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Original poster

any music teachers out there??

11 replies

yogabird · 29/12/2007 20:55

Am i stupid and beyond help? the background: i learnt to read music playing the recorder at school and loved it. Teacher brought in a clarinet and i was allowed a quick go - couldn't do it not encouraged to try again. So.. i went on to learn the piano but found it dry (the teacher, old lady, smelly house, not really child friendly)and difficult for one main reason ... the bass clef! Why, please explain why the notes are different once you pass middle C on the keyboard. I can't read them. Never could really but now that dd is learning i'd like to to and i can't get my head around why they are different and why when i play 'G' on the keys, it's not 'G' on the stave in the same place as the treble clef. As such i can'tplay the left hand fast enough cos i have to read 'G' as whatever it is and then swop it by 2 notes, or whatever it is in my head before i can press the key. Is it just me being stupid? Come across this before? How can i overcome it? please it could hlep with my NY resolution

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foofi · 29/12/2007 20:59

I know it's a pain to learn, but I'm afraid the bass clef is just different! Say to yourself that the lines (bottom to top) spell Good Boys Deserve Football Always, and the spaces spell All Cows Eat Grass. Does that help?

Like anything, practice makes it easier. You can buy flashcards (or make your own) which might help!

BoysAreLikeReindeer · 29/12/2007 21:02

Erm, I am with you on this one yogabird.

I play a brass instrument, read all my music in treble clef, truly haven't a clue about bass clef, takes me ages to find C then count up/down the lines fgs

Even worse, on the advice of my BIL (Professional musician) I am to start DSs on keyboard in January, so I will have to try to learn bass clef. Again.

Brain aches just at the thought of it.

No use at all to you, am I ?

PeachesMcLean · 29/12/2007 21:05

Sorry, no easy solution I fear. Just familiarity and practise. Spend some time perhaps just in bass clef to really get used to it then try both perhaps? I used to be ok but am seriously out of practise now (an occasional brass player here too )

islandofsodor · 29/12/2007 21:07

The bass clef is an easier way to read notes below middle C. If you continued with leger lines (the lines under the stave like middle C is on, then it would get impossible so you just separate the staves. I have a feeling really old music is written on one stave.

If you think about it logically the A below middle C in the treble clef is in the right place C (1st leger line) B, (underneath the leger line) A 2nd leger line. However in the bass clef you simply get rid of the get rid of the C leger line and make the A line the top line.

It's not as complicated as it sounds, if I could draw pictures on here it would be simpler to explain

islandofsodor · 29/12/2007 21:08

I do sympathise though I can't play treble recorder without transposing the notes as I read G for example and want to play the fingering for descant recorder.

Original poster
yogabird · 29/12/2007 21:09

foofi that is the whole point - FACE is for the treble clef and EGBDF every good boy deserves fruit (for God's sake!) is for the treble and i get it all wrapped round my neck c onfusing it and counting up and down the lines!
Should i try to only play the bass clef til i get it sorted do you think?
and do you know why the just have to be different? it may help my learning maybe?

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PeachesMcLean · 29/12/2007 21:12

It has to be different because really they just wanted to do one big stave with 11 lines, and the one in the middle was C. They then realised this was a bit boggling so they split them in half and put a funny squiggle on the top five, and a different funny squiggle on the bottom five. C didn't get a funny squiggle - it was just stuck in the middle in a naked kind of way.

Original poster
yogabird · 29/12/2007 21:19

islandofsodor - arghhhhh! THanks and OMG it's jsut worse now! I have Chester's Easiest piano course and am looking at 9 notes, five left hand and five right. I am comfortable with middle C and can read it confidently as both but then how can A be on a line (where f should be?) and in a space on the treble clef? Couldn't there be two staves still but showing the notes as i think they should be ie] tha 'A; that you mentioned should be shown lower down in a space ....hey! i have a glimmer of understanding coming on, of course it can't be like that cos there ae then too many spaces between it and middle C for it to make sense - could i be getting it and seeing the need to work backwards?, off to get another biscuit and to think more - THANKS

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Original poster
yogabird · 29/12/2007 21:29

thanks to you too peaches the whole 11 lines with the C in the middle has helped too i have now got the beginnings of understanding!

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BoysAreLikeReindeer · 29/12/2007 21:32
Original poster
yogabird · 29/12/2007 21:53

boysarelikereindeer ooops! Sorry for missing you in my thanks your comments made me smile and feel supported and not so stupid. I hope that you too are now moving towards an understanding of the bloody thing. Why did i let her when she asked to learn?!
I keep glancing at the piano and muttering to myself, 'the top line is 'A'!'

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