Halfstone,
Could you talk a little more about how you actually use this to teach. I'm talking along the lines of a 5.5 year old student that seems to "memorize" songs rapidly thus negating the need to learn the notes. I'm trying to develop the note recognition and learning, but she's not getting it. This leads me to believe that I'm not being very effective at teaching it.
How long do you find it takes before a child this age "gets it?"
Jef
I think I was making myself a bit unclear. I ment non-music-reader, not small children. I really don't know how good they are at the symbol-decoding business.

I know that the system above works well for children at ages 7 and 8. I think that presenting very small bits of information e.g. 'learn c, then go on and learn d' which is often the case in piano-methods, is slow and cumbersome. And the learners don't get something to refer to.
In teaching situations I seldom answer directly to questions like ' what note is that'. Instead I say something like 'Remember, the four upper lines are ...'
Hallstein