Using Scale Blocks for Musical Form and Memorization

As I mentioned last week, we focus on musical form at piano lessons right from the beginning. This week we had to get creative with the song, Ferris Wheel, from Piano Safari Level 1. The first line, which we labeled “A” is repeated in inverted form for the third line, and the second line is repeated in inverted form for the fourth line. So we decided to use the unconventional labeling of A, B, upside-down-A, upside-down-B!

Years ago I made a set of scale blocks, which is one of my most beloved teaching tools! My student was struggling to memorize the song (because she wanted extra credit for our practice incentive theme!), so I pulled out a couple of A and B blocks to use as a visual to remind her of each section of the song. Once she has solidified what each section is she can mix up the scale blocks and play them in a different order. This is extremely helpful for reinforcing cognitive memorization. A simple, but fun and helpful way to reinforce music theory and memorization skills at the same time!