#7 - Common Musical Post-Reading Confusions
FOR PARENTS OF BEGINNERS
Your child has now learned an enormous amount of material that they now need to make sense of. It is very common for them to now be mixing different pieces of information (for example, read the Bass Clef as the Treble Clef) – this is an important step! Each such confusion is their way of organizing this information in their brain in a way that makes sense to them.
When I explain this to my students, I give the example of a person who juggles balls, and ask them: “do you think that this juggler was able to juggle four balls right away?”. The answer is: of course not! They started with two, and they dropped one every so often until they were able to juggle both balls together. They then added another ball to the mix, and dropped that one too a few times, until learning how to juggle all three balls; and so on.
So, this is a natural and necessary part in their development. Here, I will mention some of the common confusions I observed, and how to respond to them.
LESSON
1) There will be times when your child will play the correct note, but in the wrong register (meaning, the G above Middle C instead of below, for example). When that happens, tell them: “you did great in finding the right note! But is it that G or a different one? What is the difference between them?”.
2) One other thing that tends to happen is that the child will accidentally read the Bass Clef as the Treble Clef, to which you could say: “If you thought that you were reading the Treble Clef, then you played the right note! However, this is the Bass Clef - what note would it be in the Bass Clef?”.
3) Some students ask, “how do I know which clef to use?”. The answer is that each staff starts with a symbol: the symbol that looks like a squiggly line is the Treble Clef and means that they need to use their right hand; the symbol that looks like half of a heart is the Bass Clef and means they need to use their left hand.
4) Because your child has been used to reading songs with a single staff, some make the logical assumption that they need to be playing the Treble Clef staff first, and then move to the Bass Clef. When that happens, show them the ribbon (brace in musical terms) that connects the two staves and tell them it means that both staves are to be played at the same time.
5) Since the “Points of Reference” sheet is written going up for the Treble Clef and down for the Bass Clef, some students still think forward instead of backwards. For example, even though that B is written below Middle C, the fact that it follows it makes some younger students think that the correct note is D. When this happens, remind them that the Bass Clef is written in reverse, and ask your child “is this next note taller or shorter than C?”. When they answer that it is shorter, ask them “by how many notes? What is one note shorter than C?”.
A FINAL THOUGHT
This concludes Part One on the fundamentals of reading music, which included lessons in: Piano Orientation, Playing Songs Using Letters, Reading the Treble Clef, Introduction to Clefs, Reading the Bass Clef, and Playing With Both Hands.
Part Two will address the more advanced elements that exist in music notation (such as Sharps and Flats, Key and Time Signatures, to name a few), as well as technical elements (for example, Fingering) and efficient practicing techniques.
Being familiarized with these will allow your child to recognize nearly all the necessary elements needed to make sense of any piece of music, and enable them to choose their own songs to play and enjoy!