Can I write the notes in? RSS

Here's what to do ...

Ask your student to play a tune using just the letter name without the notation and record the result (sound only, not video for child protection reasons). Then you play the tune (treble clef only) from notation and ask if that was the same as their version.

here's a tune you could use

B  C     E  D  D  D  G     G  F#  E  D  D  C   
 
B  C  C#  D  D#  E  C  A     G  A  G  F  A  B  C    

E  D  D   E  D  C#  D  B  A  G        G  F  E  D  D  C   
 
B  D  C  E  G  B  A       A  G

The piece is Cantabile from Sonatina No 4 for piano by Vanhal. Here's a link to the score and here's a link to a YouTube performance.

The tune the student played will almost certainly be different from the real version, so now you have proof that notation is a more accurate way for a composer to enable someone else to play their music.

what to do next

Ask the student why we usually read from staff notation instead of letter names. Job done!

Have fun together, making up a new, eight bar tune in G major, using the notes of the usual G major scale - then write the tune down in notation.