My students do a lot of notating, whether for compositions or for various games. One thing that always gets me is how much I have to remind them which direction the stems should go and on which side of the note they should be placed. It doesn’t seem like it should be that complicated, but […]
Game Ideas
A Simple and Fun Note Identification Game
Several of my students seem to need constant reinforcement with understanding the staff and identifying notes on it. And some of them are still in the phase where the “light bulb” hasn’t quite gone on yet. 🙂 So I’m always looking for different approaches to use during lessons. Here’s a simple game that I’ve been […]
Another Winning Group Music Game!
This game was even more popular than the Musical Terms and Symbols game I mentioned yesterday! This one is called, Who’s the Leader? Here a couple video clips and the instructions for how to play it: Who’s the Leader? Players stand in a circle. One player goes out of the room. A leader is appointed. […]
Fun Group Music Game for Knowing Your Terms and Symbols!
Last Thursday was our fourth Investment Club Meeting (a.k.a. group class) of the year. One of the new games we tried is one I dubbed, “Call-it!” The inspiration came from a really old Fun Encyclopedia that I picked up years ago at an antique shop. Here are the instructions: Call-it! Dump a set of scrabble […]
Monday Mailbag – Intervals by Ear
My students have struggled to identify intervals by ear. I think some of the games I’ve designed have helped some, but my younger students are still really having a hard time. Do you have any ideas? Every year a handful of my students participate in our local Music Progressions evaluation program. One component of the […]
A Game to Assess Musical Scale Skills!
You should see the way my students’ eyes light up the minute I pull out some dice and tell them that we’re going to start off the lesson with a game! In fact, this is what prompted me to compile and produce the 5 for Fun! book. Just setting aside 5 minutes a lesson to […]
