Piano Summer Olympic Events

Piano Olympics  is one of my favorite incentive programs to use with my students over the summer.  I love how it allows students to "shine" in different areas that they excel in while boosting their skills with a little bit of friendly competition.  Each Student has a tracking chart to record their individual progress in the events.  I also post the current "rankings" each week of the top student in each category by adding a (removable) star sticker by the name of the lead student in each event. Another bonus to this incentive program is that students of varying levels can all compete by suiting the level of difficulty of the tasks to their abilities.

Practice Marathon- (Record Results Every Week)

Persistent & steady wins this race.  Color a circle and/or write the date on your practice chart  [from ComposeCreate.com] each day you practice 30 minutes.  The first student to reach 42 days of practice wins the Gold!

Choose at least 2 other events to compete in each week.

Note Name Dash-

For this event, study your flashcards of notes on the staff.  To participate I will time you to see how quickly you can name and play 24 “notes in the fast lane”.  Aim to play and say all the notes on a sheet in less than 1 minute to advance to the next level.

Rhythm Hurdles –

To jump the rhythm hurdles you set your metronome at quarter note=72 and play lines from the rhythm drill on one piano key while you count out loud.  I’ll track how many lines you can play while counting aloud in a row without any mistakes.  Once you play a whole page perfectly, you advance to the next division. [Level 1=quarter, half & whole notes], [Level 2 adds dotted half notes,  half & quarter rests]. [Level 3 adds eighth notes and ties], [Level 4 adds dotted quarter notes] [Level 5 adds triplets]

Triad Triathalon- Perform these skills based on your festival level for next year.

Purple/Pink

♪      Play the tonic (I) triad (a triad is a 3 note chord) for major and  minor keys (FCGDAEB)

Yellow/Orange

♪      –Play the tonic (I) and dominant (V) triads for major and minor keys (FCGDAEB)

♪      - Play 2 octave hand over hand Arpeggio for major and minor keys of (FCGDAEB) say the letter names aloud as you play the chord notes up 2 octaves + plink and back down w/ metronome @ 200.

Green/White

♪      Play the tonic (I), subdominant (IV) and dominant (V) triads for major and minor keys

♪      Play 1 octave arpeggio with hands together using correct fingering for major and minor keys

♪      Play major chord inversions going up & down (I, I6, I64, I…) in major and minor keys

Red/Burgundy

♪      Play the tonic (I), subdominant (IV) and dominant (V) triads for major and minor keys

♪      Play 1 octave arpeggio with hands together using correct fingering for major and minor keys

♪      Play major chord inversions going up & down (I, I6, I64, I…) in major and minor keys

♪      Play V7 Root Chord Resolving to I64 in 5 Major Keys

The Great Theory Challenge – Be the first complete a practice theory test with a score of 100%. You retake the test once each month.

Chord Progression Competition-  With your metronome set at 100 play the Chord Progressions in your festival level with correct fingering/technique in the keys of FCGDAEB

Purple/Pink

♪      Chord“shells” using the I, IV, I V, I (Home, stretch up a whole step, Home, stretch down a half step, Home)

Yellow/Orange

♪      I, V, I Chords  - Hands separate or together

Green/White  Red/Burgundy

♪      I, IV, I, V7, I Chords – Hands together

5-finger Scale Pentathalon- With your metronome set at 100 learn to play as many scales as you can with curved fingers, as you say letter names aloud and play on the beat.  Students in the yellow level also play @ 200 hands together, using legato, staccato, slur & accents

Tetrachord Tumbling- Play 1 octave scales with metronome at 200 (in FCGDAEB) by using the tonic and dominant tetrachords of each key.

Octathalon-  With your metronome set at 100 play 1 octave scales with correct fingering, technique and even tempo in the keys of FCGDAEB Major and minor. Yellow: hands separate, Green: hands together Red: # and flat Key signatures

Expert Ears Laps- Complete the ear training lab assignments in your level with an average score of 80% or higher.  (I used Ear Training Expedition and Music Ace Games, but Compose Create Web Rewards is another great source.)

Snailpace Sightreading – See how many measures you can sightread with perfect rhythm and pitch at your lesson.  You can only try each new song once.  The student who sightreads the most measures in a row perfectly wins.

Freestyle Flashcards – Race to see how many Terms and Signs you can name and define correctly in three minutes or less.

Transposition Challenge – Transpose 8 measures of your song to a new key.  The student to correctly transpose the most songs is the winner.

Interval Scale Toss – “Toss” your fingers up and down the scales (FCGDAEB Major & minor) as you name the intervals out loud (ex:  a 2^nd, a 3^rd, a 4^th, a 5^th a 4^th a 3^rd, a 2^nd.) with your metronome at 100.

Purple :Intervals 2-5,  Yellow: Intervals 2-6, Green: Intervals 2-8

Circle of Fifth’s Slalom – Identify all of the Major Key Signature Cards correctly in 1 minute or less.