BUILDING BLOCK #1: GRAND STAFF KNOWLEDGE
The Basic Approach: Learn the Line, Not the Name!
This strategy is for students with no prior piano reading experience, or those in need of a quick review. The amount of time spent on it will depend on the students. In my experience this approach also works well with private students, especially teenagers and adults. Briefly, the goal is to develop an automatic physical response to the keyboard location of notes on the staff.
Once students have memorized the names of the piano keys, I tell them that when reading piano music from the grand staff, it's more important to know where a note is than what a note is - knowing the letter name of a note doesn't help you if you play it in the wrong octave. For dramatic effect I usually show them a busy-looking page from a Beethoven sonata and tell them that pianists simply don't have time to pay attention to individual note names. Fluent readers of complex piano music "sense" where the notes are, and over time their eyes, ears and hands have become familiar with most of the patterns in front of them.
I explain to students that the lines on the staff represent every other white key on a piano keyboard. If they know where the bottom line of each clef is, they can easily negotiate their way around the grand staff without worrying about letter names.
Referring to each clef as a "range" of notes on either side of middle C, we locate and memorize the first line of each clef on the keyboard. The bass clef range usually needs more attention, so when finding low G we call it "G for the ground floor." The treble clef range is not usually a problem, as most students remember the E above middle C.
Once students know where the line notes are, finding the spaces is easy because they're in between the lines. Also, ledger lines are not problematic when staff reading is approached in this manner, because you simply "add a line" above or below a clef range.
To ensure that my students are secure with this I do a lot of in-class drill, assign independent flashcard practice, and depending on the students, request that they work on one of two software programs: Music Ace, by Harmonic Vision, and Keyboard Kapers, by Electronic Courseware Systems (ECS).
Suggested Class Activities
One of my first drills is to have the class "play the lines" of each clef range up and down until they are oriented to its position on the keyboard. For variety, we will call out line numbers, say "bottom, next-to-bottom, middle, next-to-top, top," or say the note names. Initially, I play along through the lab system while students are on headphones so they can check accuracy and self-correct when necessary. I gradually extend the range in these keyboard drills to include at least two ledger lines above and below each clef range.
After the students can find the grand staff notes on the keyboard, I use the Visualizer to do a lot of staff-based note reading drills. (Depending on their situation, teachers without this piece of equipment can using large flashcards, overheads, or even notes written on the blackboard.) I work first with notes in each clef range separately, then choose notes randomly from the grand staff.
Listed below are three basic note drills I do in class:
Over time I gradually decrease the amount of time each note is displayed on the Visualizer, and speed up the appearance of the next note.
Suggested Practice Assignments
Depending on the needs of the students, I assign some combination of the following:
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