Each week, I try to think of some fun activity to start off each lesson. Hot on the heels of the previous week’s A Galaxy of Composers group class theme, I was inspired to do a composer-oriented listening activity with my students. I grabbed my favorite composer resource book (comes with a CD!) – Accent on Composers – and selected six famous works. The student was given a white board labeled as follows:

Piece:
Composer:
Time Period:

Then I played approximately one minute of each of the selections and instructed them to listen and see if they could correctly identify any or all of the above criteria for each piece. They were allowed to refer to the timeline, which contained almost all of the selected composers. Here are the works that I selected:

1. Hallelujah Chorus – George Frederic Handel – Baroque

2. The Entertainer – Scott Joplin – 20th Century

3. March from the Nutcracker – Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Romantic

4. Symphony No. 5 in C Minor – Ludwig van Beethoven – Classical

5. Spring from the Four Seasons – Antonio Vivaldi – Baroque

6. Hoedown from Rodeo – Aaron Copland – 20th Century

All of my students loved this activity! Even the ones that were a little hesitant at first were surprised at how many of the pieces they recognized. If they were stuck on the name of the piece or the composer, I gave them hints or pointed out certain elements in the recording that might help them identify the time period or the ethnicity of the music.

One of the things that prompted me to do this activity was the realization of how much of our time and activities are focused on doing and playing and mastering skills, concepts, etc. Rarely do I devote much time to music appreciation – just listening to and pointing out elements in music, discussing the composers, the historical eras. We do this a lot as we learn new repertoire, but there’s something different about taking a few minutes to listen to these timeless masterpieces. This is an activity that I’ll definitely be repeating in the future (with different selections, of course!).

In keeping with our Exploring a Galaxy of Music theme for the year, last week’s Briefing Session (a.k.a. group class) was themed A Galaxy of Composers. Here are a couple shots from the evening:

I held this session at the studio, so twenty of us crammed into the small space to listen to performances, play games, and learn about the various composers.

Prior to playing their piece, each student shared a brief report about the composer of their selection. I was impressed with the creativity employed in putting together their reports (the one pictured included a PowerPoint presentation)!

I’ve uploaded a free set of the A Galaxy of Composers Lesson Plans I developed for this class. If you’re interested in doing a composer-themed group class with your students, feel free to download and use the file and corresponding activities. We had a ton of fun with it!

[Natalie's Note: Following is a series of questions I received pertaining to this treble clef game - a favorite in my studio!]

I began teaching beginner piano lessons this summer.  Being a teenager with no experience, I feel like I “run out” of new ideas quickly. I really like your game ideas, and I have a few questions about the Treble Clef game.

The treble clef shape is cut out of white posterboard and orange and blue circles are placed on the treble clef to create a path. Then I laminated it to preserve it. To play, each student places their game token on the first circle and draws a card from the draw pile. If they answer the card correctly, they get to roll the die and advance their game piece.

First, what is written on your cubes?

The dice are made from foam cubes and then I used a black ink pen to draw a keyboard or staff with a different interval on each side. The student rolls the die that corresponds to the color space he is on on the treble clef board. He must identify the interval and then move the equivalent number of spaces (i.e. 4th – move 4 spaces).

Can you explain how many spaces a student would move based on what the cube says?
The above answer should have answered this. Incidentally, I have them move how they normally would in a game, not how they would count intervals on a keyboard (i.e. including the starting space in the count).

What do you suggest I write on the flash cards for a pre-reading student?
* pictures of a piano keyboard with an “X” to identify the name of the key
* simple rhythm patterns
* note values
* basic dynamics
* pictures of instruments to identify

I also have a student who just started reading the staff.  What kind of flash cards should I make so she will keep advancing, without feeling overwhelmed at the difficulty of the questions?

You could make cards with all the staff notes and just include a specified range of those in addition to other easier cards. Or you could make it multiple choice. Another fun approach might be to do a series of notes and have the student see if she can identify the word that is spelled. (Click here for a list of Musical Alphabet Words.)

