Piano Technique and Artistry: Group Lesson Activities

For the month of March in my studio, since the focus is on playing more artistically with proper technique as students work toward their Technique Wizard Challenges, I've rounded up and created some group activities to introduce and reinforce these concepts in a memorable way.

AIM Piano Keyboard Skills Video Level 3

Teaching One Octave Scales on the Piano

The transition from pentascales to one octave scales is a big leap that is more successfully taught with some preparatory activities.

Technique Pattern Bingo

To top off our quest for creative composition last month we ended the month with a some fun group lesson games.  After completing the opening scale pattern coloring page and playing a fun game of Mystery Food Improv,  I came up with a technique pattern bingo game to solidify students recognition of the names and patterns in their keyboard skills exercises.  It is a quick game that could also be used as a fun lesson starter during private lessons.

Ear Training Group Lesson Piano Games

Do you include ear training exercises in every lesson?  This definitely wasn't a huge part of the traditional lessons I had as a child.  Fortunately ear training has evolved quite a bit from the "Now Hear This" cassette tapes and workbook that my teacher sent me home with years ago. Group lessons are the kick-off event for my monthly themes in our studio, and we kicked off November with some Ear Training Games. There is definitely a lot more excitement and motivation that comes with ear training in a group setting!

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

What Happened at Prospective Student Piano Camp? Plus More Fun and Games

This week at piano camp the activities that students sampled were based on the 4 Arts of Music: Improvising, Reading, Arranging and Composing (see Forrest Kinney article)  This pedagogical framework in piano instruction enables students to become more expressive and creative at the piano as well as entrenching a solid understanding of the reasons behind the organization of the music they read on the page.

Improvisation
We started out with a simple improvisation duet on the black keys (key of F#) using the MusicClock app as a backtrack.

Hearing and Seeing Piano Patterns from the Start

Imagination makes piano teaching come to life, especially when you're having fun with a curious 3 year old.  My little girl is lately really liking to be BIG like her siblings, which fortunately for me means she's big enough to "practice piano" just like them.
I loved the reminder from Joy's NCKP notes about the natural teaching sequence of sound, feel, sign, name. Although this wasn't a new concept for me, sometimes its not my first instinct to introduce sounds first..
1-  To start with SOUND I played all of the black keys going up the piano while singing "dog house" (2 black keys) "my gar- age" (3 black keys).  For a fun game

Music Is Fun Elementary Lesson Plan

I volunteered to teach a music lesson in my son's elementary school classroom for Fun Friday.  With so many games to choose from in my piano game resource list, it was hard to decide which to use but I finally picked Susan Paradis's Music is Fun Bingo game as the basis of the activity and planned the following interactive activities to go along with each of the calling cards after doing a quick introduction of the music alphabet and white keys on the piano.  The activities highlighted in yellow are free activities for children to try out at home if they like.

Spicing Up Piano Lessons

I recently shared some of my favorite creative teaching tools and ideas at a class I taught at my local music store. I compiled the following list of links to fun ideas and resources from this blog and other talented bloggers that I have especially enjoyed using with my students.  You can also access the link to this post at the top of my page for easy reference.
 Fun Lesson Starters

• Knock-Knock Rhythms(Tape a rhythm card to the door for them to knock to enter lessons)
• Trick or Treat (Layton Music)
• Magnet Melody Dictation (Music Matters)
• Don't Eat "Pete" (Piano Keys, Note Names, Theory Terms or Listening Bingo:Opposites )
• Piano Safari Rote Memory Technique "Challenges"
• Musical Minute to Win It Challenges (Sharp Stacking, Stepping up the Scale, etc.)

