Post 1: Every Good Boy Does Fine (Deserves Fudge) and FACE

Hi everyone! Well, I was going to post "Freres Jacques" on here for you, but I figured it would be best if you could just focus on the Every Good Boy Does Fine and FACE lesson.

Now, I want you to study this really well:

Now, notice how Every Good Boy Does Fine are all the notes on lines, and F A C E are all the notes on spaces. So, when you're trying to find out what note something is, first ask yourself: is this on a space or on a line? If it's on a space, it's in F A C E (hey that rhymes!), and if it's on a line it's Every Good Boy Does Fine (whoa, two in a row!).

I'll be testing you on this next week, so I'd really like for you to spend a few minutes figuring this out before we meet again.

Here's some examples.

What note is this?

First thing we need to figure out is whether this note is in Every Good Boy Does Fine or in F A C E. Remember Every Good Boy Does Fine are notes on a line, and F A C E are notes in a space. This note has a line running right through it, so it is on a line. That means it's one of Every Good Boy Does Fine. So which note is it? Well, which line is it sitting on? Remember, Every Good Boy Does Fine starts from the bottom line

and works up, so count how many lines up from the lowest line the line of this note is. It is 4 lines up, just one away from the top. So now count four into Every Good Boy Does Fine. Every: 1. Good: 2. Boy: 3. Does: 4.

So this is Does -- D!

If Every Good Boy Does Fine and FACE seem too complicated, just try to remember this:

1. The lowest line is 'E' ('Every' from 'Every Good Boy...')

2. In the musical alphabet, we go A B C D E F G and, not H, but back to A, so it's A B C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D E F G A... and so on.

You can count spaces and lines up from the 'E' that you know to get to the note you're looking for. So:

Can you count up to this note? Remember: start from the lowest line, and remember that that is 'E'. Counting lines and spaces, it is 6 away from E. So six after E would be F G A B C D. It's D! Again!

So here's what I need you to be able to do: to look at a note on this staff and tell me the name of it. You can use Every Good Boy Does Fine and F A C E or count up alphabetically from the 'E' on the first line. I just want you able to find the name of a note on your own!

Thanks you guys, and happy pianoing!