Does Your Child Know Their A, B, C's?

Like I stated in my last post, many of the band students are struggling with note-reading. Some of these same students can play their music just fine because when they look at the notes on the page, they know what fingering goes with the note they are looking at, but when asked what the name of that note is, they are lost. Some other students can tell me what the fingering for "D"
(or any other note name) is, but when I point to a note on the page, they are not sure of the name of it. It's important to know fingerings AND be able to read the notes.

Last week and this week I handed out something to help the kids make flash cards. One paper had 12 boxes with the notes in the staff. The other page looked exactly the same, but the note names were included. To make the flashcards, cut the twelve boxes out from each of the pages. On one side of an index card, glue the box with the notes AND note names, on the other side, glue the matching note that doesn't include the note name. IMPORTANT!!! Make sure each side of the index card matches! There were a couple of students that brought in the flash cards they made and one side had an E and the other side the note was NOT an E! This does not help them!

Let's face it, though, flash cards can be a little boring. I know! So here are some links to some note-reading games on the web...

Classics for Kids Overall, a great website!!! Look for the GAMES option on the toolbar

Music Racer This is a cool website, you can play games for note-reading specific for each instrument and you can play games where you see a fingering for each specific instrument and then choose what note it is. There are some notes that the students might not know yet, but still a cool game

The Music Interactive SUCH A GREAT WEBSITE!!!! This website has VERY cool music games, they all must be downloaded onto your computer and some cost money, but many are free. The best free games for note reading are "Krank and Lucy" and "Staff Wars." The boys, especially seem to like Staff Wars! Make sure when it asks you to Select Your Mission you choose the right clef. Trombones and Baritones read Bass Clef and everyone else reads Treble Clef.

There are more, of course. Do a Google Search for Note Reading Games for Beginning band you can find more. Be sure to let me know if you find any other games your children like. You can even leave a comment here to share it with other parents!

Have a great week! I look forward to seeing many of you next Tuesday at RGS for the extra rehearsal at 6:30pm!