Teacher Blogs

Often my piano students and colleagues are surprised to learn that music is something of a hobby for me: my main area of concentration is English, and my "day job" is teaching literature at the high school level.  I have always longed, however, to be able to integrate the simple and fun methods of Music Mind Games with the daunting task of teaching the classics to an audience who is often overwhelmed, if not downright hostile!

One of the books on my syllabus is Billy Budd.  Written by Melville of Moby Dick fame, the novella is every bit as obtuse and inaccessible to modern-day 16-year-olds.  They struggled mightily last year and all of them disliked it more than anything else they read.  This year I thought and thought about how to make it simpler for them, and finally decided since they were going to read SparkNotes anyway, I might as well give them the plot up front.

I made a list of important events (18 in all) and found where each occurred in the text, then assigned each student or pair of students one paragraph to "decode."  Once they had their plot point summarized, they came up and typed it into the computer (I do this a lot during class; since we have a projector, it's easier than writing on the board.)  Then we had a list of 18 plot points, all out of order. 

Blue Jello Beats Game:

Goal:  To write, read, perform, and improvise measures of blue jello rhythms

Materials:  Piano cards, time signature cards, blue jello word cards, blue bar lines from blue jello puzzle

Play:  Lay out 4 paper pianos longways next to each other white side up to represent 4 empty beats and place the correct time signature (4/4) card next to the first one.  Choose some blue jello rhythms students are comfortable with from the blue jello word cards and lay them above pianos picture side up (This is so students can see the equal blue values represented in the blue frames of the cards).  Explain to students that one blue card can be placed on any empty beat. 

Choose three cards and place one on each paper piano beat but save “blue” for the last beat.  Say this 4 beat measure with students snapping your finger above each beat as you say it.

Ex:  Jello              Huckleberry                          Rest                           Blue

            (Teacher:    snap                  snap                                   snap                            snap)

Next choose another blue card and place it under one of the existing rhythms in beat 2 or 3. Ex:  place Pineapple under Rest. Tell students that they now have a choice on beat 3 – pineapple or Rest.  Say the measure together and repeat a few times so students can make a few different choices.  Once they get the idea add some more choices:  another on beat 2 then another on beat 1 and so on. 

Adding a half note on the first beat can also be fun – just make sure that the next beat does not have another choice sitting next to the half note card to avoid confusion and also to look more like actual music.

**I recommend keeping blue as the only choice for the last beat so everyone always

has a clean ending together.**

To keep it new and exciting swap out some choices for new ones but keeping the choices limited to no more than 3 for any beat. 

This game can be useful for introducing new rhythms and their value like “cookie” “cucumber” “berrygoose” and “macadamia”

You can try different meters by using different time signature cards and the correct number of white empty beats (paper pianos piano side down)

Variations

·       Students can use instruments while creating different beat patterns (recorder, drums, strings, piano, xylophones).

·       Students can sing the beats by placing a do re mi card over beats. Ex: beat 1 is Do, beat 2 is Mi.  For more advanced students can have a choice of pitches to sing for each beat.

·      Try the Tasty Rhythm Song with this game.  The beat patterns fall in between verses and can be said, sung, or played on instruments during the song as well.

Tasty Rhythm Song

First Verse (snaps are equal to a Jel-lo rhythm)

Tasty rhythms (snap snap)            Yummy sounds (snap snap)

Huckleberry    rest                           Berrygoose    rest

Many choices (snap snap)                        All around (snap snap)

Huckleberry rest                                    Berrygoose rest

Try some out (snap snap)                        And play along (snap snap)

Berrygoose  rest                                   Berrygoose    rest

As we create (snap snap)                        A rhythm song (snap snap)

Berrygoose  rest                                   Berrygoose     rest

1            2             3            let’s go! (said in time to match the beat)

(students perform 4 measures with their choice of rhythms)

Middle Verse (can be done a few times)

Tasty tasty tasty rhythms                        Yummy yummy yummy sounds

Huckleberry Huckleberry                        Huckleberry  Berrygoose

Try some different combinations as we play another round

Huckleberry    Hucklebery Huckleberry Berrygoose

1            2             3             let’s go!

(students perform 4 measures with their choice of rhythms. you may do the second verse a few times to give students more chances to make up rhythms)

Last Verse (to end the game)

Now we’re full of tasty rhythms            Only one thing left to do

Huckleberry  Huckleberry                      Huckleberry Berrygoose

One more tasty treat before we finish with a “blue”

Huckleberry Huckleberry Huckleberry  blue

1            2            3            let’s go!

