Teaching Note Identification to beginning band students in the sixth grade

using

Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction

1. Gain Attention

Pique the learners’ interest in the subject:

Give them a coded message that can only be “translated” with note identification. For example, “Giraffes can bend over and eat apples” with the “note” letters left out. The students will have to identify notes on the staff to fill in the blanks and “decode” the message.

2. Inform Learner of Objective

Let the learners know what they will be learning:

Today, we will learn how to read note names on the treble clef (or bass).

3. Recall Prior Knowledge

Get the learners to think about what they already know:

How many notes are there in the musical alphabet? What are they? How many lines and spaces are on a staff?

4. Present Material

Teach the topic:

Point out that there are more lines and spaces than there are notes in the musical alphabet, so some of the note names will have to be used more than once in order for each line and space to have a name.

5. Provide Guided Learning

Help the learners follow along as the topic is presented:

Have students go to

www.musictheory.net

and click on

Lessons

and then click on

The Staff, Clefs, and Ledger Lines

. Have them read through the lesson at their own pace, clicking on the “next” arrow when they are ready for the next page.

6. Elicit Performance

Ask learners to do what they have been taught:

Have students go to “trainers” on the webpage and select

Note Trainer

. Students will need to go to “Settings” to select the appropriate clef by clicking on the clef and to select the range by clicking and dragging on the notes. The students will then click on “Settings” again to return to the trainer and practice identifying notes on the staff.

7. Provide Feedback

Inform learners of their performance:

Circulate around the classroom to observe and help the students. They will receive automatic feedback from the webpage as it keeps their total score and percentage of correct answers. Students may reset their score at any time to see how many notes they can correctly identify in a row. They may click on “toggle helpers” to have the note names appear next to the lines and spaces. They should only use the helpers for a short time before trying to identify the notes on their own.

8. Assess Performance

Evaluate learners on their knowledge of the topic:

Have students reset their scores and see how many notes that can correctly identify out of 100 without the toggle helper. Give them a written test in which they have to identify notes on the staff.

9. Enhance Retention and Transfer

Aid learners in remembering and applying the new skill:

Pass out a popular tune such as “The Happy Birthday Song” and have them identify the note names.

E-Mail

Kari Jo Douglas

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