Nothing But Fancy

Today I taught beginning music theory and piano to musicians in Ecuador as a teacher with Músico a Músico a group that travels the globe conducting four day Congresos focusing on the worship life of musicians and artists.  It is the first time I have taught music with a translator. 

There are a few fascinating things about Latin American music understanding, such as the names of notes in both pitch and rhythm.  The names for note duration in Spanish are: Whole = Redonda (rounded), Half = Blanca (white), Quarter = Negra (black), and Eighth = Corchea (??).    Therefore explaining that half note is 1/2 of a whole note is a bit more complected when the note name is a color and not a geometry term.  Then explaining that to my non-musical, but wonderful translator was moi dificil!  Notes names for pitch in Spanish have two different names:  one for speaking and one for writing.  They write the letter names of the notes, but when they speak the names they use solfege.  The Do does not move with the key signature.  Do is always C, and in order to differentiate between the sharp and flat notes in a key signature such as key of F, one would say:  Fa, So, La, Si Bemol, Do, Ri, Mi and back to Fa.  For the key of G they would say:  Sol, La, Si, Do, Re, Me, Fa Sostenido and back to Sol.  But when they write them down on chord charts they know the letter names.  Very Interesting.

When teaching time signature today I was so excited to explain dotted notes, that I completely forgot that my students could not understand English!  When teaching in a different language the eyes are on you but the recognition of understanding is not there until it is translated.  So the whole time you are thinking… not a single person understands these concepts… but really they are waiting for the translation!  I finally asked the students to come to the board and fill in rhythms.  It reminded me of Sophomore year when Dr. Rodgers would make me come up and write secondary dominates on the board and I was nervous to make a mistake!  They caught on very well and I couldn’t help but be overjoyed to share one of the most important things in my life, music, with people who desparately want to learn.  And the purpose of their wanting to learn is to worship God with excellence!!  Absolutely FANTASTIC!!!

The members of the Músico a Músico team are incredible.  They are not only talented musicians, but they deeply love the Lord.  1/2 of us are bi-lingual and 1/2 of us only speak Spanish or English – It makes for very interesting rehearsals when the electric guitar player and second piano only speak Spanish and the lead vocal/piano/band director, acoustic guitar, drums, and myself (singer) only speak English.  The base, and 2 singers have to translate all the directions.  It was only by the grace of God that we sound half decent, let alone play with excellence together!  Its unbelievable how tight we sound… I can’t help but dance.  We sing in Spanish.  It has been wonderful to realize that making a sound is my worship, not what I say.  I will write more on that later . 

I am so thankful for this learning and teaching oppertunity!  Te Alabo!