Piano Cranium Group Games

The piano quest theme for the next few months in my studio is knowledge.  We celebrated with a "Piano Cranium" group lesson party!

 To open up our recent piano cranium themed group lesson, students were given a headband with a flashcard of a music theory term or sign inserted.  They also asked yes or no questions to try and figure out the term or sign on their headband.  I loved using the headbands rather than just a nametag on their back, because they could easily see each other's cards, and even beginner students who weren't familiar with all of the meanings of the terms could peek at the answers on the back of their opponents card so they could still fully participate.
Next we played a round of musical jenga.  I recently found this mini set at the Dollar Tree and thought it might make a perfect Christmas gift for my students, although writing on all of those blocks might take a while!

 Then we played a lively game of piano cranium.  I used two sets of cards specific to the beginner and intermediate students. The sculpting and acting cards were definitely the favorites.

 Next we broke out into groups so beginners could review steps and skips while more experienced students played a few games of D'net Layton's composer old maid.  We ended with our typical "mini-recital" where students each performed a piece they learned during the past month.  I love how those "boring" theory concepts become so much more engaging when coupled with a competitive group game.