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Horizontal Staff

8/23/2015

6 Comments

 
Horizontal Staff
Reading piano music is a complex activity for many reasons. One of the biggest challenges beginners face is correlating notes that go up and down on the staff to keys that go "up and down" (right and left) on the keyboard. One teaching aid that I and many other teachers have found helpful is the "sideways" or horizontal staff. By turning the staff 90 degrees, students can more directly see how the staff and keys are related. Obviously, the staff can't stay that way, but seeing it turned on its side can help students make the connection even when it resumes its usual vertical form.

In 2013, I decided to make a large horizontal staff with "notes" (colored squares) that actually lined up with the corresponding keys on the keyboard. I color coded the squares to match some wooden letter beads I'd bought. Unfortunately, the bead set is no longer available for purchase (and I lost my pink "G" bead!). It's not hard to get your hands on pink, blue, and purple Post-it notes or highlighter tape though, if you like the color matching idea!

I've linked to two files below: an oversized PDF file that can either be printed on a large printer like a plotter or tiled over six 8.5 x 11" pages (see below), as well as an 8.5 x 11" PDF version that includes a printed keyboard.

Horizontal Staff PDF - Oversized (22 x 13")
Horizontal Staff PDF - Letter Size (8.5 x 11")

You are welcome to use these files in your studio and send them home with students for home use! I only ask that you not redistribute or alter them. Please share how you are using them in the comments!

Printing the Oversized PDF at Home:
You can print the oversized file in Adobe Acrobat Reader using 8.5 x 11" paper using by tiling it over 6 pages and trimming carefully!

Screenshot
Tiled Horizontal Staff
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How To Make Your Own Velcro Staff

8/11/2015

4 Comments

 
A couple years ago, I made my own Velcro staff to use with my students. It's come in handy for many activities, from identifying landmark notes to melodic transcription. It is sturdy, lightweight, and sits easily on my upright piano's music stand. I've posted instructions below on how to make your own. If you do, please let me know how it turns out!
DIY Velcro Staff
Add Velcro adhesive to music symbols, seasonal stickers, felt or foam dots... the possibilities are endless!
You'll Need:
  • One piece of 20x30" black foam board; it should be 3/16" thick, and ideally have faint gray grid lines
  • 35' of 1 1/4" white adhesive Velcro tape (I used 7 packages of Velcro Removable Hanging Strip; each package comes with a 5' x 1 1/4" removable adhesive Velcro hanging strip and twelve adhesive 7/8" Velcro circles)
  • One 20x30" poster frame
  • Music symbols printed to size (I used Trend Brand Music Symbols Classic Accents® Variety Pack)
Directions:
  1. Cut fourteen 30" x 1 1/4" strips of adhesive Velcro tape. If you use the 5' Velcro Removable Hanging Strips, you can simply cut them each in half.
  2. Adhere the first strip to the top of the foam board, making it completely flush with the long, 30" edge. Leave a 1/4" gap before placing the second strip below. This gap forms the first staff line. It is very important that each staff line have an exactly 1/4" gap. Continue adding strips until the top staff complete. Create the middle of the grand staff by placing four strips flush against each other. Create the bottom staff by leaving gaps again for the remaining 5 lines. If you've measured your gaps correctly, the final strip will end up flush with the bottom of the foam board. The nice thing about the Velcro Removable Hanging Strips is that they are repositionable, so if one isn't lined up quite right, you can just remove and reposition it. Faint gray grid lines on the black foam board help too. You could also draw lines with pencil if your foam board doesn't come with grid lines. 
  3. Once all your strips are placed, take the four plastic frame edges off of a 20x30" poster frame and slide them over the edges of your foam board. This gives the board stability and keeps the adhesive strip edges from peeling off.
  4. The Trend Brand music symbols (pictured above) fit perfectly on this staff. The only exception is that the treble and bass clefs are a bit too small, as you can see. However, you can always draw larger ones, and/or download and print larger clef images. I haven't had a chance to make this "upgrade" yet! I did laminate the music symbols to give them durability. Then I placed the adhesive Velcro circles that came with the Hanging Strips on the back of the laminated music symbols, as well as on stickers (with the peel still on) and felt dots (with cardboard backing). 
  5. It's easy to make bar lines and ledger lines by cutting thin strips of basic black Velcro, available in the hardware section of many stores.

4 Comments

Rhythm Dominoes

1/30/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
I made these rhythm dominoes yesterday from blank wooden tiles. Kids loves games and I love their excitement when they hear we're going to play a game! But sometimes games are rather abstract. For example, a traditional dominoes game will help them review equivalencies, but doesn't involve any music making. So, a variation is to lay the tiles out on the music stand. Have the student sort the rhythms into groups (four beats, three beats, two beats, one beat). Then play (or speak or clap) the complete rhythm created for each group (all in a line). Do they like the rhythm? Do they want to rearrange or remove tiles? How about putting the long note at the end to make it sound final?

This activity still reviews equivalencies but also engages the student musically and creatively.

Unfortunately, the blank wooden tiles I originally purchased have been out of stock for quite a while, however, I have seen a similar product on Etsy.


1 Comment

    Lauren's Blog

    Thoughts on Piano Teaching

    Lauren Sonder
    Lauren Sonder is a piano teacher in Norman, OK.
    She believes in providing a well rounded musical education that emphasizes training the ear, learning music in a variety of styles, and being creatively engaged at the piano.

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