Theta Music, one of the best sites for on-line music theory games is commencing their 3rd Annual Ear Training and Music Theory Competition today! This is a great way for teachers and students to have some fun while building their skills. It’s a one-day competition, so sign up and start playing now for your chance to win up to a $30 Amazon gift certificate!
Category Archives: Game Ideas
Monday Mailbag – Using Games to Teach Piano Technique
I am a student teacher and would like some tips on teaching technique via games. I have a 7-year-old student who is struggling with “keeping fingertips tall” and “keeping a rounded hand shape”. I find technique drills are not working and I hate to make technique seem like the enemy. Do you have any games that you have used to re-enforce the concept in a fun way?
As much as I love to use games as a teaching tool, I confess that I’ve hardly ever used them for technique purposes. Instead, I use more of an understanding-based approach when working with students on technique principles. From early on, I explain scientific principles of gravity, strength, and conduction to students to help them understand why they should keep their wrists up, fingers rounded, shoulders relaxed, etc. You can read a post I wrote on Finger Strengthening here.
I also still use my goofy thumb position image poster to show students how to play with their thumb in the “slide position.” The Beyond Scales and Hanon sessions I’ve attended by Beth Grace have also been invaluable in helping me understand proper and injury-preventative piano technique so that I can model it for my students and direct them accordingly no matter what repertoire they are playing.
Most of my 5 for Fun! games and activities for the private piano lesson are theory-based rather than technique-based, so I would love to hear from other teachers on this topic. Do you use any games that have proven particularly effective in helping students learn and implement good piano technique?
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!
A Simple But Fun Note Identification Game for Students
Collin Wade, of the PianoTeacherNOLA blog recently posted a simple, but fun note identification game that could easily be used with students either in a private lesson or group class setting. It’s called Learning Space Notes, but the idea could be adapted for use with specific notes and both treble and bass clefs. You can download the game files for free on the For Teachers page of the website.
Check Out This Loud and Fun Group Class Game
This Musical Shout It Out game on the Music Teacher Talk blog looks super fun! And very loud. Which means my students would probably love it! 
I am always look for new game and activity ideas to include in my regular group classes and this one definitely fits the bill. I’m excited to try it out at our next Travel Tour this year!
Monday Mailbag – Free Scale and Key Signature Worksheets
Can you create worksheets for bass clef like the ones for treble clef (Major-Minor Scale Matchup and Key Signature-Scale Matchup)?
Your wish is my command. Haha! Maybe not quite, but I figured it was a logical next step to have bass clef scale and key signature worksheets that correlated with the treble clef ones, so here you go:
Major-Minor Scale Matchup Worksheet (2 pages)
Key Signature-Scale Matchup Worksheet (4 pages)
I hope you and your students are able to get lots of use out of these worksheets!
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!
Mixed Messages
In last Friday’s post, I mentioned that we played a game at our group class called Mixed Messages. Students had to translate Italian music terms and then write the definitions to complete English sentences. All the students were split into two teams and whichever team finished all their sentences first won a Free Travel Pass. One of my older students who has attended lots of group classes and played lots of games remarked that this was one of her favorite games! Here’s a list of the Mixed Messages we used (with an obvious Italian travel theme):
- The Mediterranean Sea is so bella and pacifico this time of year.
- If you ritardando in the streets of Naples you might get run over!
- The street performers in Rome are allegro and full of giocoso.
- Gelato is a dolce way to fine a meal.
- If that luggage is troppo pesante, just fermata and we will have someone else carry it for you.
- We are dolente that our trip will presto be over.
- I would like a poco piu cheese on my pizza.
- Please accelerando so that we get to da capo of the bus line in time to catch a ride.
- The sound of the train is crescendo.
- The people of Italy are assai friendly.
- It’s sempre exciting to travel to new places.
- See if you can find loco to stay for meno than €100 a night.
- Let’s sit by the fuoco and sip a mezzo cup of coffee largo.
- The dancers in the ballet moved around so leggiero and grazioso.
And for your convenience, here’s a handy list of the same messages with the Italian terms translated into English. Of course, these are not necessarily the Italian words you would actually use in that context; I just tried to stick with ones that my students would be somewhat familiar with from their music studies.
- The Mediterranean Sea is so beautiful and peaceful this time of year.
- If you gradually get slower in the streets of Naples you might get run over!
- The street performers in Rome are fast and lively and full of humor.
- Gelato is a sweet way to end a meal.
- If that luggage is too heavy, just stop and we will have someone else carry it for you.
- We are sorrowful that our trip will quickly be over.
- I would like a little morecheese on my pizza.
- Please gradually get faster so that we get to the beginning of the bus line in time to catch a ride.
- The sound of the train is gradually getting louder.
- The people of Italy are very friendly.
- It’s always exciting to travel to new places.
- See if you can find a place to stay for less than €100 a night.
- Let’s sit by the fireand sip a medium cup of coffee slowly.
- The dancers in the ballet moved around so lightlyand gracefully.
Travel Tour #3 – Including Out-of-State Students via Skype!
Last night was our third Travel Tour of the year, going along with our theme: An Italian Intrigue. For the first time ever we included a couple of my out-of-state students via Skype. It worked wonderfully! Here’s a brief video recap from the occasion:
Activities for the group class included:
Mixed Messages – students had to translate Italian musical terms to complete English sentences. The winning team members each won a Free Travel Pass!
Board Patrol – as each student performed, the others were placed in pairs and given a board labeled with one of the following: Dynamics Board, Tempo Board, Articulation Board, and Mood Board. They had to listen and write on the board as many elements as they could come up with that they heard in the performance.
Key Signature Lesson and Scramble – Thanks to the Teach Piano Today blog for the inspiration for this activity!
Theta Music Trainer Announces Winter Competition 2012
If you’re looking for a fun activity to give your students to keep their musical minds working during Christmas break, check out the Winter Competition 2012 that Theta Music Trainer just announced! Winners can receive up to $30 in Amazon gift cards. Come to think of it, that’s a good enough draw that maybe I’ll join in on the competition!
Group Class Video Recap
Last night we had a group class here at the studio. I put together a short video recap using the awesome free app Videolicious!
[Find the full explanation of the Rhythm Chart game we played in the 5 for Fun! book of games and activities for the private piano lesson.]
Monday Mailbag – The Treble Clef Game
What a great filing system. I’m interested in the treble clef on the side of the tall cabinet. What do you use it for? A game? counting goals?
This is a much-loved game in my studio! It’s one of the first ones I made and students don’t mind a bit that it’s all constructed of simple, homemade materials.
Here’s a close-up of 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.
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).
Here are a few specific ideas for pre-reading students:
* 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
Here’s a close-up of the simple note identification questions that are included in the deck. For students just getting into reading notes on the staff, 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.)
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!