They can read!!!

My first year teaching music, I assumed that my sixth graders knew how to read notation. I realized, about halfway through the year, that they didn't. I assumed this meant that their previous teacher hadn't done a great job with them. My next year, my sixth graders didn't seem to remember learning to read notation. That year, I knew exactly what they had been taught, so instead of placing blame, began trying harder to reinforce notation.

This year, finally, my students have retained from last year how to read notation. There are a few things I've been doing that I think I'll continue with. One thing I do is connect the staff to their hand. That was Guido's intention in the first place, and it seems to work. As students say Every Good Boy...or whatever, they touch each finger with the opposite hand, kind of like playing "this little piggy". Then they wiggle the appropriate finger at me (and I haven't yet had a student associate B on the third line with a vulgar hand gesture). This kinesthetic reinforcement seems to have made a difference.

I also make sure that students are learning to read music in association with playing it. Some teachers in my district will only allow students to play recorders after they can fill out a worksheet identifying all the notes. I'd rather use recorders as a teaching tool than a carrot, and I'm finally happy with the results. Today, I gave my sixth graders some easy notation and a review on recorder fingerings, and they figured out the songs with out me. Woo hoo!