PPP228:Don’t Fall Into This Trap

If you have written letters in your child’s music in the past, please don’t lose heart. Keep helping them; but, now you know a better way to help them.

Here is how you can break yourself of this temptation.

1. Empower your piano kid – Ask them what would help them remember a certain note. What would help them overcome an obstacle in their music? Maybe they simply need to isolate the notes and slow down and train their fingers and eyes to work together. If they do need to have a letter written in the music, let them do the writing.
2. Eliminate repeated notes – If you have written a letter next to every note in their music, start by allowing them to erase the letters next to repeated notes. A measure with four C’s in a row does not need to have the letter C written next to each note. Allow your piano kid to leave the first letter and erase the letters next to the repeated notes. Call to their attention that the other notes are on the same line or space as the first one so they will sound the same piano key.
3. Establish your own landmarks – Teachers use various tools to help students learn to identify the notes on the lines and spaces of the staff. Mnemonic phrases (Every Good Boy Does Fine and FACE) are common tools but they are only a starting place. Some teachers teach landmark notes using the treble clef and bass clef to indicate treble G and bass F. A teacher’s landmarks might not be helpful for your piano kid so you may need to figure out your own landmarks, just like you do in your home town.