I’ll admit. I almost skipped the teaching of the C clef all together in the Preliminary lessons. I’m trying my best to remember we live more than a hundred years after Mrs. Curwen’s book was originally published. It’s almost a non-existent clef. Is it necessary to teach children today the C clef?
Here’s why Mrs. Curwen taught children the C clef.
Mrs. Curwen says the
“sine qua non of reading music is a quick recognition of the written sounds in relation to the keyboard; an unhesitating obedience of the finger to the eye; an obedience so unhesitating and complete that the action of the two is almost simultaneous.”
Mrs. Curwen wants children to read music. If they can read the notes on the staff, they can play the songs. If they can play songs, they’re going to continue playing. They’ll find satisfaction and joy in their progress. Much of this begins with reading the staff.
Mrs. Curwen wants the children to understand that the staff is continuous. We have the treble staff and the bass staff, but they are related to each other. We teach them together.
Like we learned in Lesson 5b, the staff we use for the piano looks like this:
Yes, all the music we play is written with the above divided staff. But, alas, it is a bit misleading to a student. It somewhat separates the treble from the bass.
The C clef unifies the staves. It reminds the student that they go together and are continuous.
There is no separation. She doesn’t want the children to forget that.
If you are reading her teacher’s guide, you can find her explanation of the C clef on pages 73 and 74 of her 31st edition.