Confused? Don’t worry, I’m not this isn’t some kind of quirky “meta” blog post. I’m talking about how to introduce the grand staff in a way that is fun, engaging and sets students up for speedy music success down the road.
You might be using a method book that starts staff reading from day 1, such as one of my favourites, Piano Pronto. I love this for older beginners but I take on a lot of very young piano students, and for them I prefer to save the staff for later.
I’ve been getting more and more into Piano Safari for these young kiddos. In the Piano Safari teaching resources, they talk about staff day.
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Staff Day
Piano Safari starts with a pre-reading unit, using finger numbers and directional reading. Then in Unit 2 the staff is introduced, and Julie & Katherine call this “staff day”. They hype it up, and the kids get excited for the big day when they get to start reading on the staff.
I love any opportunity to celebrate little wins with my students, so I have completely embraced this staff day idea. But I have also started to preempt staff day a little so that we can have even more fun when that day comes.
To do this, I use mixture of games and movement activities in the weeks before I introduce the grand staff formally. This way, when staff day rolls around my students are not only prepared – we have tons of fun stuff to review to celebrate. 🙂
The Floor Staff
This was one of the best time investments I ever put in. If you can either buy or make one I highly recommend you do it. It comes in so handy!
In the first few lessons:
- We play stepping and skipping games, moving stuffed animals up and down the floor staff.
- Practice naming the clefs, counting the lines and other observation.
- Place foam circles (like these ones) in certain spots (e.g. “Put this red circle in space 2 in the bass clef.”).
- Match landmark note flashcards to their place on the giant staff.
Doing these activities on the big floor grand staff means that my students become familiar with how it works – without having to also coordinate fine motor skills at the same time. That’s just too much for little fingers to handle.
For more ideas on floor staff activities try:
- My original post about grand staff games here.
- Joy Morin’s floor staff activities.
- Pianimation’s floor staff games.
Step and Skip Games
Besides the grand staff structure, and the landmark notes, I also want my students to understand steps vs skips.
This might seem like a concept that’s too obvious to even worry about. But you’d be surprised how many young students get tripped up by this little detail. And it will trip everything else up if they don’t get steps and skips.
My favourite step or skip games & worksheets:
- Step or Skip and Space or Line
- Susan Paradis Stepping and Skipping Along
- Teach Piano Today Steps and Skips
Review and revise these as you move from off-staff to on-staff. If your students know landmark notes and steps vs skips – they can find their way to anywhere on the staff.
Landmark Notes
My recent Thinking Theory video comes in handy for this one. Ask the parents to play this for your students at home and then practice using the landmark notes in the lesson.
Landmark note games to play:
- Landmark Landmines (have a look at the preview video I made of this game here)
- Landmark Xs and Os
- Flashnote Derby app (select only the landmark notes in the setup screen)
If you’re looking for a progressive theory plan that uses a landmark note approach, take a look at Thinking Theory here.
How do you introduce the grand staff?
Do you celebrate staff day? What are your favourite staff games and activities?
Tell me all about it in the comments below, or in the Vibrant Music Studio Teachers group on Facebook.
Love these ideas, I’m going to have to make myself a floor staff today. Thank you!
Cheers Cassie…enjoy!
Really dumb question, I just never was taught it…what is the correct way to number the spaces and lines on the grand staff? Thanks!
LH: start from lower Bass line and count up.
RH: start from lower Treble line and count up.
This is for lines and spaces. Think of moving up on a ladder.
That’s what I prefer. But lately some methods use the counting down of lines and spaces in the bass clef for the sake of symmetry. I find it confusing.