I keep thinking I'm going to run across the perfect song for teaching staff reading but I have not yet figured out how to compose it. I tend to do these things off the cuff, which means I am not consistent about doing them at each lesson. In a way, this is an old fashioned rote learning concept, but instead of reinventing the wheel, I wonder if any of you have created something like this.

In the Faber's My First Piano Adventure Book B, they have a really cute song introducing the grand staff. It's been a while since I've taken a student through that book, but I remember it singing about how the grand staff has five lines and four spaces, and I think it even sang through the note names. It would be easier to sing it with the CD accompaniment because it's very rhythmic.

Rather than making up a rhyme or quick saying, I just teach the skips G B D, F A C E.
GBD can be said quickly or rhythmically. If you know any one line or space on the staff, the series will work. Just start on the Bottom Bass Clef line G and see how it works all the way up through the Treble Clef top line F. Don't forget to write in the floating Middle C. Or start on the space below the bottom line and start on F. FACE GBD. Start on any landmark like F clef line or G clef line and the saying GBD FACE will work!

My real solution is to spend a lot of extra time compared to what method books normally have, "messing with" clefs, seeing how they work, and reading notes from them. I also teach C clefs to beginners so they understand the concept (and drop them soon after). Mis-placed clefs (treble clef circling a different line for instance) are important too IMO.

I don't like the mnemonic devices usually used, but if you really want one for the lines, I have come up with one that emphasizes how similar they are:

TC: EEEEK!!! Great Big Dinosaur Footprints!

BC: Great Big Dinosaur Footprints? AAAAH!!!

Bass Clef Lines:

"Girls Beat Dogs For Attention"

Not one of my students has trouble with bass clef.

This is after Music Tree is over, of course, since I use that. There are no clefs in the beginning. Once we start them, I use a combination of mnemonic devices, drills, flash cards, etc - whatever the student likes best.

All of my students have a sight-reading book as well, so they typically get a lot of reinforcement and don't have issues. Once they know the names, we ditch it all together and just call them for what they are.

Like David, I also teach C clefs immediately, and with older students, introduce the other forms of clefs for recognition as well. I will write out little sight-reading drills to make sure they're forced to read by interval (in Soprano, or French Horn, clefs, for example).

David, I really like yours!

I'm going for the Dinosaur one! I love that they overlap, and in a more fun and memorable way than Every Good Boy Deserve Fudge and Good Boys Deserve Fudge Always.

I've done the GBDFACE, drilled it a lot, but it seems to stick with some kids better than others.

For adult students:
Every Gynaecologist Blames Diaphragm Failure

A 9 year old student told me this one: Ernie Gave Bert Dead Frogs.

A teenager from Ireland told me she was taught "Great Big Dogs From America".

Had an old band master who used to say: Father Christmas Got Diarrhea After Eating Biscuits.

Best,

Anthony.

The perfect song for teaching note reading won't be one that relies on remembering lyrics and then applying them to the various lines and spaces... Just sayin'.

Reminds me of the (fairly ancient) method book called Jibbidy-F and Ace, which did it much the same way. The beauty of this is that there's no intermediate step, of translating the words into initial letters. I don't use any rhymes, generally, though I like the way david_a has designed his to show the similarities.

I so agree. Very easy to remember a distorted version of a mnemonic, isn't it! Good boys eat fudge all day? Great big alligators eat dogs?

I hope somebody somewhere gets some mileage out of it. I avoid using it, and I've tried to plant incorrect versions of the more-famous "rhymes" in some of my students' minds to break them of the thoughtless habit.

All Cows Fail Gym Class.

[quote=Anthony2010]Had an old band master who used to say: Father Christmas Got Diarrhea After Eating Biscuits.

OK I'm just not getting this one. FCGDAEB? What is that?

Looks like part of the circle of 5ths (the white notes)

It's probably to help remember what order the sharps go in.

Proves how useful these things are, when a person remembers the words but can't even remember what it was for!

Oh, right, like Father Carl Goes Down and Eats Boogers. That's the one.

Would some nice person, David or Danshure, please tell me how to do those nice quotes?

Easiest: press the "quote" button at the bottom of the post you want to quote from.

If not that, every quote must begin with or just AND must end with

Hope that was what you wanted...

It's the order of sharps

Best,

Anthony.

I have to brag about what one of my students came up with herself:

Treble:
Every Gassy Boy Does Fart
Freezing are Cold Ears

Bass:
Glass Birds Don't Fly Away
Are Cold Eggs Good?

Treble clef:
Elvis' Guitar Broke Down Friday

Empty Garbage Before Dad Freaks!

`````````
I tend to use the standard Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge (why not think about chocolate...) and FACE (rhymes with space)
BUT many still get these mixed up with the bass clef mnemonic.

Bass clef lines:
Great Big Dogs Fear ANts. It's a humorous visual. I ask the kid to think about Marmaduke or Clifford (the Big Red Dog) running into ants on the sidewalk and jumping in fear. One student even drew me a picture (awww...).

Bass clef spaces:
All Cars Eat Gas
or
All Cows Eat Grass

I try to get the s. to recall these are for BASS clef by remembering these scenes happen on the GROUND and BASS clef is the LOWer staff. Some get it, some don't. For beginners, this just can't be reinforced enough, IMO!

Order of sharps:
Fat Cows Go Dancing At Evening Balls

Order of flats: first 4 letters spell BEAD
I figure if they can get at least that far, adding GFC isn't that hard to add on. But that's just me.

Music Ace lesson might be a motivator if the s. comes prepared & there is time to do this (5 min. at least) at the end.

I have one s. who is in his 5th yr of lessons; still can't recall note names at all sometimes. ADD, though once in a blue moon, he comes with enough energy to do the notespeller page fairly fast. More on this in another post.

Musicmanic
private teacher in WI

For Bass Clef lines, I use: Green Birds Don't Fly Away (I got this from another teacher online; I can't remember who or I would credit him here!) and All Cows Eat Grass for the spaces

For Treble Clef, we use Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge and FACE the Space (pretty traditional, but students do remember them!)

For order of sharps, I use Fat Cats Get Dirty After Eating Birds

For order of flats, BEAD! Go Catch Fish!

=)

I use Every Good Boy Derserves Football, and FACE!!!! For Treble Clef
And Great Big Dogs Frighten Auntie and All Cows Eat Grass for Bass!

One exercise I do that is popular and constructive, is an arpeggio game, so once students have learnt say 10 arpeggios, we do a duet, I play lower chords in a waltz rhythm and then randomly pick arpgegios, this way students learn how to react faster when going onto different notes e.t.c, it's fun and they learn from it!

For Treble clef I use: Every Good Boy Does Fine and FACE
For Bas clef I use: Good Boys Deserve Fudge Always and All Cows Eat Grass

For the Sharps, my orchestra teacher used: Fat Cats Go Down Alleys Eating Bonkers (or bread).