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Counting 8ths
Medicine for the 4x4
Fixation?
Dr. Charles Heiden - 2010
The problem. How should an elementary
student count? Our best string class methods
"square off" in a fashion that encourages
4x4 fixation. "The beat equals the pulse of
music" we are told. "A quarter note equals
one beat of sound." "4/4 means four beats
per measure, and a quarter note gets one
beat." "Each eighth note equals one-half of
a beat." Already "one-half of a beat" is a
problem – the clap of one hand? – but the
4x4 fixation creates a formidable
stumbling-block when the student reaches the
dotted-quarter note: one-and-a-half beats?
An 1875 solution. In his Op. 38
"Easiest Method for Violin," Franz Wohlfahrt
had an elegant idea about this pedagogical
problem. From 4/4, go to 3/4 where the
dotted-half is easy: 3 counts! Then extend
triple meter to 3/8 where the dotted-quarter
becomes 3 counts. Next move to 6/8 where the
dotted quarter is still 3 counts, but the
dotted-half is counting 3 two times. Never
mind the abstract complexity of "Compound
Meter" with its "Duple" and "Triple"
sub-classes – the student has already played
the basic concept!
 A
2009 extension. Wohlfahrt’s elegant
procedure is retained and extended in my
"Revised" version of Op. 38 by adding two
items: 1) "Cheerleader" counting in 8ths,
and 2) An application of this in an
exquisite 1597 bicinium [two-voiced
composition], without bar-lines, by Giovanni
Paolo Cima. To understand the "cheerleader"
method, count the familiar tune of "Away in
a Manger" in 8ths, as follows:
1 2-
123 -1-12-123-1
-
12-12 -
12-12-1234
A - way in a man-ger no crib for a bed
( Shout
and clap the large, bold 1’s, mumble the
other counts, but always in a staccato
delivery.)
Here’s how this looks on pp. 30 – 32
of my revised Wohlfahrt Op. 38.
Sample p.30, 3/4
Sample p.31,
3/8 to 6/8
Sample p.32, unbarred bicinium &
cheerleader counting
To order your copy of Dr. Heiden's
Revising Wohlfahrt's Op38 For Today"s
D-major Beginners:
For further
information,
click here to see the full catalog drescription.
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