Children who learn to play the piano, or other musical instruments, can find it difficult to identify notes on a stave (the set of parallel lines on which notes are written). Some can play the note on the piano, but cannot name it. Others can name the note, but can't find it on the piano. This is where flash cards can come in handy.
Piano teachers often advocate acronyms or mnemonics. Starting in each hand from the bottom, with the spaces between the lines on a stave, FACE is used for the right hand (treble clef) and All Cows Eat Grass for the left hand (bass clef). Other simple tips can help like D 'divides', reminding them of D's position in the middle of the left hand stave. And middle C on the piano is on the line just above the left hand stave and on the line just below the right hand stave.
Although these can help, they don't encourage the instant note recognition that flash cards do.
Games with Piano Flash Cards
Musical Flash Cards can be found at all good music shops, but are also easy to make at home, particularly as the printed notes can be downloaded free from the internet. They last best if made of strong card of approximately 8 x 12 cm in dimensions. It also works well to use both sides of the card, for example the note on one side and name on the other, similarly note or rest length on one side and notation on the other.
Fun games played with flash cards, maybe with a reward at the end, is a great way of easing the process of learning musical notation. Games can be played with or without a keyboard at hand, helping to keep piano practice going in a low key way on holidays or weekends away.
Naming the Note
An obvious one really, but by mixing and matching the left and right hand notes, this can really help speed up note naming: an essential skill for fast sightreading.
Parents can adapt this by using a timer to see how quickly the child can recognise a note and then play it on the piano.
Putting notes with the same name, in order of low, medium or high will also aid octave recognition.
Copying the Note
For children with strong visual memories, copying the note onto a blank stave can by useful. You don't have to have a manuscript book. A blank piece of paper with 5 lines on it and the appropriate clef will suffice as a stave.
Spelling a Word
Children who like finding words can search for the letters that make up a word in a pile of notes. EGG, CAB and BED should be easy to find.
Finding the Time
Matching notes with their value in beats or clapping a series of note lengths out both encourage good time keeping. Children can also find the value of rests in beats.
Competitive members of the family will find ways to beat their brother, sister or friend at these games. Providing everyone picks a game that's at their level, children from kindergarten to senior school level can use musical flash cards to learn their notes.
Catherine Whitlock - After some fun years in medical research poring over a microscope, I now write about the scientific wonders that others have magnified.I ...
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