Natural Conclusions

Too many pieces of music finish
too long after the end.
Igor Stravinsky

HA! One of my second graders said nearly the same thing yesterday! We were listening to a Minuet by G. F. Handel, and the form was A section, Be section, A section, B section, A section ....you get the point. Well, my kiddos did too, and one little guy said that we should have ended it after we heard the A and B section 4 times - "we get it, Ms. G, it ended two sections ago!" As if I was playing it longer just to belabor a point! HA!

The bigger point was that the kids are beginning to feel as though they know when a piece should naturally conclude - that's something I can't explicitly teach them. Feeling when a piece of music concludes can only come with experience, listening skills, and a little dose of common sense. I couldn't believe I was having this kind of conversation with 7 year olds! Hooray!