Teaching Theory Through Games

• Toss a Note
• Snackmats and Dice
• Whole/Half Step Scale Patterns 

• Major: We Were Happy When We Were Home
• Natural minor: When Harry Went West He Wore White
• Harmonic minor: We Have Watermelon With Harry WhenHe's Home)

• Bang!
• Many More....  Game Resource List Page (Organized by Concept and Level)

Technique and Rhythm the Fun Way

• Rhythm Cups (ComposeCreate)
•  Use rhythm cups to aid students in tricky passages in their music:  feeling rhythm in alternating hands (Snappin' Harriet), varying arm weights (forte left, piano right), etc.
• Silly Putty Beat Boards (Pianimation)
• Rhythm Bug/Candy Bar Circle Game
• Rhythm Aerobics (Sway, tap, stomp, rub... to the rhythms in your piece)
• Lego Rhythms (Pianimation)
• Tonic, Subdominant  to Dominant - "What Makes You Beautiful" Duet Improv

Practice Incentives/Group Piano Parties

• Piano Olympics
• Piano Point Challenge
• Pianimation Mission Music
• Pianimation This is Your Brain on Music
• Pianimation Musikopoly
• Monster Candy Guessing Jar
• Piano Ice Cream/Pancake Party
• Mining for Goals
• Practice Tune-up Skills
• Mountains to Climb
• All Star Scales (Students move around the bases as they pass off Scale)
• Piano Quest for Virtues

Stretching Your Teaching Tools

•  Chord Progressions with Familiar Folk Songs or Pre-Time Fun Favorites 
• Use Teacher Duets with 2 siblings/students at different levels
• Adapt Game Rules for Multiple Purposes.   For example 1 deck of Interval Cards could be used for Don't Eat "Pete", Interval Towers, Over the Edge, War (Slow Paced Naming Intervals), Slapjack, Speed Sorting (Fast Paced Interval Matching), Interval Bingo (Slow Paced Interval Ear Training), Swat the Interval (Fast Paced Ear Training) BANG!, or Minute to Win it Sightreading Challenge (Notereading and Intervals)

Supplementary Book Recommendations:

Pattern Play by Akiko and Forrest Kinney (Link to Free Sampler online) (Listening Room)
Discover Blues Improvisation by Faber/Edwin McLean 

Alfred's Famous & Fun Series (Classic Themes, Familiar, Pop, Fun Favorites) by Carol Matz
Faber Gold Star Performance Books with CDs
Faber Pre-Time to Big-Time (Children's Songs, Favorites, Classics, Popular, Ragtime and Marches)

In Recital with Jazz Rags & Blues or Classical Themes by Helen Marlais
Piano Safari Technical Exercises and Rote Pieces by Katherine Fisher and Julie Knerr

Other Popular Posts
Piano Teaching Binders -(Notes in the Fast Lane, Sightreading Challenge Sets, Rhythm Drills, Picture Scales etc.)
Piano Online Lab
Piano Teaching 101

Love Somebody Piano Teaching Activities

With Valentine's Day coming up this week I wanted to incorporate a few love themed activities into piano lessons.  The traditional melody of Love Somebody is perfect for teaching multiple music concepts because it uses only notes from the pentascale with a simple chord progression and plenty of repeating patterns.  Here are just a few ideas of activities plus a free printable to boost ear training, keyboard skills and transposition in piano lessons.

Summer Piano Group Synergy

Group lessons are one of my favorite aspects of piano teaching!  I love the synergy of gaming and the sense of accomplishment students exhibit as they perform for each other on a regular basis.

This month our group lesson included Caterpillar Crawl, Music Candyland, Music Jenga,  Toss Note and Technique Pattern Bingo.  Following are some at home activities that students can try to extend the learning of the concepts we introduced or reviewed at group lessons.

Hear See and Feel the Fun- Music Games and Activities

I put together this handout full of fun game ideas for a Round Table presentation I did at a UVMTA event for the music teachers in my area.  With so many fun game and activity resources, it was difficult to choose which ones to highlight.  But fortunately, the links at the bottom can take you to my organized games list so you can pick your favorites for yourself or add a note in the comments to share your favorite off the bench activities!

Why Games and Activities?

·         Engage – Games appeal to visual, tactile auditory and kinesthetic learning styles.

·         Solidify – Repetition with appealing adaptations solidifies learning without boredom.

·         Assess Mastery – Games provide a non-threatening avenue to “test” skills without the fear of failure.

