Now that students have learned to recognize low and high horizontally on the keyboard, it is time to redirect the orientation of low and high vertically on the staff. The first concept that we notice about the staff is that it is made up of five lines and four spaces; and that notes are written on the staff on lines and in the spaces. On the first introduction to the staff, students learn that notes written higher on the staff are higher in pitch and they are played to the right on the keyboard. Notes written lower on the staff are lower in pitch and played to the left. This concept of directions is very important and fundamental to reading music.

If the horizontal orientation of low and high had not been introduced first, many students would suffer confusion converting the notes written vertically to the keyboard which is played horizontally. Also, in this example, we show the notehead without a stem. If it had a stem, there would be another element that the students would have to sort out in their mind that would possibly cause confusion. When notes are introduced with a stem, students might misread and watch the top of the stem or be influenced by the stem's direction up or down instead of noticing the notehead on the line or in a space.

In Course A, we briefly introduced the bass and treble clefs. We explained that below middle C is low sounding and marked by the bass clef, and above middle C is high sounding and marked by the treble clef. Now we are introducing low and high on the staff. Most other instruments play only low or high. For example, notes for high sounding instruments are written on the treble staff and notes for low sounding instruments are written on the bass staff. But the piano is special because it has the range of all instruments. For this reason, piano music is written on the bass staff and treble staff joined together called the grand staff. Middle C is written in the middle of the grand staff. 

The Grand Staff is normally pulled apart with a space between the staffs and middle C is written two ways. Play the line of middle Cs exchanging L1 and R1. Play middle C written close to the bottom staff with the left hand. Play middle C written close to the top staff with the right hand. Tl help concentrate, say "left-right" as you play. The thumb should play independently, let the other fingers stay resting on the keys and not fly up. In this exercise students are introduced to quarter notes. Don't add extra explanation of the quarter notes. The explanation given in the Music Book is all that is necessary for now.

Part of becoming an independent player is learning how to use the Music Book and Course Book without help. Everything that is played at the lesson is in the Music Book. The playlist and homework assignments are in the Course Book. The titles highlighted in the Playlist are ready to play at home. You do not need a keyboard or piano at home during Budding, but students will want one to play what they have learned. In the beginning a keyboard with 61 keys is enough and can usually be found for less than $100. 

Parents should not get involved with practice other than to encourage students to play and act interested in what they are learning. When parents help with practice it is usually counterproductive and sometimes harmful to the student's interest and desire to play. In our experience, we have found that students generally do better if parents are not capable musically to help them at home. It is important to remember that the lesson is not a test of what the student played at home. The lesson is where the student learns how to play at home. Now, there are some things you can do to encourage playing. 1) Students should keep their Music Book and Lesson Books on the piano stand so they are convenient to use. 2) Show interest in what students are doing by looking at their books and asking them to play for you. 3) Parents may listen to their child playing, but they should not help. Students who receive help at home become dependent on it and may become confused with conflicting information. 4) Be interest in what your child is learning, but don't force practice. A little playing once in a while is better than more done unwillingly and stress at home is one reason students want to quit lessons. 5) Be committed to coming to lessons. Coming to lessons to practice with the teacher is more important than practicing at home. For young students, encourage them to work hard and listen at the lesson. 7) Don't use practice as a benchmark for determining interest in music. Many students have trouble diverting their attention to practice.

What can go wrong with homework...

parents should not help students with practice, but they should help with the homework written assignment that is highlighted in the Course Book. Some students and parents don't take the written work very seriously and come to lessons without it completed. It takes just minutes to do and helps students do better at the lesson. The lesson-time is valuable time that we spend playing with the student, but theory can be done by independent study. For this reason, we provide a short explanation of the music theory and an answer key at imahovland.com for students to watch at home. Parents should watch to guide younger students through the homework explanation. Because copying is one means of learning we prefer students copy the answer key if they need help completing their homework rather than guessing or giving wrong answers. 

We help students play faster so they don't hesitate or struggle. With help, the fingers will magically move faster and students will gain confidence, intelligence, and strength. Fast is fun. In this study, students are working on playing the RH fast. Play fingers 3 and 5 lifting high from the knuckle and legato. Whole arm drop the repeated fingering. Land strong on the fingertips, don't wobble or collapse.

