 |
| Picture #1 |
 |
| Picture #2 |
I am finishing up my series on how to read and locate staff notes on the piano. Part I was written on 6/9/13, Part II 6/12/13, and Part III on 1/4/14. This last part will tie everything together. I normally take most of a 30 minute lesson to complete all six of these activities and then for the last few minutes of the lesson I introduce a new song for my student to practice at home. In my opinion, being able to read, understand, and locate staff notes on the piano is the most important concept for a piano student to grasp. Without understanding how the staff works in relation to the musical alphabet and note location the student can't move forward so taking most of a 30 minute lesson is totally worth it to me!
Activity 1
 |
| Picture #3 |
I have my students hold up their hands with palms facing outward as I sit or stand next to them
not in front of them. Then I make a a single semi-circle wave to the left with my left hand while saying the word "before" and then again with my right hand making a single semi-circle wave to the right saying the word "after". Then I have my students tell me which direction we are going based on the hand we are waving.
Activity 2
Using the musical alphabet I have my students highlight any letter with a magnetic chip (Picture #1). Then I show them what letter comes before the highlighted one and what letter comes after it. We do this activity a few times together choosing a different letter to highlight. Then I test their understanding by having them point to letters on their own that would come before and after the chosen one.
Activity 3
 |
| Picture #4 |
I place a letter square on a table as a starting point such as the letter "C" then I place a letter directly under it "B" to show that "B" comes
before "C". I continue placing letters directly underneath each other to show the letters that come
before the previous one (
Picture #2). I keep the musical alphabet from Activity 1 out as a resource for them to refer to. We do this together a few times using a different starter letter either choosing letters that would go
before the given letter or
after it (
Picture #3). I then test them to see if they can do this on their own. After testing for understanding I will ask which letters are
higher and which letters are
lower than the starting letter. I will then have the students do the same activity but place the letters diagonally
below (before) or
above (after) the starter letter (
Picture #4).
Activity 4
 |
| Picture #5 |
I write each letter from the musical alphabet on a magnetic chip (
Picture #5). Then I have my student locate Middle C on the staff (refer to Part III of this series as well as "Solving the Mystery Behind Middle C" blog 1/14/14). I will then ask them what letter note comes
before or
below Middle C, then before (below) B, before (below) A, before (below) G, etc. (
Picture #6). Going backwards in the musical alphabet is
way harder than going forward for students so we work backwards a few times before we repeat this activity going forwards (
Picture #7). Once again I keep the musical alphabet from Activity 1 out as a resource for them to refer to (
Picture #1).
Activity 5
 |
| Picture #6 |
 |
| Picture #7 |
After placing a few chips either above or below Middle C we then locate the notes on the piano. I remind them that each line and space on the staff is a
white note on the piano. By the time the students get to this activity they have no problem reading and locating staff notes on the piano because we have done so much preliminary work in understanding how everything ties together that this activity is super easy for them.
Activity 6
 |
| Picture #8 |
I will place the Middle C chip on the staff and then place another blank chip far way from it either above or below it to see if the student can figure out not only the letter name of the chip but where it would be located on the piano by counting every line and space starting with Middle C as note #1. This is a wonderful activity for getting students to understand the proximity of notes in relation to Middle C. For instance, I will place a chip on the last bass staff line. The student will start at Middle C and count the number of lines and spaces it takes to get to low G which is 11. Then they will start at Middle C on the piano and count down 11 notes to low G. We then label the notes after we figure out the letter names. I then place a chip on the bass G closest to Middle C and have the student repeat this activity only going down 4 notes from Middle C realizing how close this "G" is to Middle C as opposed to the lower G (
Picture #8).
Out of curiosity, I wanted to see how quickly I could teach my husband (who had little to no prior knowledge of written music) to read staff notes and locate them on the piano. It took him 5 minutes! He obviously didn't need all the preparatory activities that I give my students but it blew my mind that I was able to teach him how to read staff notes and locate them on the piano in 5 MINUTES just by doing a few of these activities with him! Until next time, piano blogger signing off.......
