Read The Notes & Count The Beats

Read The Notes & Count The Beats

Read The Music Or Memorise?

Children often feel 'safer' looking at their fingers rather than the music. They try to memorise the tune as quickly as possible to avoid looking up at the music. Your child may need to gain confidence in reading the music. 
I have nothing against memorizing, however it's best memorised only once your child can play the piece perfectly from the music first. Your child may well be trying to memorize simply to avoid having to read the music.

It can be quite a challenge syncronizing the fingers and bow on the same string. Many violin pieces will require your child to change from string to string at speed. Getting to know the different angle that the bow arm requires for each string is something which will come in time with practice. 
It's a case of feeling the angle and getting so familiar with it that it comes naturally without having to look and check. If the angle isn't quite right you will hear more than one string at a time, known as 'clashing strings'.   

Observe your child, and check how much he/she is actually looking at the music. Note that you will need to observe from an angle where you can see your child's eyes.

If your child has taken to memorizing there are several downfalls.

1. Lack of confidence in reading the notes.
2. Your child may have memorised mistakes and be playing the piece inaccurately without realising.
3. Difficulties in a performance or music exam...what happens if there's a 'blank' moment? If your
    child isn't following the music how can he/she find their place in the music if they stumble or forget?

The 4 strings are named G D A E in that order, with G on the left - the thickest string and E on the right - the thinnest string.
Plucking means not using the bow. Your child should hook the right thumb on to the corner of the black fingerboard and use the index finger to pluck the string. Make sure he/she doesn't pluck in the area where the bow would go. This area must be kept free from finger grease/moisture. Pluck further down where the black fingerboard is.
Ask your child to pluck the strings as you call them out. Mix them up so your child has no idea which string you are calling out next. Do this without the bow initially to make it easier. When your child gets good at it you can then use the bow.

He/she has to do it with eyes closed, or looking at anything other than the fingers. Do it slowly at first giving your child the time he/she needs to find the right string. Get faster when your child gets more confident and adept plucking the correct string.

Move on to using the bow instead of plucking when you feel your child is ready.  

  • Be watchful of your child memorising to avoid reading the music
  • If your child is clashing strings it will be because the height of the bow arm isn't right
  • Get your child really confident with reading/recognising notes. Use the plucking game
  • Avoid touching/plucking in the area where the bow goes between bridge and fingerboard

All About Counting 

This section will give you a clear understanding of how to count the beats in music. The notes that your child plays at this early stage of learning will look like these below.
The crotchet which is the 1 count or 1 beat note, gives the basic pulse for most pieces of music your child will play.

If you find yourself tapping your foot or nodding your head to music it's likely to be the main crotchet beat you are feeling.

Take a look at the note values here, some of them should be familiar from your child's music. Certainly the 1, 2, 3 and 4 beat notes.

The half beat notes - quavers - usually come in pairs - joined together at the top but it can also appear as a single note with the curly flick.

Notes are separated by vertical lines called bar lines and the spaces between the bar lines are called bars. This example has 4 bars.

The 2 lines at the very end are called a double bar line. This indicates the end of the piece.

The 2 numbers at the beginning are called the time signature. You don't need to concern yourself with the bottom number at this elementary stage, however the top number (3) tells you how many beats there will be in each bar.

The two other common time signatures you will come across will be 2 or 4 indicating 2 or 4 beats in every bar. 4 4

You can have any combination of the 1, 2 3 or 4 beat note values as long as each bar has the correct number of beats in it.
There is more to cover on the subject of counting beats but digest this for now and more will be explained later. Meanwhile take a look at your child's music and see if it all makes a bit more sense in terms of the note values and how to count the beats.
  • Know the basic note values. Try clapping the rhythm of a piece before attempting to play it
  • Remember the top number of the time signature tells you how many beats to count up to in each bar
  • Once you cross a bar line into a new bar always start counting again from number 

Bring Out Your Child's Natural Sense Of Rhythm

Does your child have a natural sense of rhythm? Well, some do and some don't. This section is about encouraging your child to explore rhythm and develop a good sense of the beat in a piece of music.

Every piece of music has a beat and the various note values covered in the section above have to be counted at the speed of the beat.
What is the beat?

