Music Staff Simon

How can Simon help you learn music faster?

Simon Nibbles a Note

Have you ever played the game of Simon which tests your musical memory skills in a fun way? I think this would be a fun game to keep in the waiting area of my music studio. But today I'm sharing a new way to use the concept of Simon in music lessons.

Piano Pronto Movement 1 Lesson Plans and Activities

Piano Pronto Movement 1 Supplementary Activities

Choose the link below for lesson plans and activities that correlate with Piano Pronto Movement 1.

The theory, improvisation, and music and movement activities can be done in private lessons, group lessons, piano lab, or assigned for at-home practice.

 #1 Clementine and Upbeat/Swing Style

 #2 Mexican Hand Clapping and Staccato/2 Note Slurs

 #3 Love Somebody and Parallel/Contrary Motion

Piano Pronto Movement 1: #16 Frere Jacques and G Major Scale

  This lesson plan includes activities for Frere Jacques in Piano Pronto Movement 1. 

Music and Movement

Listen to the audio for Frere Jacques as you move your hand or body up and down to match the direction of the melody line.

Piano Pronto Movement 1: #15 Surprise Symphony and Ritardando/Sforzando

 This lesson plan includes activities for Haydn's"Surprise Symphony" in Piano Pronto Movement 1.

Music and Movement

Choose a listening map to clap along with. Notice how the quarter notes in your music are changed to eighth notes but the theme pattern of | short, short, short short| short short LONG| is the same.

Surprise Symphony Listening Map Emoji

Piano Pronto Movement 1: #4 For He's a Jolly Good Fellow and Shaping Phrases

This lesson plan has supplementary activities for "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" in Piano Pronto Movement 1.

Theory Analysis

Watch the first 3 minutes of the  Shaping Phrases Video.

Piano Adventures Lesson Book Level 1 Unit 3 Assignments and Supplementary Activities

Piano Lesson Plans: Teaching Landmark C's on the Grand Staff

Streamlining my piano lesson assignment plans to online documents including virtual links allows my students easy access to learning videos and song samples all in one place. This post includes specific instructions for pieces in the Piano Adventures Lesson Book 1 but many of the activities could also be used with any method book to introduce the 3 C's on the Grand Staff.  I like to use the names Leila Viss suggests for the different Cs on the grand staff. 

Online Piano Learning Activities Organized by Concept and Level

The online piano activity list includes a variety of links to online games, listening activities, theory/technique videos,

Feeling Musical Pitch through Movement

Music and movement make great pairs!  To prepare students for the complexities of the staff I like to first incorporate some movement to music activities.  This not only matches the natural learning developmental process, but it also provides a meaningful energy outlet for young students who get fidgety being stuck on the bench for an entire lesson.

Music Theory Carnival Piano Games

For my most recent piano group lesson, we played carnival themed games with a music theory focus.  I brainstormed so many different ideas that it was hard to pick just a few to squeeze within an hour! 

Lucky Lolly Signs - Identifying Music Symbols

Take turns naming music signs attached to the lollipop of your choice.  If you name it correctly and the sucker has a colored dot on the bottom you get to keep it.

Five Fun Ways to Teach Theme and Variations Form in Music Lessons

How to Maximize Learning in Music Lessons

The time at music lessons just seems to fly by each week because time flies when you are having fun!   Following are some ideas and links to resources I shared at the UVMTA Workshop: Spicing up Music Lessons-Using Creative Activities to Maximize Learning  At the end of the post is a youtube video recording of the entire workshop.

7 Principles to Make the Most of Music Lesson Minutes

Teaching Piano Technique Motions Creatively: Caterpillar Crawl

Teaching Piano Technique Motions with the Caterpillar Crawl Video

I'm fortunate to have a houseful of children that I can try out my new piano teaching ideas on.  Although that can pose a challenge at times when I'm trying to provide motivation for 5 kids to  practice regularly or keep a quiet professional lesson environment, I love "playing" piano games with my children. I created this musical movement activity to practice wrist movements with my preschooler.  The video is a shortened version of Mozart's Rondo Alla Turca.