(students have 4 final measures of their choices before the song and game is fine).

     The following is a collection of games focused on reading rhythms.  These games can be used for review, warm up, or larger sections class time.  All of these can be used with the World Music Drumming Curriculum.

1.  Hello Jello on the Drums

Goals:  Keep a steady beat, learn names, learn blue jello rhythms, practice drum technique

Materials:  Drums, blue jello word cards

Play:  Students and teacher sit in a circle with drums. A student says his/her name followed by a blue jello word as their sur name. Everyone echo’s the student while playing the rhythm of the blue jello word. Only high sounds should be used the first few times played.

Example:  Student: “Elizabeth blue”

                    Everyone:  “Elizabeth blue” (blue is played as one high sound on the drum)

Only “blue” is used the first time around the circle. “jel-lo” the second time and “rest” the third time. Students are encouraged to come in on the beat. After the first three rounds students are given a choice. Before the rhythm circle begins ask students to choose which blue jello word they will use as their sur name. More rhythm choices are added as students gain experience. The first time this game is played with sound only.  Later the blue jello word cards can be laid out on the floor as a visual reference for students as they choose their rhythm sur name. 6/8 vocabulary can also be used.

2. WMD Ensemble Dictation with blue jello puzzle

Goals:  To transcribe familiar WMD ensembles into musical notation and read rhythms. 

Materials:   blue jello puzzle

Play:  Students will use blue jello puzzle pieces to write the rhythms of the WMD Ensembles.  This can be done in small groups by instrument.  When all parts are complete students can line them up in score order.  Using the complete score students can then say, clap or play their parts.

Teacher should discuss with students where the spaces in each line fall and how they are complementary with each other. Having a visual reference of complementary rhythms will aid students in creating their own complementary rhythm ensembles.

Ensemble 1 by Will Schmid:  Low Drum, High Drum and Shekere rhythms

3. Writing Complementary Rhythms

Goals:  To create complementary rhythms within a percussion ensemble.

Materials:  real rhythm cards, notes and rests cards, or blue jello word cards

Play:  Students will break into small groups of 3-5 students.  Students will combine their knowledge of WMD ensembles and their understanding of complementary rhythms with the blue jello vocabulary to create original complementary rhythms. 

One student will play the beat or timeline.  This student will find the correct real rhythm cards and write them out.  Then they can begin and repeat their rhythm verbally. Other students in the group will enter with a new rhythm one at a time. Once each student decides on a rhythm they will use the real rhythm cards to write out their line of the score. Students should begin with high sounds only. They can use magic notes to mark high and low sounds if both are being used (green and Blue work well, green is low for the grass and blue is high for the sky).  When the score is complete they can practice on instruments and share with the class.  Since the scores will be written out the whole class may want to try each others ensembles either verbally, with instruments or both. 

 Example:

  Complementary Rhythms written with real rhythm cards       

4. Switching Rhythms on Instruments

Goals:  To recognize and perform different combinations of notes and rests and feel how those of the same value and those of unequal value relate to each other.  

Materials:  blue jello word cards, instruments

Play:  Students are divided into 2 groups (can do 3 later as students gain experience).  Each group will follow a different progression of note cards. The teacher shows the first card for each group and leads them in to begin saying and playing the rhythm (for more advanced students they should say the words in their heads while they play without sound). When it is time to switch cards each group will see the new card as it is laid down on top of the old.  They can begin to think this new rhythm while they continue to play the original one.  They will switch to the new rhythm after the teacher gives two snaps cue.  It works well when each group ends on a “rest” card.  Finally all cards are taken away and the final two snaps means fine.  This works well on drums, recorders, and xylophones where melodies can be improvised on designated pitches or the pentatonic scale while playing rhythms.

Example:  1.See “blue” 2. Hear two snaps 3. Play “blue” 4. See “jel-lo” and think it but continue to play “blue” 5. Hear “snap snap” 6. Play “jel-lo”

5. Daily Do with Percussion Ensemble                

Daily Do, a singing exercise found in the Music Mind Games curriculum. Solfege and hand signs are used with a specific melodic pattern to learn and practice pitch, intervals, major and minor scale forms, and triads.  Students learn this exercise in small increments through an oral tradition without any visual notation. Once it is learned in its completion there are many variations of performing Daily Do that can be used to practice specific skills. One of the activities I have provided will demonstrate how using material from the WMD curriculum in conjunction with Daily Do will create fun and challenging variations for students. 

