Tag Archives: reading music

32/100 Trip down memory lane

Posted on June 2, 2016 by

My first ever piano teacher, back in maybe as long ago as 1960 or 1961, was one of the Old School. I mean the sort who plays you a bit of the tune, and you play it back, and she … Continue reading →

Posted in Learning, Lessons that have happened, Piano, Sight Reading, Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

Monday 15th June – Year 1 Recorders

Posted on June 15, 2015 by

Years ago, I had a fairly torrid time, teaching recorders to a group of year 2 children. I was inexperienced, easily coerced, and gave way with certain misgivings which were well-founded. It was grim and unrewarding and left me with a … Continue reading →

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Issue 136: Reading Music

Posted on August 7, 2014 by

So, having just mentioned that from now on primary school children are expected to learn staff notation, here’s a really, really quick introduction to reading pitch notation… Have a look at this little piece, which I “composed”, if I can dignify … Continue reading →

Posted in Class Teaching, Keyboards, Percussion, Recorders, The organised teacher, Theory | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Issue 132: Music Writing

Posted on June 8, 2014 by

I came across this article recently: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/science/whats-lost-as-handwriting-fades.html?referrer= I was fascinated to read how important handwriting appears to be for children as part of process of learning to read. I’ve always felt that writing music notation is a really helpful way of … Continue reading →

Posted in Clarinets, Class Teaching, Keyboards, Learning, Recorders, Theory, Ukulele | Tagged | Leave a comment

Issue 124: Topic; Spies and Secrets

Posted on February 25, 2014 by

This class topic has been a gift for me. Now the entire year 3 keyboard class is able to read and play from notation with almost zero input from me! How? We had been playing simple music for a term, building up from … Continue reading →

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Issue 124: First Steps in piano (or keyboard)

Posted on February 25, 2014 by

I’ve been trying out different ways of introducing notation to young keyboard/piano students. This worked surprisingly well in the year 3 Wider Opportunities Keyboard class I started teaching back in September: I taught “D” as the first note, and each key … Continue reading →

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Issue 106: Reading Music

Posted on October 5, 2013 by

There are two things going on at the same time when you are looking at music; pitch and rhythm. Well, there’s a lot more than that, but I’m looking at just these two elements. Here’s a piece I am teaching … Continue reading →

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Issue 103: First “Wider Opps” Keyboard Lesson

Posted on September 15, 2013 by

  I haven’t taught Wider Opportunities Keyboards for a couple of years now. However, this year, I have got a year 3 (aged 7) class for keyboards which has given me a chance to re-think how I approach things.   … Continue reading →

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