I have two flute players at the moment, teaching them together. I've only just got them, as I'm on my PGCE placement and they "can't" read music. If I ask them to tell me the note names for G-C, they can just about do it, but then pick up the flute, they go to pot. They said they prefer to do things from just me literally writing fun tunes out like A A A A G G F G B etc, but I don't want to get marked down for ignoring notation! Any suggestions on how to approach this?

I struggle with my school group taught violinists. They like to use their ears and are resistant to reading. Good and bad things there!

I am giving them homework sheets to fill in so that they arrive at the lesson with their own REAL music labelled by themselves with note names, then they play from those. We also do a lot of playing by ear and by rote. If they have not done the homework or have lost the sheet I have lots of spares ready so they can do it at the start of the lesson BEFORE they play.

It's quick to just check over the sheet before they start to make sure their labels are correct...

This is the bit which 'worries' me. Presumably their parents are paying (or contributing) for lessons and expect them to be taught properly. It sounds as if these pupils are hoping to be able to tell you what to do. Have none of it!

Have you tried to get them to understand that staff notation will tell them a lot more than the note names? As they progress they will need to be able to read things like articulation, phrasing, rythym, dynamics and so on, so can you persuade them that learning it now will help them later on?

From what you say about them 'going to pot' when they pick up their flutes, it sounds like they have learnt fingerings rather than notes - this will cause them all kinds of problems later once they start using different fingerings for the same note e.g. long and short Bb, long and short C# etc.

Violincjj's worksheets sound good.

Do they actually want to learn the instrument?

If you have only got these two for a limited time (you say you are on a placement) then attempting to enforce the notation may result in a losing battle. Why not capitalise on their aural skills and teach them to play some interesting pieces by rote - perhaps explore some jazz repertoire, and get them improvising as well. You could all end up having some fun and achieving something concrete, rather than beating your head against a brick wall. You can explain to them the advantages of learning to read notation, but its not the only way to learn and you can make a convincing case for abandoning notation and making music. I'm sure your tutors won't mark you down as long as you can justify what you are doing and the kids are learning something.

When I despaired of the French system (which teaches note reading separate from the instrument) and decided that I couldn't stand my daughter wanting every single finger number written in on her cello music, I bought a suzuki learning to read music book. This was specifically for the cello but you could write your own.

It was written in very large print, on the left hand page it had pitches (always in crotchets in 4/4) and on the right-hand page rhythms (always on the same note). Each page had five lines of music on it and each page introduced only one new idea at a time. So on the first pitch page there were only two notes (for example G and A). The first line was two bars of Gs, followed by two bars of As. The second line was alternating bars of G and A. The third line had half a bar of each (not always in the same order) and the fourth and fifth lines were a "random" mixture of G and A. The second pitch page had G, A and B. After every four "new" notes there was a page of "revision."

My daughter loved this approach - we spent five minutes of each practice time on it (she would have done more if I'd let her) and after a couple of months she was reading fluently two octaves + one note and the easier accidentals (the ones which didn't involve a shift).

About six months later she started the trombone and her trombone teacher told me that she was lucky because she was a "natural sight-reader."

Many years ago when dinosaurs ruled the earth, I bought a guitar just before going to university and taught myself how to read music from old classical guitar tutors.

I vaguely remember doing exercises using one, two, then three notes... etc. The music wasn't Mozart, but it's surprising how interesting a melody can sound with only three notes.

Perhaps you could write some music on enlarged landscape format and get them to play it. Just remind them both which is G and take it from there.

Now I'm thinking about the past, I have to say that I think I learned by relating the notation to my fingers on the strings. The name of the note was important, but it came simultaneously. These kids know the name of the note, then the position of their fingers, BEFORE the notation. Perhaps there's a lesson here?

To me it sounds similar to that step we go through when learning to read. So much easier if Mummy or Daddy reads the words instead of us having to learn them.
But once we have, we wonder what all the fuss was about.

Steve

Some good suggestions here. I agree that over-forcing the notation issue could result in unhappy pupils. With some students I operate a 'two-tier' system whereby they play some tunes by rote/ear but they also do some reading on a much easier scale. I start with flashcards C,D & E (on piano) and get them clapping the 3 basic rhythms, and then get them to read a simple piece. This only lasts for about 5 mins per lesson so that they don't feel overwhelmed. It's then clear to any observers that you haven't abandoned notation entirely but the students retain their enjoyment of lessons.

I've got a similar problem with a recently acquired flute pupil. He got a pass at Grade 1 last June, with his previous teacher and then had a long break, moved to France and came to me. At the consultation lesson he fooled me by playing his Grade 1 pieces very nicely. I now know he can't read with any degree of rhythmic or melodic accuracy though he can whip thorugh popular tunes he knows - a bit of rough reading, a bit of playing by ear.

I can see this all easily going nowhere if he either doesn't learn to read or gets so bored with me insisting that he gives up. He has apparently previously given up piano. His mother wants him to do Grade 2.

We have come to a compromise. The Grade 2 work, plus a good dose of learning to read and filling in the blanks in his theoretical knowledge is to be spread gently over the next year and a bit - aiming for grade 2 in June 2010. Half the lesson devoted to that and the other half to fun playing of his own choice. (Good sight reading practice for me with some of those totally unpianistic accompaniments.)

I don't know if this will work, Scaramouche, I can't really think of anything else.

Sounds like some of the nightmares I encountered when I first started with my current crop of school recorder players.


One lot had every single note in their (horrible) tutor book written in IN INK by the previous recorder teacher. When I asked her about it she told me that this enabled them to get on with tunes more quickly.


It might have helped with notes, but it's trashed their rhythm reading horribly!

In my opinion any teacher who writes in ink on music (s)he hasn't personally paid for should be required to replace the book at their own expense.She may have had an interest in being a recorder teacher but obviously none at all in being a music teacher. How sad for the children. In my experience both as an accompanist and as conductor/tutor of an adult learners' orchestra accurate rhythm-reading is generally taught badly or not at all - except by me

Ink? As if it isn't bad enough to have lines of letter names...