Bass Clef Lines: Hear See and Feel the Fun

A
F
D
B
G

A myriad of mnemonic devices are used to help music students learn their note names.  As a child I learned my bass lines with "Good Boys Deserve Fudge Always" but the "Every Good Boy Does Fine" was a little too close and I sometimes mixed them up.
As a teacher I prefer methods that "cut out the middleman" of mnemonics and actually use music to teach music just like I learned me ABCs :)! For that reason, I love the My First Piano Adventures repetitious song lyrics about the Grand Staff "G, B, D, F top line A" that actually uses the pitches of GBD and F ascending upwards just like the notes on the staff.  For younger students the associations of beginning letter sounds may not be as solid and the time it takes for them to think of beginning sound of each mnemonic word is just too time consuming for efficient note reading.
To add to the fun and the learning we add a topsy turvy version of Head Shoulders Knees and Toes and have the students move up their body to match the letter names of the staff.
G-Toes, B-Knees, D-Waist, F-Shoulders, A- Head.
Even older beginners can benefit from the mental connections that this movement activity creates.  I have them use Susan Paradis's GBDFA song.  As they follow the written notes on the staff and sing the words the connection between ascending pitches, upward body movement and the letter name chant really solidifies the concept for them.

Bug Dance: Teaching Left and Right Through Movement

Young piano students often have difficulty remembering how to distinguish Left from Right. This dance/rote piece combines the concepts of left/right, up/down, steps/skips and feeling the beat all into fun activity. When I checked out "Bug Dance"  (by Stuart J Murphy) from my local library for my preschooler this week, my piano teacher wheels started churning.  This engaging MathStart Book introduces the concept of left and right as coach caterpillar teaches his gym class of bugs a new dance with these simple steps (which you can see in the preview on amazon.com):
Two steps to the Left.
(E,             D,      C, )
(Step-        ping   Down)

Movement and Music with Traditional Songs

I am completely loving the Let's Play Music Class that my son is enrolled in and am excited to train to become a teacher in the future.  The order of concepts introduced is age appropriate and so many musical elements are couched into quick fun activities.  I love how his teacher layered so many concepts [bubble hand (hand position), finger taps (finger #s) and echoing rhythms] as she introduced the class rules.  In addition to his at home activities we've tried a few more music and movement songs on youtube.  Here are a few video activities that are fun for preschoolers that can be used to reinforce musical concepts through play and movement.
Going on a Bear Hunt
Concepts: (Steady Beat, Rhythm Fast and Slow, Pitch High and Low)

Creative Activities for Beginning Level Piano Lessons

After over 5 years of blogging, the posts are beginning to pile up and some ideas tend to get "lost in the crowd".  So today I organized my previous posts that pertain to beginning piano teaching ideas.  They are listed in the approximate order that I introduce the concepts in lessons.

High/Low Sounds
  Mason Jar Melodies
  Teaching Ear Training Through Song

Right/Left
  Piano Pokey
Piano Technique/Position Concepts
  Song: "At the Piano sit straight and tall.. "
  Caterpillar Crawl  (Firm Fingers, Flexible Wrist, Float-offs)
  Finger Trampoline (Firm Fingers)
  Nile the Crocodile (Level Wrist, Thumb Slide, Rounded Hand)
 1st Piano Adventures Wrist Forearm Fingertips, Cat-Backs, Hangin' on a Fence Post
  Rainbow Wrist Ribbons
Finger Numbers
  Where is One?
  Cookie Dough
Steady Beat
  Steady Beat Elephants, Woodpeckers, etc.
  Trepak Baseball

Trepak Baseball - A Creative Way to Teach Form and Feeling the Beat

 Today I witnessed something amazing :) My son hopped on the piano bench this morning at 7 am to spontaneously practice.  Usually getting him to practice is more like pulling teeth, or once again reminding him of our rules "Yes you can play with friends, watch football, etc.. as soon as your practice and chores are done." My secret weapon: A Trepak duet.  We've been playing it together this week and he keeps coming back to it because it is so fun to play and it sounds impressive.

