Teaching the C's

First Music Reading Lesson
Main point: Notes on the staff tell us which keys to play on the piano!


1) Describe the Grand Staff with the treble clef, bass clef.
2) Count the lines 1-5 from the bottom.
4) Count the spaces 1-4 from the bottom.
5) Point out the belly of the treble clef aka Trebellina or Mrs Treble Clef; point out the two dots of Rock Bassy or Mr Bass Clef.
6) Place a red Magic Note on middle C (draw a short line for middle C)
Place an orange Magic Note on treble C or Twinkle C (3rd space)
Place an orange Magic Note on bass C (2nd space)
Place a yellow Maggic Note on the high treble C (draw two leger lines about the staff)
Place a yellow Magic Note on the low bass C (draw two legel lines below the staff)
7) Talk about the symmetry
8) Listen for high sounds and low sounds, play these on the piano and have the child identify which is being played.

Bonus: Use the word Octave to describe the jump between one C  to the next.


Second Music Reading Lesson
Main Point: Use the ABC cards to talk about the musical alphabet.

1) Ask the student to recite the alphabet A to G.
2) Now explain that the musical alphabet begins from C. Lay these out on the table in sequence.
Hint: Use the Do-Re-Mi rainbow colours or alternatively, the Musicland colours (yellow Cat, purple Dragon, green Elf, etc) or all uniform colours.

3) Talk about direction, going up (play the scale up, C major or C chromatic) and notes going down (play the scale down, C major or chromatic)

4) Ask the child to say the musical alphabet forwards and backwards. If there is some difficulty refer to the cards; indicate that the child should practise this at home, as a an assignment.

Next week: Music Mind Games for alphabet learning.