Musical Christmas Lights Pictionary

I adapted this fun Musical Christmas Lights Bingo game by Susan Paradis at our Christmas group lesson to extend the learning and suit it for multiple learning levels.

How to Play:
Divide players into 2 teams of mixed abilities
Teams take turn choosing a Christmas light card and draw the symbol on it for their team to guess. They can earn a total of 3 points each turn
1 point -for identifying the name of the symbol
1 point - for defining the meaning of the symbol
1 point - for sorting the symbol into the correct groups below

Musical Christmas Lights Sort

Notes – How long is the sound?

Rests – How long is the silence?

Dynamics – How loud or soft?

Articulation – Quality of Sound (smooth, short, loud)

Accidentals/Clefs – How high or low?

Meter/Time Signature – How are the beats grouped?

Repeat Sign – Bonus Extra Turn

Halloween Piano Group Fun

 I love the excitement of a themed group lesson. A new Pinterest find that I tried this year in addition to some of the other Halloween ideas I have posted in the past was the Addams Family Cup Passing Activity.

The A section triplets provided a nice challenge for my more advanced students and the B quarter note section made great steady beat practice for the young beginners.

Dictating with Rhythm Monsters

I'm excited to try out these new manipulatives for some rhythm dictation practice at our Halloween Group Lesson today.

I found this fun idea on pinterest at the yellowbrickroad blog and adapted it to add a greater variety of  rhythms for beginning and more advanced students.

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)

Festival Music Samples

I'm feeling invigorated after attending my first Music Teacher's Association in my new city of Rexburg.  I'm excited to join UVMTA and learn from so many talented teachers and workshops planned this year including Jason Lyle Black!  It was nice to hear a few samples of potential festival pieces played by different teachers in our area.  It reminded me of the Piano Listening Lab Assignment I made several years ago to help my students select pieces that they enjoy to prepare for festival while also honing their listening skills.
Another excellent resource for selecting festival pieces

Preschool "Staff Eater" Game

Sometimes my kids are lacking motivation for music practice when the sledding on the dirt hill outside or riding bikes in the vacant lot seem so much more appealing.

So after my son's Let's Play Music Class today I ramped up the motivation a bit by letting him pick out a little treat at the Dollar Store to play this tasty music game at home that I came up with. 
Materials Needed:
Dice
Small Edible Objects (golfish, m&ms, skittles, etc, marshmallows, fruit snackes, etc.)
Paper Music Staff (free printable staff from  Colorinmypiano) or (Susan Paradis.com)

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)