This segment from 60 minutes features an 11-yr old child prodigy demonstrating how she creates music and it’s so interesting how closely her demonstration resembles my most shared blogpost The Songwriting Game! Could this be a case of “great minds think alike” OR… does she read Kids & Keys?
Check out the Songwriting Game and try it with your students – they’ll be creating amazing melodies in minutes!
Visit www.ThePracticeShoppe.com to purchase Music Dice for this game!
With a creative mindset, The Dollar Tree can be a piano teacher’s greatest resource! Here is my latest find and how you can use it to make your piano teaching life easier – and more fun!
With 5 minutes and a sharpie, you can transform this simple wooden puzzle into a visual tool for:
1. Teaching Whole Note, Half Note and Quarter Note recognition and their matching rests.
2. Help students understand the concept of REST in music by asking – What side of the house is quite?
3. Help students understand the concept of Symbols representing sound in music by asking – What side of the house do you think is noisy?
4. Reinforce the concepts above by sending an unopened puzzle home with your student (You can afford it – remember it only costs $1). Have your student draw the symbols on the puzzle and take a picture of it at home to show you their creation at the next lesson.
Bonus: Use the back of the puzzle to write steps 1-4 down (with a sharpie) to help you remember for the next time you use this!
Here is what your final creation will look like – 
I found a few other cool things at my last trip to The Dollar Tree which I’ll be sharing in my next post! In the meantime, what everyday things have you transformed into piano teaching tools? Share in a comment below to help other teachers make piano lessons fun!
After the excitement of Holiday concerts what can a piano teacher do to keep up the enthusiasm? Well, for the last two weeks I have been presenting the idea of setting world records in piano to my students! Kids LOVE seeing who is the fastest at something or who can do something the longest. And who wouldn’t want the title of World’s Greatest?! Piano offers endless possibilities for this type of goal from scales (ascending and descending) to age (youngest, only 8 year old to ever, etc).
One thing you want to be intentional about is helping students set goals. I explained to students that we have to train like an athlete to break a world record. For younger kids it is also helpful to set a short time frame. For example – the most songs learned in 1 week. You can even expand the contest to have Studio Records. These will be easier for students to conquer and just might spur them on to beating one of the world records like this one:
Fastest descending chromatic world record.
I will confess that when I tried to do the fastest descending chromatic scale it took me twice as long as the world record! So, I will be training right alongside my students this semester. We will be sure to post our results and pics of all the fun we had!
In the meantime, I’d like to extend the invitation for YOU to join us in trying to set or break a piano world record. You can get all the information by visiting Recordsetter.com
Stay tuned tomorrow for more inspiration on how to use Piano World Records to boost learning in your studio.
Welcome Kids and Keys readers to our first student/teacher co-review of a music education product! 10 yr old Kennedy liked playing the Musical Words board game so much that she wanted to tell other teachers all about it so they could use it with their students.
Musical Words was created by Gail Fischler. If you read The Piano Addict blog, you are familiar with this amazing teacher. Her game is great for not only piano students but students of other instruments as well! The game is highly suitable for group lessons, buy Kennedy and I wanted to find out if it would work in a private lesson.
Kennedy’s song of choice was Fur Elise. This was perfect since she has the song memorized already and she was able to put all her thoughts on interpreting the piece rather than trying to read notes (which she does well by the way).
Initially I did not fill in any of the blank spots on the game board. My thought process was, “What are the chances she will even land on one of those spots more than once?” Well, what actually happened was that Kennedy landed on a blank spot on EVERY turn. So, we cheated and had her move to one of the pre-marked spots the first 3 times this happened. Finally I had no choice but to think of some words to put in the blank spots! One of the words I came up with was “popcorn”. Kennedy had a terrific time with that one playing the whole thing in staccato! On a different turn she landed on the word “Mysterious”. This was pretty easy for her to do considering her song choice of Fur Elise. (I mean, who really knows who Elise was?) Another memorable moment in the game was when Kennedy landed on the word “comical”. She began to play Fur Elise with a range of different expressions and then added in some nonsensical chords that just didn’t go with the song at all. The result was indeed comical. She laughed and I laughed at her creative genius.
If you decide to play Musical Words with your students (and why wouldn’t you?), there is no need to be afraid of the blank spots. You can just hop over to The Musical Adjectives Project page for ideas or get some ideas from your students.
Here is what Kennedy said when I asked her about the experience:
“I like the choices, but popcorn was my favorite. Do I think other kids would enjoy playing this game? YES! Some words I would suggest are roughly and smoothly“.
Kennedy also said she thought there were too many blanks. I believe that is my fault and the next time I will definitely fill them in!
As a teacher I like the fact that this game pushes the student to COMMUNICATE musical ideas. This is an excellent tool for performance preparation as well as improvisation practice.
Ready to play? There are 2 ways to purchase Musical Words.
