5 October, 2012

Another new experience for Hermana Partridge.  Yesterday, I taught my first music class in Spanish!  Well, I'm not sure that's what I was stumbling through but I know it surely wasn't English!  I'm teaching a 12-week course on conducting using the Church Music course.  As you would guess, this would be nothing but pleasure for me if I could do it in English.  But alas, we are in a Spanish-speaking country and I do want to learn to speak this beautiful language so I agreed to try.  I had 16 college students, eager and willing to be patient with me.  I had to read most of what I said from the manual but I did have the students marching in place, keeping time with the beat...uno, dos, tres, uno dos, tres (first lesson...hearing the beat.)  This is very important because from what we have seen so far, leading the music in church does not necessarily equate with understanding and hearing the beat.  When I watched the YSA's dance at the fiesta 2 weeks ago, I would never have guessed some of them can't follow the beat when they lead.  They certainly do understand the beat when they dance!  So my plan is to get them dancing first!  We met for 1 hour and I survived!  They will get one credit for the 12-week course so I must get good at this.  I'm busy learning phrases to say so I don't have the read so much.  I introduced myself, showed pictures of our family and introduced the course and even shared D&C 25:12 and testified that Heavenly Father would bless them as they learned and used new musical skills.  I had much anxiety over doing this in Spanish but now that the first one is behind me, I hope that I will be more relaxed next week.  Talk about feeling humble and in great need of help from the Almighty!  Father has a way of placing us where we REALLY need to turn to Him, doesn't He!  And I do and I did!  Since music is the universal language, I'm counting on my love for music to transcend any difficulty in speaking.  Va a venir!  "It will come!"