Who does not use the All Cows Eat Grass and Every Good Boy Does Fine association

[key of c]

Just wondering who teaches reading music without the use of these associations, and how you do it.
Thanks

[senecalakeguy]

i introduce the idea with these associations and then assign each student the task of creating their own sentences to associate accordingly.  the students must spend time contemplating the order of words and their own creativity makes them proud of their knowledge and they seem to take ownership of knowing the letter names this way.  i have heard some very amusing associations this way...

Empty Garbage Before Dad Flips

Elephants Go Belly Dancing Fridays

Every Grandmother Bakes Delicious Foods

Earrings Given By Drunken Flies

Eggs Grow Between Ducks' Feet

Are Chickens Ever Gay?

etc...

[whynot]

Never, I never use that system.  I think the reason people have trouble reading bass clef--and almost everyone does--is that they see it as a separate system from the treble, and it becomes two things to learn instead of one.   Once the student can name all the notes on the keyboard, I teach the whole staff as one "canvas" for drawing notes.  I draw middle c on it, then the next two c's up and down, and then the leger line c's above and below.  Then I turn it sideways to show how those notes look like a mirror of one another, and that makes them easy to remember.  Right away, they have several notes that really jump off the page for them.  And since their written pieces at the beginning tend to be based on those c's, they're immediately useful.  Next, I have them draw and play 5-note scales on each c, then show thirds and fifths (maybe not using names, but describing and looking at the spacing, which they can see right away).  It only takes a few minutes to go through all that, then they can look at any beginner's book and start playing.  This only works for me when I start a student from scratch and their parents don't "help" too much at home.  Once someone learns Every Good etc, I have a much harder time helping them to read well.     

[key of c]

Thanks to sene and whynot.
If you are going to use associations - its a good idea for them to come up with their own, some cute ones

I have really tried to stay away from that - but I've noticed the opposite lately- slower learning without the associations.  Of course - it depends on how much practice time the students are putting in.  I've tried teaching the chord approach to the lines and spaces.
F Major7 for spaces
e m7 for lines, but this too seems difficult for little hands at the beginning.
It would be interesting to know what everyone else does too.
Thanks to both of you. 

[key of c]

Hey whynot,
I just read your post again and realized you just identified my problem.  A new student has been taught that way (coached by grandma) and now has a difficult time with intervallic approach.

thanks again

[mound]

I agree that it's best NOT to introduce these associations.. if anything, introduce the phrase "EGBDF" and "FACE" - let the student learn to whip that off the tounge just as easilly as they would say "every good boy.." - forward and backward.

that translation process is slow and a tedious and annoying habit that you'll later have to break.  identifying shapes as intervals is much better in the long run. I wish nobody had ever told me "every good boy..."

[bobmarbj]

Here's a new one that one of my students came up with:
Even George Bush Drives Fast.
I use a combination of letting students come up with their own....it really does help.
It give "meaning" to the lines and spaces. We also add :  Dog F-A-C-E  for the spaces.

[vera]

I use exactly the same system as whynot, with the addition of exploring the up and down concept on the staves, both stepwards and in thirds, right at the beginning. And then I let the student try to identify those movements in pieces right through the book. It gives them a boost to understand these things already then. Also, I explain where the clefs come from, show them the pictures of the gradually changing f and g to the clef shape, and read from  the f below middle c and g above middle c towards the middle c. That then explains the problem of the middle c sitting there separate from the rest. " We are running out of lines, so lets put one in" For very young ones naming notes, whether words or letters, can be confusing. You can teach them to read notes without naming them initially. Some of my students have been very fast in associating certain places on the stave with certain keys and yet hesitating with the name. You may have that, when they are very young and they have hardly started reading at school. But the name does not matter all that much then. You talk about " the note on the bottom  line" for instance. As long as they understand where everything is. I have never really struck problems with it, but is also important to use a book, that will have pieces all over the range, changing positions frequently, so they really get a good orientation around the keyboard.

[Tobin]

MNEMONICS
By the mnemonic method of using colours the children soon learn all their notes across the Great Stave. They realise that there is a pattern that goes right across the Great Stave. Once they can see this pattern they can "home in" on any note and do not have to count up the lines by saying, "every good boy deserves favour".

The pattern given to the child is very simple. Two triangles and a circle. A couple of pictures help them to remember the order of the colours.

Look at the www.tobinmusic.co.uk
and the piano article will tell you exactly how to teach this.

Candida Tobin

[bernhard]

MNEMONICS
By the mnemonic method of using colours the children soon learn all their notes across the Great Stave. They realise that there is a pattern that goes right across the Great Stave. Once they can see this pattern they can "home in" on any note and do not have to count up the lines by saying, "every good boy deserves favour".

The pattern given to the child is very simple. Two triangles and a circle. A couple of pictures help them to remember the order of the colours.

Look at the www.tobinmusic.co.uk
and the piano article will tell you exactly how to teach this.

Candida Tobin

Hi, Candida.

Although we have never met, I have been for many years now a great admirer of your methods and ideas . In fact I have been mentioning you and your website a few times in the forum, e.g. in these threads:

http://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,587.msg14335.html#msg14335

http://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2192.msg18542.html#msg18542).

http://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4405.msg40979/topicseen.html#msg40979

http://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2369.msg21694/topicseen.html#msg21694

http://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2232.msg19721/topicseen.html#msg19721


I am very pleased and utterly delighted that you found the forum. 

Welcome!

Best wishes,
Bernhard.