I find this somewhat amusing that Mrs. Curwen begins this lesson talking to the teacher about teaching that the staff has five lines and four spaces. We’ve all been taught this for years.
She gives a word of caution that this is not true. On a staff with five lines and four spaces, we can only have nine sounds. But think about it different. If we have a staff of five lines, we technically can notate eleven sounds. Don’t forget the spaces on the very top and bottom. If we have five lines, we technically have six spaces. The goes on to say this may seem like a small point, but she has seen where it’s puzzled a child and hindered their reading of music.
The following lesson is preceded by:
Preliminary Lesson 1
Preliminary Lesson 2a
Preliminary Lesson 2b
Intervals
Preliminary Lesson 3
Preliminary Lesson 4a
Preliminary Lesson 4b
Preliminary Lesson 4c
Preliminary Lesson 4d
Preliminary Lesson 4e
Lesson 5:
Aim of the Lesson To find the names and pitch of the sounds left out when building up the staff in the order of thirds.
Preparation: In Lesson 4a, we practiced naming the sounds above and below each line of the staff. Now we must learn to name the spaces individually.
Method: There is no reason to adopt a new method to learn the spaces. Since we already know the lines, we will use them to teach the spaces. (See Maxim 7. Teach the unknown through the related known.)
We’re going to use three lines in the treble staff and three lines in the bass staff as landmarks to serve us in learning the spaces. We’re going to use these lines as landmarks in the treble staff. 
Under the E line, we find the sound D. Over it, F. Under the B line, we find the sound A. Over it C. Under the high F we find E. Over it we find G. 
And in the bass, we’ll use the A, D, and low G line as landmarks. 
Over the A line we find B; under it, G. Over the D middle line, we find E; under it, C. Over the low G line, we find A; under it, F. 
Also point out that over the middle C line is D and under the middle C line is B. We don’t use the middle C line as a landmark because we will soon discover the divided staff and that small concept fails.
Mrs. Curwen goes on to say that she believes the spaces will more quickly be fixed in the child’s memory by being linked on to the already familiar lines instead of using other aids that the child has no connection with.
Using a diagram of a staff, go ahead and teach all the spaces in the course of one lesson. Allow the student to find for himself the place and letter name of the sounds on the spaces. “Children love to find a plan or principle that will “work,” and enjoy applying it.” The teacher will likely need to continue practicing spaces and their letters in the lessons to follow.
Practice: The teacher points to a space and requests the student to name the space. Also ask the student to describe the locality of the space before naming or playing it.
Ear Exercise: These will be a bit more difficult now.
Before spaces, we only had two sounds of the same name on lines and those were two octaves apart. Since there was such a great contrast in pitch, they were easier to identify.
The exercise now may be given something like the following: Using a picture or drawing of the staff, show me the places of the four G’s. Have the student shut their eyes and see if they can identify by listening which G the teacher plays. Try this with a few different sounds.
Since the above ear exercise may be very difficult for some children, she reminds us to only use an exercise when you know the child will succeed.
She says,
“Children like to be challenged. ‘Now I am going to puzzle you, if I can,’ will generally put them on their mettle; the teacher, however, taking care not to puzzle, but only to test, for failure is bad for a child. I would only use such ear exercises with exceptionally musical children.” (page 71.)
Mrs. Curwen recommends doing something like this in lessons for some change now and then.
Homework: Assign certain space notes to the student to practice. Always ask them to connect the space notes with certain lines. For example, encourage the student to say something like the following, ‘under the high F, we find an E. Over low G, we find an A.’ The student may even conclude how the space Cs are opposite each other.
Prepare for the next lesson here: Lesson 5b.