For this game, I just used three dice and three game markers. One die had Major, minor, augmented, and diminished on various sides, another die was just a 9-sided number die, and the final die had Root Position, 1st Inversion, 2nd Inversion on varying sides.
The student rolled the three dice and the built the specified chord on the piano keys with the game markers. We just used the number to represent the identity of the chord (1=C, 2=D, 3=E, etc.). For another student later in the day, we used the scale blocks for this purpose instead of the number die. Here’s an example, then, of what is pictured above:
1=C
Root Position
Augmented
This is really helpful preparation for our yearly Music Progressions evaluations because one of the written theory requirements is that students both identify and complete chords on pictured keyboards. This helps them learn to identify and create chords without hearing the sound – quite difficult for those aural students! You could also adapt the game and instead of having them build the chords on the keyboard, have them do so on a printed staff. In fact, eventually, I will probably do both – have them build it on the keyboard and then transfer the same chord to a staff so that they see the relationship between the two, especially valuable for learning to recognize inversions of chords in music!
raythunder says
The three-dice structure is especially strong because it separates chord identity, quality and inversion into independent decisions. For aural students, I’d add the sound back only after they have built and notated the chord: predict it, hear it, then correct it. I’ve been experimenting with a browser instrument called Gesture Synth where hand shapes choose scale degrees, major/minor quality and inversions, while movement controls octave and timbre. A paired version of this game could have one student roll and build the chord, and another perform the same function by gesture before both transfer it to staff notation. Have you found that students recognize inversions more reliably from the bass note first, or from the overall chord shape?