Be careful that fast reflexes are controlled and not rushed or sloppy; and that the finger joints remain strong and not wobbling. Sometimes students will say, "See how fast I can play," when they are actually out of control. To prevent rushing or jerking, we work on lifting fingers 3 and 5 high from the knuckle and lifting the arm higher. We also run-in-place on a single note or group of notes for more practice. For example, play 3 and 5 over and over and not stopping until the movement is easy. Say, "Keep going, its getting better." This drilling will immediately result in improvement that the student can realize and appreciate. You will not get the same results playing everything over and over. Play all only 2x, adding more practice by running-in-place during the repetitions to drill what needs work.

Name one note above and below middle C: Read notes on the grand staff starting with middle C as a starting point. The space note directly below middle C is B. The space note directly above middle C is D. As you name and play the notes, look up at the notes, not down at the keys or around. While playing, if you look down at the keys or around just once, the association of the note and key will be lost. 

Look up, never down while reading. The bad habit of looking up and down at the keys prevents students from recognizing the note and key relationships by touch and reading is impaired. This problem is not found when learning instruments such as the clarinet because when playing a clarinet the player is inhibited from looking down at the keys. However, when playing the piano the keys are right there in sight and the temptation to look at them is great. We cover the hands right away to prevent looking down because looking down is the primary reason why students become confused and can't read. We teach reading by tactile touch which is a similar skill to typing. It is important to remember, reading skills can't be learned on ones own at home but must be taught as students play under the supervision of the teacher. Parents should not be expected to help.

Students have learned to lift the fingers high from the knuckle like little hammers. Now they are going to learn how to select one finger to lift higher than the others for emphasis. The thought process of deciding to lift higher will help students play accurately and will shape the music with accents. An accent is one note standing out louder then the others. In this case we are using the strong fingers L2 and R2 to lift higher.

Students will need to concentrate to decide which finger to play, to decide which finger to lift higher, and to decide which finger to hold down and connect. Difficulty making these decision will reveal students who are playing randomly or by ear without thinking. To help students concentrate they should say the fingering aloud. And, the teacher can help students by coaching reminders as they play such as saying, "Lift high and hold down." The teacher should also physically help students as needed.

Note values: The position of the note on the staff is the means to write pitch. Notes higher on the staff are higher in pitch. Notes lower on the staff are lower in pitch. This page is the introduction to note values. The shape of the note is its value. The note's value is the means to write rhythm. Rhythm is how long or short the note is held, and each change made to the notehead decreases its value by one-half. For example, the notehead is a whole note and is the longest value. It is usually 4 beats. Adding a stem divides its value by one-half to become a half note. It is 2 beats. Shading the notehead divides the half note by one-half to become a quarter note. It is 1 beat. 

Those who have taken lessons as children or in a music class probably don't realize how note values are divided and subdivided by one-half to decrease in value. Especially foo younger students, we can't explain this concept right now, but it is important that the note values are introduced this way to subliminally establish that note values decrease from whole to quarter, and not reverse from quarter to whole. In addition, children don't need all kinds of tricks to teach them how to read note values, such as cutting an apple in four parts, or cutting a pie, because the whole note cuts itself!. They only need the facts presented in a logical order followed by simple application, and all kinds of explaining can be eliminated. In all things, the strength of young children is their memory of words and visuals. Logic is not their strength and no extra lesson time should be spent trying to further analyze music theory. 

As is explained in the Music Book, each note value has a corresponding rest of the same value in which represents silence, and the playing stops. Notes and rests together, create rhythm and are very important to observe. While it provides no help to use a trick to recognize note values, it does help students to place another image in their mind to recognize rests. For example, the quarter rest is like a flying bird. The whole rest is heavy and upside down. The half rest is not so heavy and is right side up. It can also be imaged as a hat. Half and hat both starting with H. There is no harm made to use these images, and the do help, especially because the whole rest and half rest are so similar.

As was said before, the strength of young children is their memory of words and visuals; their other strength for learning is doing. Logic is not their strength and no extra lesson time should be spent trying to analyze music with them. Do the exercise in the Music Book of naming the rests and that is all that is needed. While extra worksheets are fun and give students practice recognizing notes and rests, the real learning comes by actually playing rhythmically. In Course B, students play rhythmically by observing quarter rests and holding dashes. Coach "rest" and "hold" while playing. Never count beats aloud.