Goal: To practice singing and playing instruments

Materials:  Instruments

Play:  Students will accompany Daily Do with familiar WMD ensembles. This will give them practice singing something familiar and playing something familiar at the same time.  This may also be an opportunity to review an ensemble not played in the last few classes. Students may wish to create an original ensemble to be played with Daily Do. This presents another opportunity to practice complementary rhythms and composition.

*** This works particularly well with the arrangement of Daily Do by Gitte Chren Juni***

Hello, everyone!  I've had a busy summer and fall, but wanted to share this idea with you:

As many of you know, I teach private piano lessons in which I use MMG materials as often as I can.  Some students with longer lessons can spend ten or fifteen minutes playing games each week, while others may only get four or five minutes after we've gone through repertoire and reading.  Of course, "The Games," as my students call them, are indisputably their favorite part of the lesson.

A couple of weeks ago, I was reorganizing some of my materials and came across a fun game called Dominotes.  The principle is simple: instead of numbered dots, notes and rests indicate a number of beats, which is matched up with an equal number of beats on another Dominote.  Ian demonstrates below:

I used the game years and years ago, when I was traveling to students' houses and didn't always want to lug my games along; this was in the days before everything fit conveniently into a cute tote bag.  Eventually I stopped using it, since it seemed not to do very much except for very advanced students; I spent too much time explaining the rules and reminding students how many beats each symbol was worth.

When I looked at it with fresh eyes, however, I saw how easy it would be to incorporate Blue Jello words and hand signs, and this made it even more fun.  With young students, I'd begin by reviewing with Puzzle Notes and Rests and Chance Match, and then assign Magic Note and Gold Coin values to each note and rest.  Gold Coins are an easy way to demonstrate the concept of a beat; since the students love to look at and count them, it seems to stick more quickly. 

After that, I simply pass out Dominotes (we play an open hand first, so I can help them) and we start playing.  When someone makes a match, like Emma here, she simply signs it out:

Here she was signing Fo-o-o-our; Three-e-e, Rest.  Students see right away when they haven't made a match, because they're mentally counting the number of beats as they sign.

The really fun part comes at the end; as in other games, it's not over until everyone has played all of her pieces (if we have to stop because of time, we just stop.)  Then we go back through together and sign and say the Blue Jello symbols for all the matches.  It's sometimes a little tricky because there are lots of splits, but we find the longest "train" and follow that one through.  For instance, in the photo at the very top, we'd need to decide whether to branch right or left at the whole note, and it would depend on which branch was longer.

That's it!  I hope you'll be able to try it -- my students all had a lot of fun.

Apologies for my long absence, everyone!  I'm happy to be back.

It's a completely true cliche: teaching is learning, twice.  If you think you know something well, try teaching it to someone else.  The odds are ten to one you'll learn so much that you'll find it hard to believe you ever "knew" it before.

Which is a fancy way of saying I'm rethinking the order of games I've used for several years.  Here's the thing: Real Rhythm cards are absolutely ideal for initially explaining the relationships between notes and rests. They are yet another example of a material that teaches itself.  Unfortunately, they are not currently available (we're working hard to get a new version out soon!) but you can see an example in this video.  The old Warner Brothers version was very light blue with plain backs; the new ones are slightly darker blue and have pictures on the backs of Magic Note and Gold Coin values, in addition to tiny Blue Jello drawings.

As with any rhythm game, I start with the basic five notes: whole, half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth.  "Can you find the longest note?"  I spread out the cards on the floor.  Since they're proportionally sized, even a three-year-old can find the biggest card, so it's a great success experience.

"Right; the whole note is the longest because it has four beats."  (The more you can repeat the terms, the better your students will learn them; just remember not to fall into the trap of quizzing them.  They'll remember on their own, in their own time.)  "And because it has four beats, we also call it fo-o-o-our."  Make the sign.  Then ask the student to find the next longest note, continuing the dialogue until the notes are all placed, one above the other. 

Next, repeat with the rests.  This is even easier, because you can just say, "Which rest matches the half note?  That's right, the half rest.  They're exactly the same size, because they have the same number of beats."  When you finish with these, you'll have a nice pyramid-shaped diagram; or, as I like to say, a Christmas tree.

"Now we can decorate the tree."  I like to start at the top, since teaching addition is easier than teaching division.  "This sixteenth rest is so tiny, it only gets one Magic Note."  It's a small note and we play it very fast. Can you say "huck?"  I say it with them, making the sign.  "Even faster?"  They always love to go faster!

