Henry Purcell

A bit of general knowledge at the end of a lesson today.  10-yr-old girl, Rondeau.  Pronunciations done a bit more phonetically...

Me: Who composed this piece?
Girl: Henry- wait.  Is it the arranger, or the composer?  Mary Co-hen or Henry Prewcell?
Me: Who do you think the composer is?
Girl: Henry... Prewcell.
Me: Try again.
Girl: Prercell
Me: Purcell
Girl: Oh!  There's no r before the u. 
Me: Where's he from?
Girl [quickly, like she's in a trivia game]: Spain! Argentina! [I couldn't help but start laughing here] Brazil!  ... Oh wait... France!  Oh yeah, Spanish is a different language.... Brazil!
Me [loudly, slowly]: Hen...ry...
Girl: Paris?
Me: Paris isn't a country.  Henry.  Where would a Henry live?  Henry?
Girl [puzzled]: England...? [I nod] England?!  But that's so normal!

I figured out that her confusion was stemming from the title of the piece, which is in French (this is the same child who agreed that French is a silly language) and it has a subtitle 'From the Moor of Abdelazar' and I must have explained at some point the Moorish reference.  That was the end of general knowledge for today, I couldn't risk any more.

Ornaments

Working on a piece (Purcell's Rondeau from Abdelazar) with this 10-yr-old girl - she can play it quite well, for the most part, but it's lacking a few (vital) elements.

Me: There are just a couple of things now to make it really good.  Do you know what they might be?
Girl: Well, I don't know if you were thinking of this... You probably weren't... But I thought it would sound, like, way awesome-er if with this note you went like this [demonstrates - instead of a ta A with 3 on the E string, she played 3-4-3, like a mordent].
Me: So, ornamented?
Girl [with that "my teacher's saying weird words again" look on her face]: I don't know what that is.
Me: Well, do you know what an ornament is?
Girl: Yeah - like those little annoying things you have - well, not you, but some people - have around the house for no reason.
Me: Um, yes, to make it not boring but pretty, not so plain... Same thing here.  It's called an ornament because it's making the note less plain.
Girl: Okay, but am I allowed to do it?
Me: Of course!

Rhythm Something

A 10-yr-old had just played Purcell's Rondeau (from Abdelazar) from memory.  She had played it quite well, except for the rhythm in one particular section, which trips up most students.

Me: What's the rhythm in the C section?
Girl [slightly wary, but still from memory]: Ta...ummm ti slurry.... something something...

Good thing she could play it properly when she had the music in front of her or I would have been really worried.  And depressed.

French is a Silly Language

I'm not a fan of French, despite it having wormed its way into my brain.  French has so many letters they just ignore - hm.  So, I started Purcell's Rondeau (from Abdelazar) with a 10-yr-old girl by saying, "French is a silly language".

Girl (indignant): Oh!  That's not nice!
Me: Well, how would you pronounce the title of this piece?
Girl (slowly): Ronnnn-deeee-ay-oooo...?
Me: Yeah, it's pronounced 'rondo'.
Girl: Well, that's silly.
Me: Exactly.