When reading from the Grand Staff, the first starting point is middle C. Memorize middle C as a starting point. Then, name 2 notes directly below middle C, B A and G. Name 2 notes directly above middle C, D E and F. 

Then, we name notes alphabetically space to line from middle C. The space note directly below middle C is B, and the next line is A. The space note directly above middle C is D, and the next line is E. To help recognize notes visually, we memorize notes that are mirror images of each other. In this diagram, they are A, which sits on the first line below middle C: and E, which sits on the first line above middle C. We do everything with a purpose. First, we name the notes aloud without playing for recognition. Next, students name the notes while playing for concentration. And, they look up, never down at the keys to learn the keyboard by touch and not sight. While playing, if you glance at the keys just once, the association of the note and key will be lost. 

Trying to encourage beginning students, teachers have invented many shortcuts and tricks for reading notes. However, learning to read can't be rushed and it is not simple. Parents should be aware of what ideas go wrong and you might recognize learning them as children. 1) Many popular methods for piano start in what is called a "hand position." This means both hands are placed an octave apart. This is the position commonly used to exercise the hands, but it is impossible for students to learn how to read from both staffs without some temporary or permanent deficit in reading. 2) Most music books in America introduce silly rhymes for memorizing the lines and spaces of the staff. We never use rhymes because they don't work. First, to read the grand staff, there are four separate rhymes that are either mixed up or forgotten by students. Next, the rhymes take the staff out of its logical alphabetical order and most students who learn by them never realize that the staff is in alphabetical. 3) When these things don't work, teachers do flash cards or more work sheets for help. The problem is, recognizing notes is not really reading. Reading is getting the meaning from a row of notes and converting them to the instrument to be heard. Those who can name notes on flash cards and worksheets, may still not be able to play them fluently in a row. 4) Next, some teachers sing along hoping this will help, or write in fingering or letter names over the note as a reminder. Singing helps students imitate. Writing finger numbers takes attention away from the note. But, neither of these teach reading. 5) The final effort by teachers is to slow the student's progress to do remedial work. The problem is, the remedial work is still supported by wrong teaching methods and eventually the student loses interest and quits; or if they stick with lessons these students will seek to play familiar songs that they can play by ear or memorize their music so they can look down at the keys. 

In measures 2 and 3, pull and lift the fingers in a row high from the knuckle. Also, hold them down to connect. It will take concentration for students to lift fingers 3 and 4 from the knuckle. Say, "Let me help. . . Then you try." Also, separate the movements into exact details. Lift deliberately and hold high in the air before striking the key. Then, strike on the finger tips and hold down to connect to the next finger.

The only thing that can go wrong is the teacher not enforcing the skill right from the start. To teach a skill, it only takes 1x with help and 1x without help. Coach and help at the same time. Words alone won't help. When coaching, teachers should stay calm, never sound frustrated or badger the student. Expect an effort by the student, but don't drill. In Budding we come back to each skill every week. In this weekly review, students will gradually become more skilled.

When reading from the Grand Staff, the first starting point is middle C. Memorize middle C as a starting point. Then, name 3 notes directly below middle C, B A and G. Name 3 notes directly above middle C, D E and F. To help recognize notes visually, we memorize notes that are mirror images of each other. In this diagram, they are G, which sits on the first space below middle C: and G, which sits on the first space above middle C.

What is the correct process of teaching reading around middle C? Memorize the notes alphabetically from the starting point of middle C. Look up, never down at the keys. And connect the fingers and hands in order to form tactile relationships. There it is. That is all you need to do to successfully teach reading.

Pulling like a cat is the first and most important skill for beginners. This muscle action prevents the fingers from collapsing and wobbling while striking the key. In this exercise we are pulling in the air to keep the hand closed while tapping on every note non legato. Non legato is the opposite of legato. Legato is connected. Non legato is detached. Non legato is often played with a whole arm drop. Since this excerpt is from the race song, "Camptown Races", whole arm drop and tap light. Listen for the clip-clop sound of horses. 

Playing is more fun when there is an athletic action associated with it, and it is essential to learn how to control the whole arm drop. To learn control of the arm, we keep the action in the whole arm with the fingers, hand, wrist, and arm as one unit. Lift the whole arm, don't bend at the elbow. Pull the hand closed in the air, don't reach for the keys. Pull strong, don't let the fingers collapse or fly up on the landing.