Comparisons are easy: "The eighth note is twice as big, so if we added two sixteenth notes together we'd get -- right!  Two magic notes."  The students love to turn over each card and painstakingly cover the Magic Note drawings on the back with real Magic Notes.  When we reach the quarter note and rest, I emphasize the idea of a beat: "A blue is one beat, right?  How many blue kids are on the back?"  (Or, in case of the rest, "How many mice?")  They understand instantly and intuitively that a half note is two beats and a whole rest, four beats.  And at the end, their Christmas tree is twinkling with colored balls and glinting with gold coins.  They will gaze and admire and beg to do it all over again.

When these concepts are firmly established, I add in the dotted notes, again comparing sizes. If the child is old enough, I'll explain what the dot means -- half again as long as the original note.  Finally, we add the multi-note cards: jello, huckleberry, etc.  I add a few at each session, making sure to reinforce both the Blue Jello words and the musical terms, so that the students learn that they're interchangeable.

Once they know the Real Rhythm Cards well, they're fun to use for other games.  One of my favorites is Making Measures.  We start with 4/4, the most basic time signature, and create measures of music using the whole note and rest as guides.  If students try to make a measure with too many or too few beats, it's immediately obvious, because the line of notes is too long or too short.  They quickly learn to group eighth and sixteenth values together for more easy playing.  When the measure is complete, we sign and clap the rhythm, and sometimes even go to the piano and make up a melody.

There are many more games, of course, as for all of the Music Mind Games materials, and I'm sure you have your own in the works!  If you're fortunate enough to have a set of Real Rhythm cards, I'd love to hear how you're using them.

Every once in awhile, I run into a skeptic -- someone who just isn't sure about all this fun we're having at piano lessons:  "Isn't reading music supposed to be hard work?  And how do you know those Blue Jello words are really helping them learn rhythms?  You know, real rhythms like you see in real printed music?"

When I hear comments like these, I try not to get too ruffled, and as soon as I can, I bring out the Music Symbol Cards.  No other set of cards is more obviously effective in teaching the basics of music theory.

I group the Music Symbol Cards into a few different areas.  The first is dynamics.  Michiko's game for learning the dynamics, which can be found in Chapter 11 of the book, is brilliant: students go from curled up on the floor, whispering "pianissimo," to leaping in the air, crying, "FORTISSIMO!" and return, in stages, to the curled-up position (an important caveat for any teacher who wants to retain control of her class . . . )  Similarly, I teach crescendo and decrescendo by sitting cross-legged, curling up and then slowly stretching out my arms and neck as far as they'll go as my voice rises: crreeeeeeeSCEEEEENDOOOOOOO! 

Another group is the notes and rests.  This is a snap for students who have played Puzzle Notes and Rests, a game I won't go into for now since the Blue Jello Puzzle isn't available yet.  (But it will be very soon, and I promise you will LOVE it!)  The only difference here is that they're shown on the staff, so students get a sense of scale and placement.

The third group is cards that can be learned through the Grand Staff song: everything from clefs to lines and spaces.  The students are VERY interested in the alto and tenor clefs, too (a sure sign you're teaching Music Mind Games properly: students want to do the "hard" things first!)

Finally, I teach the odds and ends that are left over: ritardando, measure and a few others.  There are some great hints in the book for these, too.

Once the student knows a fair number of the cards (it's even more fun if they don't know them all) we play a game I call Foursquare: I arrange the cards face down in a 6 by 6 grid and we take turns turning over cards and identifying the symbols.  If the student doesn't know an answer, the card is turned back over to be chosen another time.  Cards that have been turned face up remain there until someone completes a block of four, at which point he gets to keep all four cards.  I usually try to let the student be the first to do this, and I don't explain the rule until we're at that point in the game, since I want to start as simply as possible.  After they learn this, strategy becomes an important element in the game!

The cards are perfectly numbered for this game, but if we're short on time I may only do a grid of 16, possibly only including cards the student knows.  And I'm not very strict about rules; sometimes I'll prompt the student to help her remember.  (Which is, after all, the whole point of the game.)

Music Symbol Cards convert even the most hardened skeptics.  They show clearly that all teaching methods are not created equal; given a relaxed atmosphere, challenging and fun games, and positive reinforcement, students learn more quickly and take more joy in their learning.

Compared with my last pair of posts, this one will be much simpler, though the material is just as useful for musicians of all types!

The Tempo Cards are lots of fun.  For one thing, if you've never heard a three-year-old pronounce "Prestissimo," you're missing out.  It is really amazing how quickly they pick up the words, even with lots of syllables in a foreign language!

