After years of dutifully counting out subdivided beats in the rigid manner of traditional piano pedagogy, my determined adult student has the great challenge of playing notes without subdividing them. The woman, a world-class scientist, finds this "extremely difficult."
Why does it matter? If all note values are subdivided there can be no legato. Legato presumes a value the length of the phrase. Every interruption, mental or physical, constitutes a break in the thought.
This is why I favor a system of vocalization based on vowels: dah for long; dit for medium; dee or deedle
for the short. Take out the accents; take out the numbers; take out the barlines. Who knows what might emerge? Haydn, perhaps.
