TEACHING GUIDE · LEVEL 1
The Staff
Level 1 · 5 targets
Parts
Pretest, lesson, 7 exercises, quiz
Lesson
8 short narrated steps
Pass mark
80% on the quiz, with at least 60% on every part
Pacing
About two class periods
Unit overview
Unit 1.1 is the first unit of Level 1. It is where a student first meets the staff, the five lines and four spaces that all written music is placed on. The unit assumes nothing else. The student learns one idea and learns it well: every place on the staff is either a line or a space, and each one has a number, counted from the bottom up.
It sits at the very start of the program. Before it, a new student watches a short orientation video. After it comes Unit 1.2, Pitch.
Learning targets
The student sees these sentences in the program, word for word. Each is reached by finishing the exercises named on it.
Target 1
I can tell whether a place on the staff is a line or a space.
Exercise 1
Target 2
I can say which line a marked place is.
Exercise 2
Target 3
I can say which space a marked place is.
Exercise 3
Target 4
I can find a named line or space on the staff.
Exercise 4Exercise 5Exercise 6
Target 5
I know the staff has five lines and four spaces, numbered from the bottom up.
Exercise 7
Tips and tricks
Start with five lines on the board, before any words.
Draw the staff and ask, "Where could something go?" Students will point to the lines. Then point out the gaps. The idea that a place can be a line or a space is the whole unit, and it lands better when students find it first.
Count from the bottom, every time.
Counting from the top is the most common slip, because that is how we read a page. Sweep a hand upward as you count. The lesson says "numbered from the bottom up" for both lines and spaces, so the narrator and the teacher agree.
Say the kind first, then the number.
Always "line 3" or "space 2", never "the third one". The exercises ask "Which line?" and "Which space?", so students who hear these words in class meet the questions with no extra step.
Let a hand be the staff.
Spread five fingers: they are the five lines, and the four gaps between them are the four spaces. Students can check "five lines and four spaces" on their own hand any time. There is always one fewer space than lines.
Check spaces separately from lines.
Spaces are often the harder half, because students count the lines and forget the gaps. The unit gives them their own target (Which space), so the gradebook shows the difference. If that column is blank, spend a few minutes on spaces alone.
Quick check at the door.
Point to a place on a drawn staff and have students answer with fingers: one to five for a line, one to four for a space. Ask "line or space?" first, then "which one?" This covers the ideas of Exercises 1 to 3 in about a minute, with no devices.
When a student has not passed the quiz.
Open the gradebook and see which target column is blank. Which line points to Exercise 2, Which space to Exercise 3, and Find a named place to Exercises 4, 5 and 6. Repeat just that exercise rather than the whole unit.
Words to use
staff
the lines and spaces that all music is written on
line
one of the five lines; line 1 is the bottom line, line 5 the top line
space
one of the four gaps between the lines; space 1 is the first from the bottom
bottom up
the direction both lines and spaces are numbered
bottom line
line 1
top line
line 5
What the student does here
Pretest
A short check before learning, so you can see what the student already knows.
Lesson
Eight short narrated steps: the staff, its five lines and their numbers (line 1 at the bottom, line 5 at the top), then the four spaces and how they are numbered too.
Exercises 1 to 7
Is the highlighted place a line or a space; which line is highlighted; which space is highlighted; click on the line or space you are asked for; put a word on the place it names (one word, then three words); and a statement about the staff. An exercise is finished at 80%.
Quiz
Up to 24 questions; it stops early once every target is settled. A quiz is passed at 80%, with at least 60% on every part.
TWO MINUTES
A two-minute warm-up
Draw the staff large. Call out "Line 4!" and have the class point. Then "Space 2!" Then mix them. Two minutes, no paper.
Finish by asking how many lines and how many spaces. The answer, five and four, is the last step of the lesson.