As with any new knowledge base, it's important to start slowly.  I usually begin with five cards: the two slowest (Largo and Lento,) the two fastest (Presto and Prestissimo,) and the one in the middle (Moderato.)

For a much older student, I might use linguistic hints ("largo" means long in Spanish, and "lent" means slow in French; "moderate," of course, means centrist in English.)  For a younger student, I just use letters: "M for Middle, and M for Moderato.  Moderato goes in the middle!  Now, can you find the two slowest tempos?  They both start with L . . . "

It's very important that the student see there is a fairly large space on either side of Moderato -- large enough for three cards.  This way, they know that we will continue to add cards to the list.  And a little suspense is fun for everyone. 

Once they seem to have those five, we play games, usually Fine and War.  War can get tedious with only five cards, so I make it more interesting by changing the winning card every time there's a war.  For instance, we may begin by saying the fastest card will win, so Presto beats Lento and Prestissimo beats Presto.  But then we both throw down Largo, so after the war is completed, we switch to the slowest card winning.  Now Lento beats Presto and Presto beats Prestissimo.  It sounds a little confusing, but the students catch on quickly and it keeps them on their toes (and also keeps one person from capturing all the cards quickly, prolonging the game and the learning!)

At the next session, I usually introduce Vivace and Adagio, which add to the pairs at either end.  We repeat the learning process, playing a few rounds of Fine and War.

Finally, I introduce Allegro, Allegretto, Andantino and Andante.  These pairs go on either side of Moderato, and it can be tricky to grasp the meaning of the suffixes "ino" and "etto."  Both mean "small," so "Allegretto" means "a little bit fast," hence, closer to Moderato.  Similarly, Andantino means "a little bit slow," so it goes closer to Moderato on the other side. ("Andante" actually means "walking," a fact that older students find interesting.)  Students will nod and say they understand this, but then they'll put Allegretto above Allegro or Andante above Andantino.  Make sure to take plenty of time practicing with just these five cards -- playing Fine, Five Hiding (where Moderato is zero points, Allegretto and Andantino one point and Allegro and Andante two points) and War.

Once the student knows all the Tempos, he may be ready to play Fine and War with all 11 cards, but more likely he will need more practice with smaller sections of the list.  I usually pull out four or five cards at a time, mix them up, and have the student add them back to the list in order.

That's really it!  The only other thing I strongly recommend is to incorporate these words into the music lesson as much as possible.  "I love your Largo tempo, but maybe we could try Adagio this time?"  Or have a child play a very familiar piece, and as she's playing, vary the tempo by putting different Tempo Cards in front of her.  The more applicable the knowledge, the better the chance of permanent retention.

As stated in my original biweekly plan, I use the Staff Slates and Grand Staff Cards together.  However, I use them at almost every single lesson in the beginning, so we make progress quickly.  After a month, even the youngest children can usually remember where the C's and clefs are located on the staff.

The next step is to connect the pretty, colored, movable magic notes with the more ordinary, black, static notes found on printed music.  To do this, I have the student play a quick game of Fine, and while the pieces are still in place, I take out the deck of Grand Staff Cards and place one next to the Staff Slate. 

"Anything look familiar on this card?"  The student is always eager to tell me all he knows about the staff: the clefs, the brace, the lines and spaces.  He can also usually point out the note, which is probably not one of the Five C's.

"Is this a C?" I ask.  There might be some hesitancy, so I encourage him to just try his best.  If he says yes, it's a C, I put it in a pile.  If he says no, it's not, I put it in another pile.  We go through the entire deck in this way.  I never tell him whether he's getting them right or wrong; he's never done this before, so it's a new experience anyway. 

When we finish, there's lots of "C's", but lots of non-C's too.  (Some students think anything with a ledger line is a C; some think everything on the bass staff is a C.  It varies greatly from person to person.)  I congratulate him on doing such good work.  "Let's go through this C pile again, and you explain to me why you picked each one."

(I don't mean to sound didactic here.  Word choice is SO important to a child, who feels vulnerable and fears failure no matter how well he may hide it.  It's so important that we help him to learn without making him feel foolish for simply not knowing something we happen to know already.)

The cool thing is that during this process, the student is able to see why all the other notes aren't C's.  I ask questions, like "Which C is this?" and "How many ledger lines does that C have?" and "What part of the bass clef is next to that C?"  As they look for the answers, they discover on their own that many of the "C's" are actually not C's, and they feel proud of themselves for having eliminated another choice on their own.

