How to get rid of that bad habit ?

[drooxy]

Hi to all !

For years, I have been reading the bass key refering to the trebble key, which means that I read the note on the bass key and mentally "see" it one line (or interline) higher so that I can name it as if it was on the trebble key.

I know that habit is bad since it slows you down while sight reading.

The problem is that it is very difficult to get rid of such an old habit !

Any suggestions that would help me ?

Thanks !
Drooxy

[carolina estrada]

woow. how did u get that habit?

anyway, u indeed have to get rid of this....
Ive not the golden solution but maybe is just being patiente and exercicing like hell your sight reading.
It maight help just focuss on the left. Read Chopin nocturnes and at the same time it will help you to work in sound, so you dont have the feeling you loose time and then you can really concentrate.

and when u think it is solved...then start again to question it and exercise again.
hugs, and good luck!

[m1469]

The only way I have found that truly works in terms of getting rid of a habit that is not welcome anymore, is replacing it with a new one that is welcome, and focusing on that (instead of just focusing on the other thing going away).  And no matter what, this takes conscious effort, attention, and commitment.

You obviously must have learned some way to remember trebble clef lines and spaces, and not a separate one for the base clef, as you were clever enough to see how to get what you needed with the information you already had. 

Essentially, you would want to replace your habit of how you currently go about reading the bass clef with a different way.  There are a number of threads around the forum that talk about how to read music and so on, but I will also give the way that I teach it and perhaps you will find something that works for you.



1.  I have my students learn the following sequence of 7 letters (and this will serve them for both lines and spaces in both treble and bass clef).

GBDFACE -- 

so, if you like making words to remember things, you can see that there are only three initial letters, and then the word FACE.

The goal is to be able to recite this from memory, starting from anywhere and going around a full loop (because as you would already know, it repeats itself after it reaches the 7th letter), both frontwards and backwards. 


2.  Applying it to the staff is actually quite easy.  These letters function by thirds in the staff, and so once a person knows how the letters go, they can use it to name all of the lines (I normally start with lines) for the entire grand staff.  I think it's also important to learn to see the staves as connected, forming THE Grand Staff, and not these separate things.

Also, there is another helpful hint built into the clefs.  Since people have to memorize a name for these guys anyway, and they have two authentic names, I initially teach their letter names and why the clefs have the letter names that they do.  So, instead of bass clef, I tell them it is the "F" clef (which rhymes), and instead of the trebble, it is the "G" clef.  They are named as such because of the way they interact with the lines on the staff.  The "F" clef's two dots sit on either side of the "F" line, and the "G" clef's circle goes around the "G" line.  So, these become landmark lines, along with the top and bottom lines of the Grand Staff.

F-----------
-------------
-------------
G-----------
--------------

--------------
F------------
--------------
--------------
G------------


(notice the pattern from bottom to top, G F G F )


Practise starting from the bottom line "G" (the original beginning letter in the 7-letter sequence), and naming all of the other lines.  Noticing how using that sequence of letters perfectly lines up with these "landmark" lines.  Then, start from any line and go either up or down.  If you can start anywhere in that sequence of letters from earlier, you can start from the landmark notes and name in either direction (of course, remembering that middle "C" is in the middle of the Grand Staff).

At some point early on, I will send them away with this not-so-fancy "worksheet" (just something I made on finale notepad) to assist in learning how to name the lines (and remember, naming lines is simply for the sake of communication -- it will be learned and then just used and absorbed into daily practice).

Here is the worksheet (you just write in the note names somewhere below them) :





So, summing up the main points :

• GBDFACE
• "F" clef and "G" clef
• landmark notes
• worksheet

There is more, but that would be a start.  You can basically do a very similar thing with spaces (using the same letter-sequence and more landmark notes : "C's").


I hope that helps


m1469

[drooxy]

a couple of really good hints in there !

Just have to go and work on it !

Many thanks to you two for the time you took trying to help me  !

Drooxy

[m1469]

My pleasure 

[carolina estrada]

Cheers mate!