Piano Adventures Lesson Book Level 1 Unit 6 Assignments and Supplementary Activities

Piano Teaching Lesson Plans: Sharps and Flats

This post includes specific lesson assignment instructions for pieces in the Piano Adventures Lesson Book 1 but many of the activities could also be used with other pieces for introducing sharps and flats.  I like to introduce the Rote Piece "I Love Coffee"  (The Half Step Song) in Piano Safari very early on to my students so they become comfortable with the feeling of playing half steps all over the keyboard long before reading sharps and flats in written notation.

Concept: Introducing Sharps and Flats

UNIT 6: Sharps and Flats

Lesson: Red LB 41 Russian Sailor Dance

• *Remember the sharps last for a whole measure

• Watch Create First Arabian Nights Duet and Solo.  Create melodies with white keys +G#.

• Game: Don’t Swipe My Sharp!

• Piano Safari I Like Bananas Reminder Video and Performance

Focus Goal/New Concepts: Half Steps and Sharps

Lesson: Red LB 42  Super Secret Agent

• *Crawl your hand in towards the fallboard to play the flats.

• Disney 1 PlayTime Song of Choice

• Watch Create First Easy Going Duet and Solo or Cool Duet and Solo.  Then create your own music using the blues scale.

• Game: Crazy Keys or  Beach Day

Focus Goal/New Concepts: Flats

Lesson: Red LB 43 Party Song

• Color all of the flats in your music.

• *Did you play all the flatted notes correctly?

• Watch Create First Don’t Give Up Duet and Solo.  Then create your own melodies using the E-flat blues scale (black keys + A natural).

• Game Accidental Adventure or VMT Accidental Abacus

Lesson: Red LB 44 Boogie on Broadway

• Clap the rhythm as you listen to the audio. 

• *Remember to hold the tied notes to create syncopated rhythms.

• Game: Enharmonic Snap

• Listen to the syncopated rhythms of Create First Bueno! Duet and Solo.  Can you create melodies with the a minor scale (a,b,c,d,e) that have a syncopated rhythm.

Lesson: Red LB 45 Scarf Dance

• Clap the fast rhythms of this song as you listen to the audio. 

• Remember to play the left hand in Treble Clef.  *Play the 1st note of each measure a little stronger for a dance like feel.

• Can you create your melody using notes from the C minor scale (C,D,E-flat, F,G)?

Additional Lesson Plans:

Unit 1: Legato and Staccato

Unit 2: Treble Spaces

Unit 3: Landmark C's

Unit 4: Intervals

Unit 5: Half and Whole Rests

Unit 6: Sharps and Flats

Unit 7: Tonic and Dominant

Unit 8: The I Chord

Unit 9: The V7 Chord

Unit 10: G Pentascale