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| Treble clef notes (top); Bass Clef notes (bottom). The Middle C above the bass clef staff sits on a small imaginary line. |
At my group class last week, we played the game "On the Line, Off the Line" where the kids had to jump on/ off a little straw on the ground. This was a lead-in to the topic of placing notes on the staff - on the line, in the space!
Method:
Review the Treble Clef, Bass Clef, count the lines (5), count the spaces (4)
Talk about the belly of the treble clef (second line). You could colour this line red for Red Giant.
Point out the dots in the bass clef (line four). You could colour this line blue for Blue Fairy.
The kids already know the friends in Musicland:
Yellow Cat
Purple Dragon
Green Elf
Blue Fairy
Red Giant
Orange Albert
Brown Beethoven (black cap)
Yellow Cat
Point out the small extra line below the treble clef staff for Middle C, ask someone to mark it using the yellow cap and call it Yellow Cat (on the line)
Have the next child place the next note, someone will know that it`s Purple Dragon (space just hanging below the staff)
The next child will catch on quickly that the next note is Green Elf (on the line 1)
...and so on.
Work to the next Yellow Cat and review the word ``Octave``
If applicable, move on to the Bass clef. Yellow Cat is in the space (second from bottom).
In fact one of the children recognized a pattern right away and he started to sing, Step-ping Up! That was so wonderful that he could relate the notes on the page to tone direction though it wasn`t perfect pitch he still sang a sequence of stepwise notes in whole tones!
For an older child, take notes away and name the thirds (the space notes form thirds, as do all the line notes)
You could use the coloured notes to build chords in root position and all inversions!
