Into the second lap.
2:07 p.m.
I�m home early because my recital student cancelled. She�s sick yet again. My 11:30 student was 15 minutes late. I was just gathering up my stuff to leave when she arrived. She offered no excuse for her tardiness, was in a �mood� all lesson, and although she did try, she didn�t put much effort into it. I asked her how the rudiments class was going (she came into the programme with absolutely no musical background whatsoever and somehow I always seem to get saddled with these ones) and she replied, �Not well.� She understands the concept of one whole note = two half-notes = four quarter-notes = eight eighth-notes, but as soon as Fannie starts clapping rhythms so the class can identify which line on the board she is reading, this girl is totally lost. I found a measure in a song where the piano accompaniment is set up so that the bass is in half-notes, the tenor in quarters, the alto in two quarters and a half, and the soprano in eighth-notes. Extremely straight forward. But the melody above that was dotted quarter-eighth-dotted quarter-eighth. She just lost it. It�s all lined up, making perfect sense, and she just doesn�t see it.
Anyway, I would very strongly like to recommend on this girl�s final report in the spring that she seriously consider changing programmes. She doesn�t belong in a university music department. She can�t seem to learn (she just squeaked by last term), she has an attitude which makes me want to scream, and I�m sure she would do much better in a different discipline.
I printed out 30 pages of score before I left for work this morning, and have started the next section, where the strings are divided into 13 parts (three in each section, but still one bass). I�m getting caught up, which is a relief. It means that the end is in sight, although it�s still a long way off.
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