Hi
Getting young children to recognise notes can be a tad frustrating! I have found that if I use the regular sentences for learning the notes, children not only ‘don’t’ learn them, but even if they do learn them, tend to mix them up between the treble and bass clefs (and even between the lines and spaces!) And then there’s the problem of them actually finding them on the keyboard. No easy task! I’ve also found that it’s not a good idea to demonstrate on the keyboard too much because, as you have found, they will copy anything they can if it means not having to learn how to read the notes on the staff.
So more recently, I’ve tried another method which actually seems to be working quite well and this has become an integral part of each lesson. Instead of trying to name notes on flash cards or learn phrases, I use a small manuscript whiteboard and, first using the treble clef, label the lines on the staff 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Then I ask the student to find middle C and then jump up thirds on the keyboard while saying, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. After this, I draw a note on one of the lines and ask them to tell me which line the note is on. Once we have established this, the student goes back to the keyboard and, starting on Middle C, jumps up through thirds on the keyboard while saying the line numbers out loud, stopping at the line on which the note is found. This causes them to find a note accurately every single time. I then open their tutor book on a page much further on, find a note on a line and ask them to play it. It’s wonderful to see the smile on a student’s face when they play the note correctly every time.
For the lines in the bass clef, we count ‘down’ the lines backwards, moving down the lines 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Then, starting on Middle C, the student jumps in thirds down the keyboard while saying these numbers out loud.
The spaces in the bass clef are a little trickier, so I now use the phrase ‘Big Green Elephants Can Always Fly’. We start on middle C, step down to the first space and then continue jumping down in thirds while saying the sentence.
So far, it’s working well and all my students are becoming very skilful at note reading.