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)

Summer K-6 Piano Camp Game Links

In addition to all of the hands on activities and games at piano camp, Piano Campers get to increase their skills using some fun online games and iPad laps during a portion of our music camp.  
If you want to extend the fun and learning from piano camp at home, check out some of these fun online activities that reinforce the concepts we are learning. Most of them work best on a pc.  If you want a challenge select the starred activities.

Piano Camp Game Links

Up/Down

·         Music Learning Community Storm Chasers

Piano Keys

·         Music Learning Community Letterfly CDE

·         *Quizlet Piano Keys Scatter

Rhythm

·         Music Learning Community Meteor Match

·          *Quackin’ Rhythms

Summer K-6 Piano Camp: Games Galore

Our upcoming Rexburg Summer Piano Camp  will be filled with Hands on Fun, Edible Engagement, Creative Melody Making, Technology Tools and Games Galore!