Note reading is another skill I teach online, using flashcards, a well-sequenced method book, and close coordination with parents in the room.
Starting with Flashcards
I start with just two flashcards at a time, since note reading is a lot for a student to retain all at once, especially early on. Each card has the note drawn on the treble clef staff on the front. On the back, instead of the letter name, I have them write what the note corresponds to on the violin, string and finger number, for example, “D string, fourth finger” or “open A.
I start this way on purpose because the same letter name shows up in more than one place on the violin, so starting with letter names first tends to confuse students. String and finger number come first; letter names come later, once the student has a solid foundation to build on.
I use this same flashcard method in online violin classes as I do in person, having the parent hold up the flashcard so I can see exactly what the student is working through. I’ve taught note reading this way since I started offering online lessons in 2014. Between the parent’s help and being able to watch the student’s hand on camera, I’m not missing much compared to teaching in person.
A Method Book That Builds Steadily
For students moving into more structured reading, I recommend “I Can Read Music by Joanne Martin, Volume 1. Two students from the same family I taught in person really took to this book, and I think it’s because the exercises feel achievable without feeling like busywork.
Each exercise uses the same rhythm and just two notes in sequence, then the next exercise reverses the order of those same two notes, for example, open A followed by first-finger A, then first-finger A followed by open A. This repetition with variation helps the pattern stick without feeling like busywork.
The book also builds gradually. Each new exercise reviews everything from before and adds just one new note. For example, one exercise might use open A and first-finger A, and the next adds a raised second finger. This one-note-at-a-time structure works whether I’m teaching a student in the room or watching their hand on camera, since I can catch and correct the same details either way.
Reading Enharmonics on the Page
Once a student is reading more advanced notation, I also make sure they understand enharmonics, when two different note names refer to the exact same pitch. On the violin, a raised second finger on the A string plays C-sharp, which is the same pitch as D-flat, just written differently depending on the key. I make sure students recognize this on their flashcards specifically because it comes up in orchestra repertoire, where a passage may be written using D-flat instead of C-sharp, and a student needs to recognize it as the same note they already know, not a new one.
Recognizing Low 2 and High 3 on the Page
Low 2 comes up in note reading too, but from a different angle than how I approach it in [lessons focused purely on intonation](link to intonation post). Students typically encounter this for the first time in Etude, the twelfth piece in Suzuki Book 1. Here, the goal is recognizing on the page that a passage calls for a low 2 in the first place, before a student even gets to placing the finger accurately.
High 3 shows up later, first appearing in Bourrée, the sixth piece in Suzuki Book 2. As with low 2, I make sure students can recognize it in the notation itself before we work on the finger placement and pitch accuracy that come with playing it correctly.
I’ll walk a student through where these altered fingerings appear differently in the notation, so they learn to spot them on sight, which sets them up for the finger placement work that follows.
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I teach in person in Falcon Heights, North Oaks, and Mounds View, and online.
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