Klarinet Archive - Posting 000876.txt from 2001/02

From: David Glenn <notestaff@-----.de>
Subj: Re: [kl] counting
Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 05:41:56 -0500

Rien Stein wrote:

> One of my students never was able to learn the meaning of musical terms.
> After I told her some twenty times "acc" means accelerando, and what that
> means, her mother came to tell this girl suffers from dislexya (hope I spell
> it right).
>
> Now I found out she isn't able to "count in her head", as she calls it. To
> play a note one, two three, and even four beats she does simply by feeling
> how long to continue that note, but when a note takes longer, she makes a
> wild guess resulting in notes of considerably longer duration, but also of
> considerably shorter duration. During the last few weeks I have exhausted
> all kinds of trials to try to let her COUNT, but she finally burst into
> tears, and asked me to stop it, it had, she said, relationship with her
> being dislectic.
>
> When I studied psychology, ovr 20 years ago now, the phenomenon of dyslexya
> was still rather unknown, but when I heard about it I recognized it
> immediately in two of my pupils (at the time I was professionally a teacher
> of mathematics in the highest form of high school). From what I remember
> from my study of psychology and of these two pupils I'd say there is little
> relationship between the two problems sketched above, but it is not
> impossible there actually IS a relationship with some individuals. Now of
> course you will feel the two questions coming up:
>
> can someone tell me more about this possible relationship, and, more
> important,
>
> can someone give me a hint how to help her with this counting problem?
>
> TIA
>
> BTW, this is the same girl I asked about some time ago because she
> supposedly had a contusion in one of her upper front teeth. I went with her
> to her dentist and had him make a röntgen photograph of the tooth, he had
> never done so. Then the problem was solved: the tooth was broken. He is
> handling this problem now, and she is suffering a lot less from that tooth.
> She can attack notes again the usual way. She has a beautiful
> double-tongueing technique.
>
> Rien
>

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Rien,
That's good news about her teeth.

Dyslexia has *many* forms and degrees. It doesn't make sense to generalize. Like
Karl, I don't know of a connection with counting, only visual perception. Is it
really dyslexia? Or maybe just a so-called learning disability? What's it called
in Dutch? In German: Legasthenie (spelling?)

Have you tried having her physically experience the beats? I learned some
interesting patterns (footsteps) from a jazz saxophonist here. And of course
clapping the beat and/or rhythms. Does she play standing?

David

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