Well it's what you tap your foot to or nod your head to when you are listening to music. It's a steady pulse which continues throughout a piece.

You can have some fun doing some of the suggestions below.

1. Put a CD on in the car and invite your child to clap along to the beat. Anything will do, classical, pop,
    rock, nursery rhymes. They all have a beat.

2. Try dancing at home to music. Encourage your child to use his/her body to move with the beat.

3. There's alot of music when we are out and about in shops etc, try walking to the beat whilst 
    shopping with your child. 

Some children will need a little encouragement to try these ideas but if you are willing to go first, you might be suprised at how your child will be happy to follow.

Playing the correct rhythms in a piece of music requires a good sense of the main beat. Find opportunities to try out the ideas listed above. It will certainly help to develop your child's confidence with rhythm.

When I'm teaching the violin I often use rhythmic words with children. For example:

pear app-le pear-pear pear pear pear pear pear-pear
When learning a piece it's a good idea to seperate the notes from the rhythm. You can do this by simply tapping out the rhythm on your knee and counting the beats aloud.

The beat should be a steady regular pulse. Some pieces have a fast beat, some have a slow beat. If you are at a total loss as to what speed the beat should be, try using the second hand on your watch. 1 beat per second is a nice easy pace to set when learning a piece.

It may take several attempts to get the rhythm right, so be prepared to do a few repetitions.

Here's an example of how to tap out a rhythm.

So try tapping out some rhythms with your child. It's a good idea to do it with pieces your child hasn't played before, this avoids anything being committed to memory and ensures your child is following exactly what's on the page rather than a rough approximation of what might be in his/her head!
  • Try clapping to music at home. If your child likes dancing then encourage him/her to feel the main beat
  • Use rhythmic words to help with the crotchets and quavers - Cat dogg-ie or salt pepp-er. Anything which has 1 syllabal for the crotchets and 2 syllabals for the quavers
  • Always clap the rhythm of the piece of music your child is learning before adding the notes
  • Encourage your child to count the beats out loud so you can check if the counting is correct

Have A Rest

We have covered how to count the beats. 

I now need to tell you about silences in music which also have to be counted. 

They are known as rests.


The symbols which represent the different types of rests look like this.
Take a look at this musical example and notice how the notes and rests combine to make the correct number of beats in each bar.
These numbers show each of the 4 beats in every bar. Rests are as important as notes when it comes to counting. 

Encourage your child observe the silent rests and count them in the bar. I can't stress enough how important it is for your child to get used to counting the beats in every bar. 

Remember it's the top number in the time signature at the beginning of the first line which tells you how many beats there are in each bar.

Counting out loud is a good idea, not only does it help your child but it also enables you to tell if your child is counting correctly at an even pace. Let's say there are 4 beats in every bar as the example above shows. If you hear your child counting out loud: 1 2 3 4 5 then you know the counting is wrong. We always start a new bar with beat number 1. 

It's common to emphasize the 1st beat of each bar. It marks the start of a new bar and helps to keep the counting going at a regular pace.

Try asking your child to draw some rests on paper and get used to what they look like. He/she can copy them from a piece of music. Use pencil so mistakes can be rubbed out though! You can download some blank manuscript to for your child to have some fun, practice drawing a few notes and rests.  

Click on the image below to download your manuscript paper

  • Remember that rests are as important as notes
  • A rest means be silent for length of the rest
  • Know the rest values well
  • Emphasise the first beat of each bar. It will help with feeling the beat
  • Use the manuscript paper to practise drawing notes and rests

Know Your Notes

It's time we covered how to read the notes. We have covered rhythm but you need to be confident in identifying the notes.

The notes appear on what we call a stave. It has 5 lines and 4 spaces. 
Here's an example.
Notice how the notes are on a line or in a space. 

Only the first 7 alphabet letters are used to name the notes. ABCDEFG. After G, we start again at A - ABCDEFGABCDEFGABC etc.

The lower sounding notes appear lower on the stave, higher sounding notes appear higher on the stave.

Don't be concerned that all the notes in this example are 4 beat notes, (semibreves). This is just for visual uniformity. If you have read the previous sections on rhythm you will know that notes can be of varying lengths. 1/2 a beat, 1 beat, 2 beats, 3 beats or 4 beats. Each one looks different. 

