this marking or was it added later by an editor?
From here we discuss composer intention and the differences between composer markings and editorial markings.
To avoid headaches, make sure your students are using reputable editions. If you’re feeling really teacherly, this opens the door to discussing the differences between editions and the beauty of urtext editions.
Encourage the student to listen to different performances by well known professional musicians.
I have students compare the recordings and come up with what they like and they do not like. We then discuss number composer intent and editorial markings again.
Discuss good taste, performance practice, practicality, and musical style: this can be tricky.
Depending on the level of the student they may not have an extensive background in music history or performance practice.
This is a great opportunity to discuss these topics.
Have the student put the piece in a box–meaning strictly in time–with a metronome, no fluctuations.
At the point the student will start to see and feel where changing the timing or the pacing of a particular passage may be warranted. In Bach, this is extremely obvious and uncomfortable.
Then the student can go back without the metronome and push and pull where it feels right or makes sense. This is a conversation students and I have frequently.
I like to think of beats like parking spaces. One can park their car in the space near the left line, in the center, in near the right line, up towards the front, or towards the back. The car is in the spot, but there’s room. It is all about placement. Musical notes are the same.
Stand back and let the student make choices.
Some teachers have a tendency to micromanage. While I believe there are definitely times the teacher needs to step in and say, no you must do it this way.
Letting a student come up with his/her own ideas and then teaching them how and why their idea works or doesn’t work teaches the lesson better and inspires students to be creative, inquisitive, and responsible for their own musical journey.
Now, if a student comes up with a crazy or anti-musical idea, like playing a presto movement at a QN=35, then you must step in and fix it.
However, if you teach students the history, the purpose, and meaning behind the expressive and tempo markings, you set them up to be more independent thinkers who will make stylistically intelligent choices.
There is so much more to discuss about the nuance of pacing and timing, but these are the initial ways I approach teaching tempo and timing with students.
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