Children’s Piano Lesson Knowledge Question: What is the musical traffic light called?

Piano students sometimes avoid learning “musical facts” because they see them as rules they must follow. Teaching musical facts in a way that is interesting to children offers a creative perspective to children in piano lessons. This is important so that they do not fall into the trap of slavery to the “rules of music” to be “good students” without learning to play creatively; or, lest they go to the other extreme and completely ignore learning musical facts.

The musical symbol called fermata, for example, it means to pause. It is like stopping at a traffic light. In print, it looks like a bird’s eye, but this analogy doesn’t really help piano students know what to do when they see one. Young students will remember that this musical symbol reminds them of a bird’s eye, but they don’t remember what to do. Fermata is the Italian word for “Alto”. When the fermata is placed on a note, it means to pause or stop on that note and then resume the normal tempo.

If you think of the fermata as a musical traffic light, imagine that you are traveling in music at a moderate to lively speed when you suddenly come to a note with a “traffic light” on it that is red. What is your job? Don’t park your watch and get out! Don’t run the red light! Just wait at the intersection with the car moving until the light turns green, and then resume your musical journey at your previous moderate-to-lively pace. The idea of ​​a fermata is to create anticipation in the music, or the feeling that the melody returns, but you have to be a little patient and wait. This creative technique adds interest to the music that somewhat annoys the listener’s ear.

Now, it is true that as a parent who may find red lights more than a little annoying, this explanation may sound bogus. But I guarantee that it is a creative idea that will work for your piano student. And who knows, when your piano student becomes a conductor, he may see the traffic lights as fermatas there to make his journey more interesting! You will make the world a better place.