Printed materials are still available today that utilize the "grand staff" approach. These books introduce keyboard music reading from both the treble and bass staffs at the very beginning of piano study. One such approach is the "middle C approach," an older method of piano teaching that many adults from the baby boomer generation now remember from childhood.

In the grand staff or middle C approach, students are confronted with a staggering amount of new concepts to learn all at once, even in order to play the simplest of pieces written on the grand staff. As a result, teachers trying to use these materials often find themselves teaching by rote anyway. Frequently, pieces in these books include a finger number for each note. Not surprisingly, students then learn to read the finger numbers, instead of the actual music notation.

Additionally, beginners' books based on the "grand staff" approach usually progress more quickly than a child's comprehension, adding to the confusion. Again, this makes it necessary that the teaching of these pieces be done largely by rote.