Climbing Stairs

Have you ever watched a child climb stairs? You’ll see the child take two steps for each step of yours, or find other ways to fit their small gait to the steps.

Everything we design has form built into it, and that form is designed with specific uses in mind. Those stairs are designed for adult legs, and so it’s not nearly as functional for child-sized legs.

There isn’t anything wrong with specificity of design–and even if you wanted to, you couldn’t design a staircase that works for all legs. Even so, it’s worth remembering that every design has specificity built into it, and can’t possibly work perfectly for everyone.

The same is true for so much of what we do as music educators – whether it’s the music we program, the pace we teach, or the harmonic language we use, what we teach has design that works perfectly for a specific population.

Remember that not not everyone can easily fit their legs up the steps you ask – some are too short, some are too long. Be patient for those who take longer, and try to pick different stairs every so often, so that different people can get a just-right experience.