The Case of the Waltz

Though my main instrument is voice, I consider myself to have a fairly decent sense of rhythm. I can sight read most things in compound meter and I basically eat pieces written in common time for breakfast. Unfortunately I have always had a certain awkwardness towards three-four. I don't know where it comes from but I always fumble with only accenting beat one. Luckily as a vocalist, I have been able to avoid most waltzes, but somehow this semester fate realized I was doing this. Waltzes have been haunting me. It began innocently enough. At my first piano lesson my teacher assigned me two waltzes: one Schumann, one Shostakovitch. Apparently butchering a piece at the first sight reading is the universal sign to music teachers everywhere that it will be "good for you." Impossibly, I found out later that day that there is one thing worse than than having to play a waltz.... having to dance one. 

I went to musical rehearsal with my head hanging low after an hour of counting to three. I'm also not the most graceful human, so I wasn't looking forward to a rehearsal with the choreographer.  Since the song we would be blocking, "Follow your heart" is a fairly slow duet, I figured we would just be basically standing there singing to each other....nope. Our director is Czech and has never directed a musical before. I can tell this from his ambition and optimism about every number in the show,  

"Now, this song I want to be a beautiful viennese WALTZ"

I confusedly looked at him, then suddenly panicked realizing that "Follow Your Heart" was written in three-four. Then I looked at my knees, which I had not-so-suavely skinned that morning running for the bus.  I finally gazed down with horror at my poor dance partner's toes, painfully obvious in his flip-flops. 

Lets just say I don't think he'll be wearing those flip flops to rehearsal again. 

But by the end of the semester, I'll probably understand the ins and outs of triple meter.