Timing of the Musical Notes does not come naturally for many Very Young Children
There are a few gifted people in this world to which timing in music comes naturally. For the rest of us, it is a struggle, conquered only with time and patience.
I was working with one of my young boys this last week who has really struggled with the concept of timing. When he plays a tune with which he is familiar, his timing is better, but not totally correct. He has moved from the Animal Notes to standard music notes, so recognizing the note sometimes affects his timing. We decided to backtrack for a little while and again study timing in “Beginning Timing for Very Young Children.” When we had worked in the book earlier, he really did not care a whole lot and did not honestly work on the concept of timing, but now he wants to play the popular songs he is working on correctly. He wants his friends and family to truly enjoy the music he is playing.
The Animal Notes made note reading effortless at this point in his musical growth, and he could concentrate on recognizing the timing value of the notes. He is a bright little boy and willing to work, but he had never realized he must read each note for two things: tone and timing. We had discussed this when we started studying timing, but it did not seem important to him at that point.
We are making good progress this time around. There is a big lesson for us as teachers; don’t hesitate to back up and review old material on a level that is comfortable and friendly to your students. If handled with a positive approach and honest praise for progress, the student will find joy and satisfaction in the experience.
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