Learning the Staff
Through the years, I’ve sort of pieced together worksheets or drawing worksheets on blank staff paper for little violin students learning the staff. I’ve found some worksheets online that aren’t keyboard specific and used those. Since moving, I’ve had some extra time the past few months and I’ve just started a beginning student. The perfect circumstances to create some worksheets staff worksheets for violin students who aren’t reading yet.
I’ve made the mistake of starting to teach note reading from the note reading book and I find myself explaining in one lesson, staff, line-notes, space-notes, treble clef, quarter-notes, measures… What was I thinking!!!! No awards for that lesson. It makes me squirm just thinking about how bad that lesson was.
Theory Curriculum
I have a favorite theory curriculum, Theory Time, by Heather Rathnau, and I use with all my piano students. I’ve tried it with violin students, but have found I have to jump around in the book in order not to confuse them with keyboard identification and learning bass clef notes. While I think they need to learn where the notes are on the piano and bass clef and alto clef, I think the order of teaching those concepts is different for violin.
Short commercial….The review that is built into that series is amazing. There are 13 books in the series, K -12. Concepts are presented and then reviewed before new concepts are added. My students seem to really grasp and understand rather than just copying from the explanation box. There are also has ear-training videos published on youtube. The kids love the fun sheets that are sprinkled through the book which include mazes, word scrambles, and pictures to color. The fun sheets and the layout on the page is is age appropriate based on the level.
Commercial over…. So I started thinking…. what if there were theory pages like this for violin…. If I could have resources for the pre-reading stage of violin and then move them into a theory curriculum. I think it is important for string players to understand the keyboard since it will help them understand harmonies and chord structure in the future, but to wait to explain that after they have started note reading on their instrument and feel comfortable and confident on the instrument.
So, here are some of my pre-reading staff worksheets. They are not clef specific. Before jumping into note reading be sure and teach the clefs. Here are a worksheets/coloring pages for the treble clef, alto clef, and bass clef. And hopefully this will help them be better prepared for that first lesson from the note-reading book.
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