Teaching Time Signature: Part II
Hi Everyone! Continuing on with how I teach time signature to my students (especially my younger ones), I'm going to share how I teach what the bottom number of the time signature represents. When I first started teaching piano about 10 years ago (after I taught in the public school system for 10 years as an elementary school teacher) I have to be honest and say I dreaded teaching the bottom number of time signature to my students because they just wouldn't get it no matter how many fraction examples I gave them. Then I decided to approach the bottom number from a different angle; one that my younger students especially could understand. First I show my students a paper circle and ask them what shape it is. Then I show them a laminated circle made from card stock outlined in black representing a whole note (upper left hand corner pic if you're looking at the web version of this blog). I say, "A whole circle represents a whole note". T...