The Quarter Note Quest
By Philip Johnston

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Most of us have a fear of heights, or spiders, or the dark. I’m prepared to own up to all three on occasions. (Would you want to be trapped in a blacked-out tarantula-filled box that is suspended above the grand canyon? See – it’s not just me…)

It’s not irrational. Most of these fears make sense, and are encouraging us to avoid things that our instincts scream at us represent mortal danger.

But some fears don’t seem to be linked directly to our survival. Such as a fear of public speaking. Or elevators. Or kittens.

Of all these phobias, there’s one that can have profound consequences for students who are having music lesson. And at first glance, it seems to have nothing to do with music.

Mathphobia.

For a variety of complex reasons, some students decide early on that mathematics is all too hard, and that they’ll never understand what’s going on. Exponentials, averages, fractions, integers… all crammed immediately into a bin labelled “I can’t do this. Never have been able to. Never will.”

		Not only do their rhythms continue to be a muddle, but their enthusiasm for practicing in general plummets.I think the military terminology is “collateral damage”. It’s time to put a stop to it.

And irrespective of what actual mathematical ability that child may have, everything comes to a crashing halt.

While not suggestion there is a direct link (although it’s easy to see how they are cousins),  there is a musical equivalent, and it will be affecting some of your students right now.

Some students are scared of rhythms.

Not copying them, or performing them, but working them out in the first place. Often something gets lost in the translation. (That is assuming there actually was an attempt at translation!) It just sits in their too-hard-basket, until it eventually starts to smell.

And if they’re not careful, that can start to make their rest of their work smell too.

The end result? Not only do their rhythms continue to be a muddle, but their enthusiasm for practicing in general plummets.

I think the military terminology is “collateral damage”.

It’s time to put a stop to it. But it has to be done carefully.

Part of being careful means that to start with, we’re not going to think too hard about the rhythms that these students can’t work out. Instead, we’re going to focus on the ones that they can.

Huh? We're going to work on something they can already do?