The Sandwich Key
As you may or may not know, I teach piano. That’s my bag, baby. Anyway, today I was teaching an adult and I asked him where “D” is on the piano. He said, “Oh, that’s the ‘sandwich key’,” and played it, meaning it was the white key between two black keys. Sandwiched. I’m constantly amazed by the tricks people employ to learn things. I don’t know if “amazed” is the correct term.
Teachers for millions of years, yes millions, have used tricks to get students to memorize music fundamentals. Most people have heard of the bass clef space notes being learned with the sentence “All cars eat gas.” or “All cows eat grass.” Likewise the treble clef line notes are taught as “Every good boy does fine.” Other “silly sentences” are taught, too. One teacher I really respect told me once, “Hey, whatever works. And as much as we might dislike it…it works.”
Once again, as I often am with teaching and practicing techniques, I am torn between to ideas: the first idea of teaching “correctly” – whatever that is – and the second idea of ”getting the job done by any means”. The last word on the subject should be what works for the student. I try to teach fundamentals presuming the student is smart enough to grasp it the “correct” way without a shortcut. Some shortcuts, such as “Every good boy does fine.” will stick in your head and you will never, yes NEVER, be able to name a treble clef line without reciting that mantra. But, once again…if it works…
The sandwich key? That was new to me.
