Any suggestions for techniques in teaching students triplets in the form of quarter-quarter-quarter or 16th-16th-16th would be helpful. In my self search I found a book by Robert Starer, "Rhythm Training," to be most delightful in explaining the math. I also found it helpful to write out the math: break down the parts so that my student could visualize the musical fractions. She responded very well to this. A specific peice that my student has been playing is the awesome arrangement by Dennis Alexander, "Moorish Gardens." Any further suggestions? Thanks! Bonnie

-- Bonnie Harris (bonniek@bellsouth.net), February 11, 2004

Answers

To get the "feel" of triplet quarters, I would walk up and down the studio with the student, with each step being a half-note, and vocalizing "half-note, half-note" or "Tah-ah, tah-ah" as we walked. Then keep the same beat in the feet, and vocalize regular quarter notes -- "tah, tah" -- two to each step. Then switch to three notes: "cheeseburger, cheeseburger" or "one-and-uh, two-and-uh" per step.

Alice Dearden

-- Alice Dearden (alicedearden@look.ca), February 13, 2004.