DOES USING FINGER NUMBERS IN BOOK A PREVENT THE STUDENT FROM LEARNING TO READ MUSIC?
Not at all!!! We would compare it to babies crawling before they walk or children speaking before they learn to read. By the time a student gets to Book C, where grandstaff is introduced in PHONICS 4 PIANO, finger numbers have not been used for a while. The dreaded “finger numbers beside the note” issue occurs when students have failed to learn to read the notes on the grandstaff. It is a completely different issue to be addressed. Q: DOES PHONICS 4 PIANO TEACH THE MUSIC STAFF? A: Yes! It is quite unique in that only one note is presented at a time. An entire book (C) has been devoted to the 9 notes we believe children should learn first. Middle C is presented with a theory page and 2 songs using only Middle C on the grandstaff. Then D is presented with a theory page and 3 songs using only Middle C and D. The rest of the notes are introduced one at a time and familiar tunes are used as much as possible with the limited number of notes. Along with teaching one note at a time beginning i
