Tag Archives: reading notation

Questions, questions, answers, answers

Posted on October 7, 2018 by

The ‘asking questions‘ method that I was using for teaching children to learn, and trying to improve their practising at home, seems to be working. Now, sometimes, in a lesson, I hear the student asking themselves useful questions as we … Continue reading →

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My Small Group Beginner Recorders

Posted on October 7, 2018 by

I’ve a couple of small groups of recorder pupils – two or three in each group – young children aged around seven or eight years old. After talking to other woodwind and recorder teachers and looking through various books, including … Continue reading →

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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 →

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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 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: Pitch – year 3/4

Posted on September 15, 2013 by

I have decided to spend the first half of term exploring pitch with my year 3 and 4 class (7 and 8 year-olds). The year 4s spent last year doing a Wider Opportunities Djembe programme, so didn’t have much time … Continue reading →

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Issue 68: Finding Patterns

Posted on December 9, 2012 by

As part of a series of lessons on music form with a year 5 and 6 class, I gave them the task of going through a piece of notated music and colour coding all the bars with matching patterns. The … Continue reading →

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