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 […]
Scale Blocks
Game: Note Line-Up
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 […]
Game: Key Signature Line-Up
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 […]
Scale Labels
One of my favorite new tools to use with students are these fabulous keyboard labels that Susan Paradis, of the Piano Teacher Resources blog, created. I’ve started sticking one or more of these labels in the student’s assignment book and having them say the whole-step half-step pattern and place X’s on the corresponding keys. In […]
Prescription for Scale Sickness
I could totally relate to this comment that Mindy left on Monday’s Teaching Scales post and I’m sure that many others can as well! But truth be told, I am sick to death of teaching scales. It’s not that I don’t think it is important, I do. I am just lacking incentive to go at […]
More fun ways to use scale blocks!
As I mentioned in last Monday’s Mailbag post, I’m always looking for ways to turn the teaching or review of a concept into a fun activity or game. Here are shots from a couple of lessons last week where scale blocks became the perfect hands-on tool to help students grasp the concepts we were working […]
