I have a 9 year old piano pupil who has a strong preference for learning by ear and has struggled quite a lot with note reading. He is now getting on quite well with reading and pretty reliably plays the correct note in terms of ABC etc, but frequently plays at the wrong pitch. He will often start his pieces one or two octaves too high. When giving him flash cards of single notes, he seems to find it really hard to think about where middle C is and play the note in the appropriate octave. eg G above middle C he will play 2 octaves below. This obviously affects sight reading quite badly.

It seems odd to me, as he generally has very good aural skills, and perhaps it's not so surprising with unfamiliar pieces, but how can he keep on playing his pieces at the wrong pitch, when he knows them well? All I can do is give him lots of practice at note playing and keep reminding him to stop and think before he starts playing, but does anyone have any clever suggestions?

Just a thought - does he practise on a keyboard at home, or a small-size piano of some kind? It could throw his general "bearings" if so.

I have also found similar problems with pupils who know FACE, EGBDF etc off by heart, but don't really see how they apply in practice, irrespective of keyboard size. I sometimes dispense with note-letter-names for a bit and try to get them to move around by hopping along lines outwards from middle C, so that they can quickly find their way to the outer lines of the two staves. Doesn't work with all, but sometimes establishes a firmer framework than they can work in.

Some pupils just do find reading notes on a stave harder than others, and sometimes bits of the jigsaw take longer to fall into place. I have a 9 year old who's been learning for nearly 3 years, and we are battling with not dissimilar problems.

(ed) regarding the lack of pitch-recognition, he may be good at working out whether a tune sounds right or not, while not noticing overall shifts. Have you tried asking him to guess whereabouts on the piano you are playing? start with one note, low middle or high, and gradually get him to try finding the exact note. This sort of listening practice may be hard going at first but a few minutes each lesson may help over a period of time.

I once had a young boy who twice played a piece in the wrong octave in an exam (grades 2 & 3, I think), but he'd never done it in a lesson. I occasionally get a pupil who muddles it (usually boys!), but they're usually OK when I get them to stop & check carefully where middle C is.

[quote name='bevpiano' date='Oct 15 2007, 10:22 PM' post='612569']

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I once had a young boy who twice played a piece in the wrong octave in an exam (grades 2 & 3, I think), but he'd never done it in a lesson. I occasionally get a pupil who muddles it (usually boys!), but they're usually OK when I get them to stop & check carefully where middle C is.
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The same thing happened to me this summer - a Grade 1 student played one of her pieces an octave too high. I was amazed, as she'd never done it in a lesson, but it made me stop and wonder if it's something I should have considered before. Perhaps we as teachers just assume that our young students will always play in the correct part of the piano, without knowing what happens at home on a different instrument (very often a keyboard with fewer notes) It had never happened to me before but it's something I'll be checking on in future.

Yes I was wondering if he has a keyboard at home as on a piano you can teach a pupil to sit opposite middle C - where the lock and the writing are on the piano (although obviously this is not on all pianos!!!).....with a keyboard there's no such marker.......And the outer lines of the grand stave (lower bass clef G and higher treble clef F) roughly are opposite the shoulders if the pupil is sitting in the correct place....if that's any help? One of my pupils is doing exactly the same thing - coming in and sitting down and playing his pieces (even before I've had time to draw breath! - I'm usually writing the date in his notebook or ticking his name off in my school attendance register!!!! ) an octave too low. I've not seen him for a couple of weeks so I'll see if it's the same when they come back after half-term. Middle C is also the 4th C up from the bottom of the piano, but how to get a pupil to remember that?......

Some of my younger beginners only have keyboards at home so we start every lesson by locating middle C on the Roland. I think one has to give these pupils a reference point. On our Roland middle C is the C nearest the maker's mark. I remember as a child being told to look for the lock but it's not always possible these days.

I have to spend quite a lot of time teaching pupils how to locate notes - even if they are able to name them correctly. I tend to emphasise the location as more important than naming. In the first lessons I would make sure the pupil understands which way is up the piano and then down, finding all the Cs each way and counting how many there are. That should help to locate mid C later.

When I introduce the concept of lines and spaces, I again tend to 'radiate' outwards from middle C before the pupil attempts to climb up from 1st line G in the bass. I get the pupil to hold down B midC and D 'out of the way' (I call it a 'zebra crossing' which isn't perfect but catches imagination!) and they use a braced finger 1,2 or 1,3 to start locating lines and spaces from here. They could also learn to just hold down mid C and find the 'guide' pitches 4th line F and 2nd line G, noticing that mid C is exactly between them.

The holding down the middle notes clearly reveals Ist line E in the treble and 5th line A in the bass. The only problem is to make sure the pupil understands they are at the top of the bass and have to count lines backwards to get down the 'stairs'. I find the starting in the middle stops them from visualising the grand stave as huge and covering the whole piano in the early stages. They are often surprised when they see that there are only nine notes on the stave each side of the 'crossing'. It's often quite hard work getting the pupil to recognise which line or space is required when looking at the written notes. There is a good exercise in 'Piano Lessons Book One' (Waterman and Harewood) for locating.

No easy solution to this one!

Thanks all, some interesting and useful comments. The boy in question has a grand piano at home, so no problem with the instrument. I'll try some of your suggestions...

The boy in question has a grand piano at home, so no problem with the instrument.

oops ! sorry ...

I tend to emphasise the location as more important than naming.

Yes - I do too. I think it works in most cases. That Waterman Harewood page is useful isn't it ! I like your zebra crossing idea - hadn't thought of that.

Thanks - although perhaps it might be better as a pelican (or is it a toucan?) crossing (with some appropriate noises to go with it!) as the black keys aren't quite in the right place for a zebra