Quick Music Games for Online Piano Lesson Teaching Starters

Has switching to online piano lessons due to social distancing gotten you scrambling for games and activities that will work with virtual lessons?  In the past I've used off bench games and activities for nearly every lesson from my Piano Game Resource List.  Here are just a few that could be adapted to  work well to keep your online music students engaged in a fun way.

Note Naming

Grand Staff Battleship - Screen share some short Music Alphabet Words.  Teacher and student draw a treble of bass staff on a piece of paper and then guess specific notes (Treble Line G, Treble Space C, etc.) until they can guess their opponent's word.

Flashcard Bingo -Ask student to draw a 9 square grid on a paper and fill with letters from the music alphabet. Then the teacher displays music staff flashcards and students identify the letter name and cover their board until they get 3 in a row.

Intervals

Fast Hands (adapted on the keys)- With a little variation the concept from this fast hands game can be played on the piano keys.  Teacher calls out the starting note (Middle C) and then gives a series of directions for the student to move up/down the keys (Step up a 3rd, Down a 4th, Up a 2nd,) What key did you land on?

Crazy Keys Students could print the cards from home or you can place the cards in 2 piles and they select which pile they want to draw from "virtually"and then they place their marker on their piano keys, while you move on yours up towards a designated "end key." 

Terms and Signs

Silly Sentences (In the Manner of the Music Term)- Say a silly sentence "in the manner of the music term" (piano, staccato, accelerando, etc.) and have your student guess the term. Then trade roles.
Musical Twenty Questions - Adapt by just playing with teacher and student.

Group Activities (via Zoom or Marco Polo)

Music Scattergories- Students race for 2 minutes to write one musical term or symbol that fits in each of the designated categories and hope their answers are different from the other players.

Music Cloodle (from Piano Cranium)- Players take turns sculpting music symbols from play dough as the other players race to write or call out the name of the symbol they see.

Call It
Have your student look at a piece of their music or the music dictionary at the beginning or end of their method books and choose a symbol.  Both the teacher and student draw a picture of a symbol and then try to guess what the other person was trying to represent.