Also, another game that seems to work really well with students learning their notes is Whack-It! This is great for identifying key names or notes on the staff.

Hope this info is helpful! Feel free to comment below if you have suggests for other cards that could be made for pre-reading students.

Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!

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!

This is the game that I used all last week and everyone loved it!

Here are step-by-step instructions for how we played Interval Grab:

1. Dump out a bunch of scale blocks on the piano fallboard (or a table) and place a bell within reach of the student.

2. Instruct the student that you will call out a direction, an interval, and a starting note (e.g. “up a 3rd from F” or “down a minor 6th from B,” etc.). They must grab the scale block that represents the answer to the instruction, ding the bell, and then say the name of the note.

3. The goal is to see how many the student can correctly identify within an allotted period of time. I pressed start when I said the name of the key to start the interval from and stopped it when the student dinged the bell. All correct answers got moved to the right to form a pile.

4. Count the number of blocks in the “correct” pile at the end of the allotted time and then list the score on a white board in the studio.

5. Of course, this game can be easily adapted to all different levels even by just using steps and skips for the beginning students or by incorporating diminished and augmented intervals for the more advanced students.

For a fun variation, I played an Interval Grab/Spell-It! game with several sibling pairs who come to their lessons at the same time. I placed a board in between them and called out the various interval directives so that the final results would form a word. As soon as they had the designated number of blocks and could identify the word, they would ding the bell and call it out. A bit of a challenge, but they really enjoyed it!

This game is very similar to the Key Signature Line-Up game, but is designed to drill note identification instead. First I give the student a selection of note flash cards (in this case, we were working on bass clef notes from the low G up to middle C) and have him line them up in order from the lowest to the highest note. (This can be very revealing as it’s surprising sometimes to see a student struggle even with this first step and realize that they need help understanding the basic ascending pattern of notes on a staff.)

Once lined up, they place a scale block with each card to correspond to the name of the note. Again, sometimes it’s surprising to see which students still haven’t fully grasped the way the notes move alphabetically up the keys/staff. If the student struggles with this at all, we continue repeating this phase of the game until they grasp it and can line everything up quickly.

For phase two, mix the cards up and have the student lay them out in a random order and try to match the scale blocks with the corresponding card. You can time them and let them try to beat their previous times or just emphasize accuracy and let them work at their own pace, developing understanding as they go. Anything hands-on like this is great for kinesthetic learners and those who lack the focus to do worksheets reinforcing the same concept. And they have fun doing it!

As I mentioned in yesterday’s Monday Mailbag post about Finding Time for Games, this week I’ll share some of the games that I’ve been using in my studio this year.

This is a really simple game! First, have the student line up the key signatures in order from the least number of sharps or flats to the greatest. Then, they place a scale block in front of each key signature to identify the name of the key. You can see in the above picture that I had this older student identify both the Major and minor key. I try to emphasize the Circle of 5ths over and over so that my students use that to figure out their keys.

As an aside, I never use mnemonic devices or the other little tricks for figuring out key names. (Although sometimes they learn them at school and them come and proudly announce to me that they found out another way to identify their keys…at which point they often proceed to confuse themselves trying to remember which trick went with which keys, etc. )

But I digress…back to the game! After they’ve lined them up correctly, we proceed to phase two of the game. I mix up the key signatures and then place them on the music rack in a random order and the student proceeds to line up the scale blocks again, matching the key names to the corresponding key signatures. If it’s a student who loves competition, I often time them to see how fast they can place them all correctly, then let them try one more time to see if they can beat their previous time. Lots of fun and easily adapted to a range of levels by doing only Major or minor keys or just using a few key signatures at a time.

I love all your games and ideas, but how do you incorporate games into your lessons? I feel like there’s hardly enough time to get through the books as is, especially when a recital or competition is coming up! Do you always fit a game in? Do you have 45-minute lessons?

