Pupil really struggling with retention Options

[RoseRodent]

I have a violin pupil in her last primary year who is a total beginner who started in January. She is getting on OK with remembering the names of note types and how many beats they are worth, but she really, really struggles to remember which notes are which on the stave and where they are on the violin. She does practice, she loves to play and plays for her relatives, but several months in she still really struggles to remember which string is which. I've tried doing some more aural repetition types of work with her as her ear is stronger than her visuals, but any suggestions for moving things forward with the notation side of things, and knowing what notes she's actually playing? Is there anything she can be doing during her daily practice that might help her remember and retain what's what? I may ask her to play it through saying the notes out loud once she has a something fluent, but just now I think that would put her off. I'm pulling material from everywhere because she's still struggling with using only two open strings.

[RoseRodent]

Thanks everyone, good to get a clearer head on the subject. Mum said at the start that she finds school very hard going also, and I get the impression that life at home can be a little chaotic. I actually got a very pleasant surprise to find that the material she is working this week forms the entire presentation for a copper Music Medal, which is aimed at pupils who have been learning for about one full term so that's great. It's a short of the security needed to actually put it in for a medal, but very encouraging to see that she is approaching that level. I had a look through all my mounds of material to find some more that we can do without things going boring, and I think I will carry working some skills using aural repetition so the music doesn't get boring.

[barncottagecat]

Thanks everyone, good to get a clearer head on the subject. Mum said at the start that she finds school very hard going also, and I get the impression that life at home can be a little chaotic. I actually got a very pleasant surprise to find that the material she is working this week forms the entire presentation for a copper Music Medal, which is aimed at pupils who have been learning for about one full term so that's great. It's a short of the security needed to actually put it in for a medal, but very encouraging to see that she is approaching that level. I had a look through all my mounds of material to find some more that we can do without things going boring, and I think I will carry working some skills using aural repetition so the music doesn't get boring.

Its good to hear that you are happy to keep going rose rodent - as a parent of a (9 yr old) child who has taken a full two years to be able to read music and place the corresponding notes on the strings (he plays cello). He still needs to have the music enlarged so he can define each note, and after he has read the notes, we still write them in letter form underneath at the moment, as he can't read the music quickly enough in context.

To keep him interested his teacher dipped into colour strings and taught him lots of tunes using solfege whilst gently plodding away. Though extremely painful all round at times, it was utterly worth it, and the slow progress has resulted in excellent tuning!