I came up with this movement activity to engage my preschoolers in some fun and slipped in a little training on form.  For older students I usually have them create musical maps  to understand and remember form in their pieces, but I think ramping up the movement makes it more memorable for the younger student, as well as allowing them to practice feeling the beat of the music.
As you listen to the music imagine a baseball player taking his turn at bat, running the bases, catching some fly balls and then coming back to bat to win the game.


Sing the words and do the actions indicated in italics.

1st Time at Bat (A) (Do actions on the strong beats)
Swing Swing(Pretend you are swinging a bat to hit the ball 2x in a row)
Run (Tiptoe run around the room or tap hands on lap to the beat like your hands are running)
Swing Swing (Repeat actions)
Run
Swing Swing
Run
Swing Swing
Run

Heading to the Outfield (B) - (Do actions during words in ALL CAPS)
HEADING to the OUTfield  (Point away from body)
REACHING for a FLY Ball(Reach with imaginary mitt for the ball)
STRETCH my MITT in TO the AIR
HEADING to the OUTfield (Repeat actions)
REACHING for a FLY Ball
STRETCH my MITT in TO the AIR
I Caught One! I Caught One! (Bring hand to palm as if catching the ball)
I Caught One! I Caught One!
We get to go to bat again.(Cheering motions with arms)

2nd Time at Bat (A1)
Swing Swing
Run
Swing Swing
Run, Run, Run (faster and faster)
We Won!

Once the children have mastered the actions you could further expand their listening skills by having them count how many times they "Swing," listen for what new instruments begin to play on the later "swings" during the first time at bat, compare and contrast the 1st time at bat to the 2nd time at bat.

Musical Storytime: "Flight of the Bumblebee" and "Berlioz the Bear"

After reading the delightful story of a bear with a buzzing bass ("Berlioz the  Bear" by Jan Brett) with my preschooler we decided to listen to his performance song, "Flight of the Bumblebee" by Rimsky-Korsakov


Boogie Style

Where is One? Teaching Finger Numbers

Sing this and use the actions for "Where is Thumbkin" to help your child learn finger #s. Finger 1 is the thumb, Finger 2 is pointer, etc. Rather than making a fist and trying to hold up just one finger, have the student tap the finger named on their lap or a tabletop like they would if playing a piano key.

"Where is One, Where is One, (Hide hands behind back)
Here I am ( pull out right hand, set hands on lap in a rounded position and tap your thumb on its side tip)
Here I am (pull out left hand, ...)
How are you today sir? (Tap right thumb)
Very well I thank you (Tap left thumb)
Run away ( Hide right hand behind back)
Run away( Hide left hand behind back)

Repeat with all fingers only play on the fingertip (not the side tip).

Adding a finger puppet or this finger toy I recently found at "Dollar Tree" just adds to the fun.

Adagio Teaching Tip

Have your students ever confused tempo terms like Adagio, Allegro, Andante etc.?  I decided that I needed to change my teaching approach when introducing terms to help make them more memorable from the start & this music makes the perfect memory aid.  The haunting melody of this "Ghost Waltz" by Edwin McLean (In FJH Federation Favorites Book 2) kept running through my mind after I played it so I added some repetitious lyrics to review "Adagio".


1.  Play the song as student tiptoes around the studio on beat downbeat of each measure.
2.  Sing some repetitious lyrics  with some extra expression on the long notes
"A daaaaaaaaaaaa  gi oooooooooooo  Play Slooooooooooooow,"
Adagio play slow
Adagio, Adagio, Adagio Play slow.( Repeat)
3.  Divide up the lyrics having the student sing "Adagio" and teacher sing "Play Slow"

For a contrast then play "Ramblin'Rails" by Melody Bober (FJH Federation Favorites Book 1) adding the lyrics "In a race your LEGs run quickly aLEGro means fast" to the first few lines.
Can you say that tongue twister 3 times fast?