First off, yes, I do teach 45-minute lessons almost exclusively. I also have a couple of 1-hour lessons for more advanced students. I made this transition several years ago and absolutely love it! We still run out of time to get everything in, but this allows for so much more freedom to focus intently on certain concepts or incorporate games without feeling rushed. I wrote a post a while back on How to Transition to Longer Lessons. This approach worked really well for my studio, but of course, you’ll want to think through your needs and what approach will work best for you and your families if this is a change that you want to make.

Another thing to keep in mind is that for the most part, I use games as an integral part of my teaching approach. Since I rarely use theory books with my students, I use games both to assess understanding of theory concepts and to teach or reinforce various concepts. A lot of times what I do is at the beginning of the week I think of a concept that I want to work on with all my students (i.e. scale patterns, key signatures, intervals, chords, etc.). Then I brainstorm and come up with a fun game centered on that concept.

Also, it’s not uncommon for me to not hear everything that a student has worked on within the week. If I anticipate that we will run out of time, I often ask if there is anything in particular that they want to play for me, or if there are any assignments that they’re having trouble with and want me to help them work through at their lesson. Anything that gets postponed to the following week gets a star by it to remind me to listen to that first at their next lesson.

Lastly, no, I don’t play a game at every lesson. Some students really thrive with the integration of games; others would just as soon focus on their repertoire. I try to be sensitive to the needs of each student and gauge what their interests and priorities are from week to week. If a student is really excited about a particular piece and wants to show me what they’ve accomplished, then we skip the game and “dig in”! Games are just one tool in a teacher’s toolbox and can be used with purpose to accomplish set objectives and meet the specific needs of the students.

This is a great topic (can you tell it’s one of my favorites? ), so I’ll be posting some more specific ideas this week of games that I’ve been using with my students this year!

Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!

I guess I’m on an improvisation kick this week! As much as I am not a naturally gifted improviser, I have always admired those who were, and I see the value in helping students develop an openness to improvisation. Ever since I started doing student interviews years ago, one of the areas that I include in the interview is a brief improvisation activity. I tell the student that we will play a black key improvised duet. They can play any black keys they want and it should sound good!

I usually give them five style options: waltz, circus, cowboy, flowing, jazzy. Once they pick a style, I start improvising an accompaniment pattern in that style in the lower register on the piano. They are usually a little timid at first, but I gently encourage them to just try playing any black key in the upper register. If they can, I also encourage them to match my beat with whatever they are playing. As they warm up to the idea, they often play with both hands and even try imitating the rhythmic or melodic patterns that I am playing.

As we do this, I watch for three primary things:

1. Did they maintain a steady beat?
2. Were they relaxed and free in their technique?
3. Did they incorporate the specified style of playing?

These are huge musical indicators to me and give me a good feel for the strengths and weaknesses that we will likely encounter in their musical studies. But at the same time, the student has a blast discovering that he can already play something that sounds so good even though he’s never taken lessons before! Of course I praise the student profusely for his musical abilities and both he and his parents leave even more excited than before to start lessons!

If I have a student who struggles with note reading, but loves “doodling around” on the piano and/or if I have extra time at the end of a lesson, I often opt for my quick and easy improvisation activity. I sit at one piano and the student sits at the other (if you only have one piano, one can be in the higher register and the other in the lower). Between the student and myself, we determine the following three elements:

1. Chord (for more advanced students, we pick a key rather than just a chord)
2. Visual description (i.e. putting a baby to sleep, walking around at a carnival, watching a thunderstorm, etc.)
3. Time signature and tempo

One of us gives a count-in to set up the beat and then we begin playing. We can play any note of the chord/key anywhere on the whole piano, but we have to play with the beat and try to capture the mood of the visual description. We continue for an indeterminate amount of time and then try to coordinate a convincing ending by exchanging glances and listening to each others’ sound.

This is super easy (even for a non-improviser like me!) and almost always sounds surprisingly cool – which the students love!