flash cards for learning the notes

[Tash]

hey all i was thinking of fun ways to help kids learn to identify notes and play them on the piano and considered doing flash card thingys, like pick out a card that has a D written on the treble or bass stave and the student then plays it on the piano and then they get stickers or whatever whenever they get it right. would that be an effective idea?

[imbetter]

it would help straight beginners and that's about it

[brahms4me]

Flash cards are a great way to help students learn.  I use them for identiying notes, intervals, key signatures, chord indentification, vocabulary, etc.  There are some good ones out there for all levels of study, not just beginners.  Its also useful for the students during the week as they can have family members involved also.  Flash cards are used for academics such as math so why not for music?

Great idea!

[lenkaolenka]

hey all i was thinking of fun ways to help kids learn to identify notes and play them on the piano and considered doing flash card thingys, like pick out a card that has a D written on the treble or bass stave and the student then plays it on the piano and then they get stickers or whatever whenever they get it right. would that be an effective idea?

I think, flash cards could be very helpful in learning music notation. I found out that students enjoy playing cards with each other and it could be great for family fun at home (which is important for home practice)
Flash cards could provide some visual support to understand music writing – not just give students plain answers for memorization.
For example, I saw many cards with a note on one side and its name on another. These kinds of cards are just for memorization with no understanding. But if you put a note on the Staff and some visual hints how to figure the note's name and CHECK the answer afterwards, I think, this way is more useful. Because memory is not very reliable compare to ability to reason.
Any way, reading music involves vision and flash cards is a very good way to help to SEE and differentiate music notes. 

[Tash]

yes well i'm thinking about this for beginners- i have a student who's 4 1/2 and while her sightreading ability is pretty fab she still has trouble with a few notes so i thought flash cards might be a better way to learn them so she only has to focus on the one note at a time- i'm just starting out teaching piano so am still learning effective teaching strategies etc

[juelle]

I spend a little time helping the student navigate from middle C to high F, using F-A-C-E.  Then we use a timer to see how quickly they can identify the keys (with 11 flashcards).  After they get below a minute on their time, we can play "soccer". 

For soccer, I fan out the 11 flashcards and the student chooses two, stands them up on the music rack and plays them in order, left to right.  If they play both notes correctly, they get to keep them and the score is 2-0.  If they miss even one note, I get both points.  (Some students like to do three cards at a time).

We do the same process with the bass clef. 

A good website for practicing note naming is www.pedaplus.com
Click on games and then choose the "Flashnote" game.  It has treble clef and bass clef separately, and the kids can improve their scores. 

In my opinion, a game is worth a thousand drills.  So enjoy!