After reviewing some of these videos I created a fun FIRING AT FLATS game to solidify their knowledge with some fun mini nerf guns and targets!
Free Printable Firing at Flats
The number of pencil strokes it takes to write each letter helps you know how many sharps are in the scale.
At piano group lesson week this fall I'll be reviving some of my Musical Min It to Win It Games from a previous post but also adding on a few new challenges for my intermediate students.
Divide students into teams or have them compete individually. Tally points for each round. Each team that successfully completes the challenge in less than a minute earns a point. The first team to complete or to have the most correct answers earns a bonus point.
Write down the name of a song that begins with each of the ascending intervals. Then add as many more songs as you can to the list before one minute is up.
This month at group lessons we will focus on sight reading strategies For the studio challenge, I invite students to level up their sight-reading skills by choosing a challenge to complete below.
Every month I invite my students to complete a musical challenge. The online resources below include some options for this month's Rhythm Challenge.
I love to introduce the concept of chord symbols early on to my piano students. The freedom of playing from lead sheets not only allows them to play more interesting music early on with basic primary chord progressions, but it also opens the door for them to create and improvise using different left-hand patterns.
Remembering all of the traditional chord symbols can be a bit overwhelming for younger students.
I created this Free Printable V Chord Family Reunion Game to help my piano students solidify their knowledge of triad and seventh chord inversion symbols that are introduced in Piano Pronto Movement 2. It can be played with a music teacher and student for a quick lesson opener or be played with a larger group at group lessons. If you were choosing the family reunion fun would you rather parachute or hike? In this game you get to do both!
One of my piano students' favorite new games to play this year at piano lessons is Teach Piano Today's Don't Catch Cats!" When I first introduced it at group lessons, some creative piano students decided to choose crazy names for each of their pet cats or dogs which was accompanied by plenty of laughs and giggles.
Since I teach students on a variety of levels, I wanted a game with simpler rhythms for new beginners and a challenging game for more experienced students.
I like to pair the Do You Hear What I Hear? activity with some mini m&ms and beat boards so students can use tactile objects to represent subdivisions of the rhythm patterns.
Elementary: Quarter Half and Whole Notes
Late Elementary: Quarter Half, Whole and Eighth Notes
Early Intermediate: Quarter, Half, Whole, dotted Quarter and Eighth Notes
Intermediate: 6/8 Time Signature: Eighths, Dotted Eighths, Quarters, Dotted Quarters
This classic Christmas piece is a student favorite! The repetitive rhythm can stick in your mind for hours but also makes a great springboard of ideas for improvising.
Elementary: Follow Directions on Carol of the Bells Improv Sheet by Chrissy Ricker
Late Elementary: Guess the Theme and Variation Card used as you listen to musical excerpts played by the teacher
Intermediate: Create Your Own Variation Using at least 3 Theme and Variation Cards. You can learn more details about some possibilities like Carol of the Scales, Lullaby of the Bells or Carol of the Pirates on my earlier post about Composing and Improvising: Free Resources for December.
The free printable Christmas Jumbles and Christmas Name that Tune Sightreading pages by Chrissy Ricker also make great audiation practice as well. Can you name or unscramble the tune measures by looking at the notes and hear the music in your head without playing it?
Split Second is a fun game I picked up from the thrift store and repurposed for music lessons. Students race to write their answers on their paddles and earn points for correct answers and speed using samples from this YouTube Name that Christmas Tune collection of carols.
This post includes plans for my Halloween piano group lesson for late elementary piano students.
Review Treble Spaces with Treble FACE Video. Move your hands up in the air on an "imaginary staff" as you chant F A C E.
This Pianote Dynamics Video has an excellent explanation of how dynamics can add feeling to your piano performance and help you play with expression.
Watching performances of your piece or listening to backing tracks can help you play more expressively as you imitate the dynamic, articulation, and tempo changes.
Explore some of Will Baily's Free Piano Tunes and choose one to play along with the backing track or use Piano Pronto Backing Tracks with your lesson book pieces.
As you watch the video below, draw pictures on your music era timeline to represent unique facts about the music in each of the 4 musical eras.
Musical Eras and Characteristics
Medevial:Baroque: 2:34 What is counterpoint?
Classical:4:00 What is homophonic?
Romantic: 5:00 How is Romantic music different from classical?
Contemporary/Modern: 6:04 What is dissonance?
Review the music era facts you have learned by playing this Free Music Jeopardy Printable Game with a group.
Playing with a lead sheet gives you the power of choice to stylize songs however you like.
And there are so many options! Listen to a few below. Then choose some of your favorites to use as you accompany the melodies of simple folk or Christmas songs you already know.
Piano Guys Ode to Joy (sheet music in Lullaby book)
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