1)You have the option to purchase a set that is already laminated and printed with FREE Shipping in the Continental US from Fistful of Notes for $34 or Music Teachers Store. You get:
Laminated Game board with velcro fasteners (2 pcs)
Directions & Tips (2 sheets)
6 card stock game card sheets
1 master card sheet
Free Shipping within Continental US
2) You can purchase a download to print yourself from Music Teacher Store. Studio and family licenses are $14 or you can purchase a school license for $50. (If you choose this option I suggest you take your file to a copy and print center instead of printing at home due to the amount of ink necessary to print it. It uses LOTS of color.)
Gail has agreed to give one lucky winner a FREE download with a single teacher license ($14 value). To enter leave an adjective that you would use to fill in one of the blank spots on the game board in the comments. The deadline to enter is Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014.
In the world of apps, apps, and more apps, a lot of teachers have decided to stop using worksheets altogether. If you are one of those teachers or if you are thinking about joining them, WAIT!!! As one of my music mentors always says, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water”! While I love using apps with my students, I find that the act of writing things down often solidifies learning more than interacting with material on a touch screen alone.
Of course, you have to have some VERY GOOD worksheets to even get your students interested. That is where today’s resource tip comes in. Kristin at www.eartraninigandimprov.com has done a LOT of work to make our lives as piano teachers easier! Not only has she compiled the ultimate guide to music theory worksheets, she has also posted a video index of the worksheets on her site with links to the FREE PRINTABLES.
I know you will be able to find some worksheets that will fit exactly into what you are teaching. In preparation, here are 3 ideas on how to give worksheets a fighting chance with your app-addicted students:
1. Worksheet Relay Race for group classes:
Have students work in groups of where students complete a series of worksheets as a group. The catch is that each student must complete a worksheet one at a time and the next student cannot begin until the previous student finishes. The group that completes the most worksheets in the designated time wins!
2. End of Lesson Challenge: Have your student complete a worksheet or series of worksheets during the last minute of lessons. Yes, only 60 seconds. If they are able to complete the whole worksheet or series of worksheets before time is up they get extra time with an app during the next lesson. The more worksheets they complete the more time they get to spend on the app.
3.Beginning of Lesson Challenge: Just like the End of Lesson Challenge except it comes in the FIRST minute of the lesson. The student would then get extra time with app during today’s lesson based on how many worksheets they were able to complete. Note: This version will also give you an idea of concepts that may need to be worked on during the lesson.
So, head on over to http://www.eartrainingandimprov.com/resources/music-theory-worksheets/ and get yourself some FREE WORKSHEETS!
If you have a deck of cards, you can put them to good use in your piano studio!
This Valentine’s Day Themed Conductors Bouquet is going to be used in 3 ways in my studio next week:
– To teach kids which hand plays treble clef notes and which plays bass clef notes
– To teach kids how to feel different time signatures by conducting with the wands
– As a decoration to brighten up the studio so I can see kids’ faces light up as they enter for their lessons
When students arrive for lessons, I will be playing Bob Marley’s “One Love” and Annie Lennox and Al Green’s “Put A Little Love In Your Heart”. The Student will take a wand from the bouquet and using the correct hand for the symbol on the heart join me in conducting the song. We will extend the activity by conducting some of the pieces that they are working on as well. At the end of their lesson they will get to take the wand home to keep!
Here’s what you need in order to do this activity:
1. Valentine’s Wands from Dollar Tree (They come in packs of 3)
2. A sharpie marker to draw bass clef and treble clef symbols on the hearts
3. A nice vase to keep them in
4. Songs of different time signatures
That’s it!
Before we go I have a question: What other Valentine Themed songs can you suggest with different time signatures that can be used in this lesson? Please let me know in a comment below!
Today’s post is inspired by Meryl Brown’s One Heart Activity found on her Music Therapy Blog, Developing Melodies.
Meryl pairs Bob Marley’s song, One Love with a matching heart game to teach preschoolers to match patterns. What I think is so cute about the idea is that it plays off the Valentine’s Day theme which is all about match ups!
Her idea inspired me to create a new game that helps piano students make the connection between notes on the staff that have different values but are the same note. I find that some kids have may correctly identify a quarter note middle C in one measure but do not realize when they see a half note C in a different measure that the two notes are the same note. This quick game is a fun way to help them make that connection.
All you need is some foam heart shapes or paper hearts and a sharpie to draw the notes. Cut the hearts in half in puzzle like designs and your game is ready!
In case you missed yesterday’s post and are looking for more valentine theme piano fun click here!
As the awesome piano teacher you no doubt are, you want your first piano lessons of the new school year to be spectacular! So, allow me to suggest an idea from www.teachpianotoday.com. I call it “Light Up The Keys”. All you need is some glow sticks (purchase at the dollar store) and a concept or song to review. To review 5 finger patterns, I had my student turn off the studio lights and place glow sticks on the notes for the patterned I called out. I called out 5 different patterns, and she was able to win a glow stick for each pattern that she correctly placed.
We had so much fun that we decided to use the idea with a song. We decided to have Christmas in August and play the beginning of Jingle Bells. See how it went below for this 4-year-old.
Kids & Keys 