Your child will be playing all of these notes. Especially the low D, the A and the high E which are 3 of the string names on the violin. The G, being the lowest sounding string is lower than the D in the example above.

If notes are too low or high to fit within the 5 lines we can add a small extra line to fit the note on. These extra lines are called ledger lines. Here are some examples.
Ledger lines are very common. All your child's notes on the G string for example will have 1 or 2 ledger lines. The E string will also have a couple of high notes which require ledger lines.
The best way to get confident with recognising notes is to find a few which are easier to remember. Here is a commonly used aide memoir for the notes which sit on the lines.
You can create other phrases which may be more memorable for your child for example:

Every Girl Bakes Delicious Food - or for the boys - Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge.

Take a look at this funny video for more ideas...
If the note is in a space rather than on a line, simply go up or down 1 letter in the alphabet to get the note name.

A common aide memoire for the notes in the spaces is F A C E. Work your way up from the bottom space to the top space, can you work out where the notes would go?

I have included a download below which gives your child some notes to name, download it and ask your child to have a go. The answers are included!
  • Notes are named using the letters A B C D E F G A B C...etc.
  • Look at the note head not the stem to work out which line or space it is on
  • Try to get really familiar with the common notes this will make it easier to work out the notes which appear in your music less often
  • Remember the ledger lines simply give us a way of measuring exactly how high low the note is off the stave
  • Use a sentence to help remember the note names

Sharp Flats And Naturals. What Are They?

An accidental is a generic term for the flat, sharp and natural signs. These signs change the pitch of the note slightly by making it sound lower or higher.
When printed on the music stave they look like this:
These symbols are placed on lines or in spaces in the same way that notes are. This enables us to identify which note the flat, sharp or natural sign applies to. Here's an example
The flat requires you to lower the note to exactly half way between the note you are on and the next note below.

The sharp sign requires you to raise the note higher, exactly half way towards the next note up.

The natural sign cancels out a previous sharp or flat for a particular note.


An accidental is valid for the whole bar in which it appears. Once you cross the bar line into a new bar, the accidental no longer applies. 

If the note which has the accidental next to it appears more than once, then it must also be made a sharp or flat.

There are actually more accidental signs than I have covered here, however you are very unlikely to come across them until the advanced grades.

Your child will have noticed that sharps or flats can appear at the very beginning of a piece of music next to the treble clef sign. This is called a key signature. Here's an example:

This shows 2 sharps. The first sharp sits on the top line which is the position for the note F. So the first sharp is called F sharp.
The second sharp sits in the 3rd space up and is in the position for the note C. So the 2nd sharp is called C sharp.
So all the F's and C's in the piece must be sharpened.
This key signature shows 2 flats. The first is on the middle line where the 'B' note goes. So this is a B flat.
The second flat is in the top space where the 'E' note goes and is therefore an E flat.

So all the B's and E's in the piece must be played as flats.

Key signatures can have no sharps or flats or as many as 7 sharps or flats. Your child however is unlikely to encounter more than 3 sharps or flats unless he/she is at a more advanced stage of learning.

If you find sharps or flats in the key signature you have to remember to sharpen or flatten those notes which they apply to. 

There are no reminders! 

Children often find it hard to remember to apply the sharps and flats when playing their piece. There's no harm in penciling in a sharp or flat sigh above the note to help your child remember.

Note that the natural sign will never appear in a key signature as it has a different purpose.

You may have come across classical pieces titled Concerto in G major or Symphony in D minor. These titles include names of keys, G major and D minor.

Each key has it's own unique key signature and we use this at the start of a piece to identify which sharps or flats are required to play in that key. 

The key signature saves having to print and read lots of accidentals in a piece and keeps the accidentals to a minimum. The only accidentals necessary are for those notes that veer from the 'home' key.

  • Accidentals change the pitch of the note by making it sound slightly lower or higher
  • Remember to check the key signature at the start of the piece. This tells you which notes to sharpen or flatten
  • An accidental is valid for the whole bar that it appears in
  • Natural signs cancel out a sharp or flat
  • Pencil in some sharp/flat reminders in your child's piece if needed
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