A Treble Space Spells FACE

I kept getting frustrated when piano students would struggle with a space note in the treble clef. I feel that these should be the quickest ones to rattle off since they simply spell out a word- face- it doesn't get much easier than that. But still, after me nagging week after week about how it spells face, students still struggled. I decided to make some flashcards to help. They are quick to run through each week at the beginning or end of a lesson to get the concept ingrained in the student's mind.

I start by asking the student what this word spells.

The next set of cards is missing just 1 letter from the word face. The student tells me the missing letter.

This set of cards has 2 letters missing from the word. The student tells me both missing letters.

When we get to the card with the 4 letter blanks, I use a pen to randomly point to a blank. The student tells me the missing letter that I point to and practices saying the letters all mixed up in various orders.  When they have mastered this, I flip to the very last card that has the 4 notes drawn on the staff. I say "This one is EXACTLY the same as the last card you just did."  I continue pointing in random orders with a pen as the student labels the notes with their correct letters. 

I always have the cards prepared in this exact order to ease them into the 4 notes and reinforce the spelling of "face". 

I used the backs of colored index cards-- very simple and quick to make!