IDEAS: Listening to the Past

The University of New Hampshire

Abstract: In this activity, students listen to music and diagram the preterit and imperfect on a time-line, using boxes for the preterit, and placing them above or below the time line for high/low notes. Students think of a color while they are listening, and use this color for their drawing. Also, they are asked to think of an image, or what they see happening while they are listening, and to tell how the music makes them feet. The drawings show a visual structure for the music, and give them a feel for the differences in the preterit and imperfect while honoring their individual interpretations.

Key Words: preterit, imperfect, visualization, music

The Preterit and the Imperfect. Two visions of the past tense in Spanish, enclosed in a structure designed to narrate the details of an event and the circumstances surrounding the same event. For students, memorizing the formation of the two tenses is one task. Then, to understand when to use which one is yet another, often much more difficult than all of those irregular preterits!

In this activity, music is used to help students identify the concepts of the two past tenses.

For the Preterit

(a) the beginning (b) the end (c) completion and (d) successive actions

For the Imperfect

(a) repetition (b) continuation (c) description and (d) ongoing, evolving actions

There is a structure to music, represented by repeated patterns and by the rise and fall of the notes. All of the notes together are meant to illicit an emotion based on a theme. There is also interruption in the pattern, a sudden flurry of notes, or an ending or a beginning of a part. A change in the rhythm or a sudden burst of song contribute to the structure as well. In this activity, students will diagram the preterit as they listen to the changes or sudden flurry of notes in the music.

The students are given a piece of plain white paper, and are asked to turn the paper sideways, converting it into a time-line. They are asked to bring in at least five (5) different colored pencils, but a broader selection of colors is strongly urged. Suggestions to prepare the student for listening are:

1. Piense en un color mientras escucha la música. Use ese color para el dibujo
2. ¿Cuál es una imagen que usted tiene mientras escucha la música?¿Qué pasa?
3. ¿Cómo se siente usted mientras escucha la música?

Using the tape Classic Spanish Guitar Favourites by John Williams (¡cuando él tenía solamente 17 años!), I selected three pieces, «Variations on a theme of Mozart» (6:46), «Estudio» (2:07), and «Humorada» (1:47). I let the students know the length of the piece and asked them to draw a horizontal line near the bottom of the page, for the entire width of the paper, leaving approximately one inch margins. After listening for thirty seconds, I motioned for them to choose their color, and to start marking with boxes (they may color them in or not) the preterit tense. These boxes are drawn either directly on the line, above it for high notes, or below the line for particularly low notes. I reminded them to keep in mind the length of the piece

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as they draw.

At they end of the activity, on the back of their drawing, I ask three questions:

1. ¿Qué color escogió usted? Escogí el color azul.
2. ¿Cuál fue la imagen? Una chica bailó.
3. ¿Cómo se sentía mientras escuchaba la música? Me sentía alegre.

This activity gives students a «feel» for the past tense in Spanish. It is also an individual activity aimed at honoring their interpretations.

Hispania [Publicaciones periódicas]. Volume 76, Number 2, May 1993