Making the Circle of Fifths Stick

Making the Circle of Fifths Stick

Teaching so concepts stick is a big challenge. You can have the best presentation ever, but if you don't reinforce the material consistently those beautifully presented concepts get foggy. A good example is the circle of fifths.watch rely nice presentation down to a science,

We followed up using   laminated Circle of Fifths board. We recited the Fluffy Cat chant, filled in the Major keys and practiced placing sharps and flats in order on the staff week after week.

By the way, don't you think it's time for Father Charles to retire? In my studio "Fluffy Cat Goes Down And Eats Breakfast", then "Breakfast Ends And Dogs Get Cat Food".

 The students would name the major keys by referring to the circle of fifths. Then I showed them the quick tricks for naming any major key signature.

Now months later, this is one of the skills that I am testing during Musicianship Exams next week. We've moved on from the flashcards and now we use a website on my ipad that randomly quizzes key signatures. ,check it out! I like theKey Signature Trainer.
So the great news is that my 8-12 year olds can name their major key signatures, fill in the circle of fifths and recite the order of sharps and flats. Awesome!

But even after all of that, just yesterday a student was getting ready to play a B Flat Major scale and I asked her to name the black keys. Her response was B Flat and D Sharp. Doh! My work is never