My First Piano Adventures 8

This week I introduced J. to the first note on the Grand Staff, Middle C, otherwise known as the King and Queen's cat. The King is Bass Clef and the Queen is Treble Clef and they both share a cat between them.

Can you see the cat in the muddle of the staff? J. is making whiskers coming out each side of the cat's head. I struggle with each student making notes on the staff comprehensible to my student. Faber and Faber have invented a wonderful and fun introduction. It is a big step to reading notes on the staff.

Group lessons were on the calendar for my three boys who are a lot like puppies. A., D, and N., all came this week to reinforce their knowledge of the keys on the keyboard. I found a downloadable on Susan Paradis's site of a keyboard game. Click here to see her great teaching aids. Click on games at the top and scroll down.

First we played musical chairs. I had a picture of the fly holding the keyboard on the back of each chair. They could not keep their chair unless they could tell me the name of the key with the pink dot. I was concentrating on the CDE place. They each missed one but they started looking more carefully to not miss it again.

Then we played Swat the Fly. All the cards were on the table and I called out a letter and the first one to swat the fly got to keep the card. I feel more confident now as they all approach the CDE songs that they will find their starting keys more easily. I am just lucky that I can meet with these boys (the puppies) as a group each month. As they start school full day next year it will be harder to have a group experience.

Teaching is so fun when I have new ideas. I thank all the piano teachers online who share so generously of their talents.

"Music is for everyone!"

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