Sharon Goodey: Playing With Colour - Book 3

Playing With Colour is an exciting teaching method specifically for young children and offers a simplified system of notation that children feel instantly comfortable with. Book 3 explores the keyboard and begins to progress from five finger positions. This takes the student to Grade 1 playing standard.

Each finger is represented by notes of a particular colour. These colours remain constant when the hands move to different positions. Pictures of the right or left hand are used instead of clefs. The lines of the stave are given numbers so that line counting is not necessary. The process of note finding is also simplified.

Whilst the learning of new pieces, using the coloured notation, enables the child’s playing to progress, conventional notation is taught from the earliest stages of the first book as a separate exercise. In this way note reading can be taught in a slower, structured and progressive way and progress in playing is not hindered by the rate of progress in note reading. By the end of Book 3 children have developed a thorough grounding in note reading and are confident to play without the aid of the coloured notes.

Benefits

• The youngest children can understand everything that is presented and will not feel bombarded by too much information.
• Parents’ role is reduced to support and encouragement only.
• The focus of lessons shifts as less time is spent on note learning and more time can be spent playing music.
• New pieces are learnt with greater ease, practice is more enjoyable and motivation levels remain higher.
• Children follow the music more attentively and this becomes a habit that helps improve sight-reading and general observance.