The Glass Roof

Everybody heard about the story of the grasshopper and the glass roof. A grasshopper was trained to jump every time someone claps. At first, nothing impeded the bug's trajectory but a glass plate was gradually lowered so that every time the grasshopper jumped, it hit the roof.  As time went on, as the glass plate was lowered even more, the grasshopper still jumped when somebody clapped. Finally, after the glass roof was right over the grasshopper for a while, the plate was removed and the trainer clapped again. No movement ensued. But that never really applies to real life, it's only a good anecdote to express the profitability of an open mind.

My little brother is now learning the famous Ode to Joy on his little piano. He would play everything perfectly but  have his one pitfall at the end. The music calls for a 3 quarter notes to pull out the cadence but he always dot one of the notes (if you don't know what I'm talking about, looked at the embedded video, 27-28 seconds in). Indeed he is incorrect, but from my musical standpoint, the dotted note is much more natural and musical; the reason for the straight quarter notes: dotted notes are not introduced yet.

How does the two story tie together? My mom was drilling my little brother on the "correct" way to play the piece but not the more musical way. It might be a small act but the glass roof has been lowered a bit today.



-runiteking1

Got comments? Post them below!