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The
conventional method for teaching children to read and locate the notes
of the stave involves a procedure that is quite lengthy for a young child.
They must make decisions about whether the note is on a line or in a space,
in the treble or in the bass. Then they must choose between four different
mnemonics. They will then need to count up the lines with a finger (they
can rarely manage this using only the eyes). They not only have to locate
this particular key name but also choose which octave. This procedure
causes two main problems for very young children. Firstly it gives many
opportunities for an error to be made. If children frequently arrive at
the wrong note they will lose confidence in the procedure. Secondly, the
procedure takes a lot of mental effort and the tendency is often to use
it only as a last resort, after guessing, trial and error or asking Mum
for help. In Playing With Colour note finding is greatly simplified. Staves
are printed with the relevant line number. For example line one is represented
by a line of ones, ie. 111111111111111111111111. This avoids the necessity
to use the finger to count the lines. The child is shown how to find the
lines by learning to jump up or down from Middle C in twos. At this stage
it is not necessary to identify notes by their letter names. By using
this procedure the process is much quicker and more accurate. It also
has the advantage that a direct relationship is being made between the
structure of the stave and the keyboard. In this way the child gradually
develops a clear concept of the geography of the keyboard and the use
of ledger lines is easily understood.
Identifying
notes by their letter name, in the traditional way, needs to be taught
but this can be delayed until the child is old enough to learn this method
more easily. This process can be introduced at a stage that suits each
individual.
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