·         Isolate Concepts – Gradually introducing isolated ideas prepares for mastery without frustration and is a useful tool in tuning up trouble spots.

Sample Music Games & Activities

Intervals in Motion Ear Training Group Game

Identifying intervals by ear can be a tricky skill for some students to master, but this group piano lesson game gets students in action as they sharpen their interval ear training skills as a group!

Harmonizing Your Music Studio with a Flipped Learning Music Buffet

The Flipped Classroom -  A Musical Buffet YouTube presentation for Upper Valley Music Teachers Association

This post includes resources that I mentioned in my presentation at UVMTA about flipped learning in the music studio. 

Click the image above to view the slideshow presentation for UVMTA on flipped learning in the music classroom, which includes hyperlinks or browse some of the resources that were mentioned below.

"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn."

-Benjamin Franklin

Teaching Piano Triads and Seventh Chords with Games

When teaching piano students about chords I find it helpful to create meaningful visuals to represent music concepts in a way that relates to them. What does this image represent?

Keep reading to find out the details!

Chord Visuals

For beginners I introduce the pentascales and chords as "food families" (vanilla, hamburger, oreos, chocolate/killer bs) based on the color of the piano keys with this helpful printable from Layton music. Making relevant connections for kids is so powerful in the learning process. In my studio we start with vanilla ice cream for dessert instead of snowmen!😋

Tools for Composing Melodies and Free Printable Melodic Motif Bingo

 

Musical Motifs

Memorable melodies often use repetitive variations of a short musical idea or motif. Using these same tools as you compose melodies can help you develop a musical idea into a longer interesting piece with a common idea woven throughout. 

Cupcake Improv Group Lesson

For this month's composing theme, I'm introducing Leila Viss's "Cupcake Improv" improvisation activity to my intermediate piano students. The monthly challenge is to create an improvisation with their favorite "cake, frosting and sprinkles" combo or try a Create First improvisation pattern by Forrest Kinney. I love how the QR codes on the cupcake improv handouts have videos students can review at home  if needed. 

Creating Interesting Melodies (aka "Sprinkles")

We reviewed motif's and ways to vary them (sequence, inversion, etc) with a game of melodic motif bingo.

Cake Chord Progression Samples

Next we listened to a few excerpts from the song samples below to hear how the "cake" chord progression patterns are included in many familiar songs.

White Cake Sample - Zootopia (Key of D flat Major)

Yellow Cake Samples - 

• Forrest Kinney Heart and Soul Blues
• 
  
• Tightrope (Key of A)
• 
  
  
  
• Lauren Daigel "Thank God I Do" Verses (Key of G Major)

Chocolate Cake Sample - Lauren Daigel Thank God I Do (G Major: Chorus Start at :57)

Red Velvet Cake Sample - Forrest Kinney Create First Garden

Cookie Dough Cake Samples - Spanish Dance Jennifer Eklund/ Leila Viss Noodle

Cookie Dough Variation Sample (using e minor not E M Major) Ocean without a Shore

Create First Chord-Based Improvisation Patterns 

Ready for more patterns or prefer the left hand pattern written out?  Forrest Kinney's Create First 2 Book includes several improvisation pieces that start with "cake "chord patterns that are not included in the Cupcake Improv but follow a similar concept. Start with a left hand chord progression  "cake/frosting" pattern. Then improvise melodies above. Can you identify the number patterns of the chord progressions he uses in these pieces? It's definitely easier if you refer to the printed music!

Sharing

A Song Someday

Roots in the Sky

Circus Music

Chord Pattern Inversions

Sometimes leaping your left hand around can be a bit tricky if you are trying to improvise a melody over the top with your right hand. Inverting or swapping the order of chord notes can make it easier. Or you could leave out some of the chord tones. Listen to the samples below to see this in action.

Classic Chords

Secret Dance

Full Circle

Which improvisation style is your favorite?

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

PA Primer: The Dance Band and 4/4 Time Signature

 This post includes activities that correlate with "The Dance Band " in Piano Adventures Primer.

Music Sample

Click the links below to watch the Adventure Learning Videos play along with backing tracks or try the super student challenges.