Once we have the six C cards separated, we play Fine, putting them in order (as on a keyboard, left being the lowest) and transferring them to the piano (they stand up perfectly just behind the keys!)  Once they are familiar with the C cards, we play Slap the C's, a wonderful game invented by some students in Amy Fowers' studio in Salt Lake City.  Basically, the teacher (or parent or other student) lays down the cards one at a time, forming a pile.  When a student sees a C, she slaps the floor ("Not the cards, please," I say; "They're not invincible!") and takes the C.  It's fast-paced and teaches instant recognition, which is invaluable later and much better than trying to remember a jingle or acrostic.  A fun variation for more advanced students is to penalize them if they slap on a card that's not a C; I take one of their C's and put it back in the pile.  Then they have to watch even more closely to get it back.

The C's are the foundation for everything else we'll do, so I spend a lot of time ensuring the students know them backwards and forwards.  Once they're very comfortable with them, I'll move on to D's, laying out the six C's and going through the deck to find notes that are one step above C.  We play Slap the D's to learn them well and then move on to Suspense and Five Hiding, where I make D's more valuable than C's.

Next we learn B's in the same way.  And after that . . . well, you might not believe me, but after that, they basically know the notes.  All of them.  It's really that easy when they're having fun, getting constant reinforcement and learning instant visual recognition.  Yesterday I told one of my students, "You're a much better reader than I was at your age."  It was the understatement of the year: at his age, I was hiding my books and wailing about how much I hated reading music.  He'd just played a round of Slap the C's, D's and B's (yes, simultaneously!) and gotten 17 out of 18 right, all the while cracking jokes and carrying on a conversation with his father.

Every teacher should have the gift of a student who reaches higher than she ever could.  It gives you the feeling that somehow, the world really is getting to be a better place.

What's the goal of learning an instrument?  Enjoyment and enrichment, yes; proficiency and technique on the instrument, of course.  But beyond that, most musicians want to acquire technical skills that will help them if they ever decide to sing in a choir, learn another instrument, or (best of all) teach someone else.

Hence, sight reading.

When I was a student, I hated sight reading.  Mostly, probably, because I had been playing pieces (via the Suzuki Method) for long enough that I knew I had a great ability to listen and imitate.  Why did I need to learn the notes?  Who cared about them?  I dug in my heels, screamed and cried, hid and ripped up my theory books, and generally made life miserable for my mother, my teacher and myself.  Eventually, grudgingly, I realized what a useful skill it was, and I am now very grateful for the ability to read and sing music I've never heard before.

For this reason, I am especially sensitive to students who resist reading.  In fact, I don't even use the word reading.  We start with a picture and a song.

The picture is the Staff Slate, and the song is one included in the accompanying materials and written by Lidia Usami, a teacher from New Jersey.  As you sing up the scale, you point to and trace symbols on the staff: treble clef, lines, bass staff, brace.  Then you sing back down, more quickly.  The students hang on every word, and they love doing this.

Once they're familiar with the symbols, I play These Five C's, which can be found in the book in a slightly different form.  (The main difference is that I'm playing with one student on a smaller board with Magic Notes.)  I show them Ledger Lines and place the five C's on the staff, one or two at a time, emphasizing the symmetry of their locations.  They copy me.  We play Fine over and over to ensure the student knows where all five C's are located.  Throughout the process, I use the terms continuously: "That's right.  Treble C goes near the treble clef.  Yes, Low C has two ledger lines and goes all the way at the bottom of the bass staff."  This is better than testing them, because they feel less pressure, but they are just as likely to remember the word.

At the same time, I'm teaching the five C's at the piano.  We place the same magic notes on the keyboard, also emphasizing the symmetry.  I have some Magic Notes onto which I've glued Kid Counters (bottom center of the photo) which fit perfectly.  I will be forever grateful to Sharon Su for giving me that idea; they fit perfectly, and the kids love them so much that one year I gave them all their own set of Five C's for Christmas!

From here, it's a natural transition to Tap Tap, Plunk Plunk.  Originally a game for the violin, played with the open strings, it works well on the piano too.  We place the Staff Slate on the piano bench and bend down to touch Middle C.  "Tap Tap."  We tap the magic note.  We move the magic note to Middle C on the piano and play it twice.  "Plunk Plunk."  We repeat that with all five C's.  This step in the process is vital, because I've found that many intermediate and even advanced students have trouble with the correllation between keyboard and staff.

Once the students really know their five C's on the Staff Slate, we're ready to move on to studying the Grand Staff Cards!