Blogs are so interesting to me because we can have a particular audience in mind that we think we are blogging to but never know for sure who's actually reading it. I imagine my audience to be college students majoring in piano pedagogy or parents wanting to find new ways of teaching their own children the basics of piano. The idea of providing an alternative method of instruction to youngsters that's fun and effective is so exciting to me! Based on what my piano parents have shared regarding my program as well as their children (some of whom have come to me from other teachers and organizations due to their dissatisfaction with the traditional methods of teaching) there seems to be quite an interest for something new. For me it's all about teaching concepts in an unconventional dynamic way that leaves my kiddos feeling confident about their ability to learn and play the piano.
Anyway, I digress, back to business.......so last time I blogged I began to share with you what I do to prepare my students for reading and understanding notes on the grand staff. The way I teach my students about the grand staff now is very different than how I used to teach them thanks to two of my kiddos who just couldn't seem to get the concept of notes on a staff and how it was related to notes on the piano. Their frustration motivated me to think up new ways of explaining it and it's because of them that my past students had and future students will have a very clear understanding of how the grand staff works.
I show my students a picture of a grand staff with no notes on it. I direct them to the middle space between the the treble and bass staves and tell them that the middle space relates to middle C on the piano. Then I have them play middle C on the piano. For now that's all they need to know. They don't need to know about ledger lines and how the middle space of the grand staff can house way more notes than just the middle C. That information will come later when they need it. As an education major I was taught to introduce concepts in stages and to only give as much information as was needed for each stage.
After we've established that the middle space of the grand staff is middle C on the piano I then tell them that every line and space on the grand staff is a note on the piano ranging from Low F to High G. I do get students who ask about all the rest of the notes on the piano and how to reach them if they are not written on the grand staff and I say we'll get to that in time. I've found that children are very curious (which is why I love teaching them so much) and will ask tons of great questions that if I answered all at once would totally confuse them so I simply say, "Don't worry, when you're ready to play those notes I'll show you how to read and write them but for now we are focusing on these set of notes". Next time I'll share with you how we solve the mystery behind the line that runs through Middle C.
I've decided to break this concept of note reading on the grand staff down into a few smaller blog entries rather than writing one humongous post so stay tuned and get your magnetic chips and wand ready! We'll be using them quite a bit. Until next time. Piano blogger signing off.......
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