What You Will Need:

2 or more piano students (upper elementary and older)

A song that these students like to listen to a lot

1 Die (small is fine, but GIANT is more exciting)

2 Pianos

What You Do:

Teach each student individually how to play the song by rote. (Most likely you will just teach the chorus or a popular riff in the song). You can even have the 1st student help you show the 2nd student how the song goes

Have each student go to a piano

Have each student pick a number from 1-6 and whisper it in your ear

Roll the die until one of the numbers comes up. That is the student who will play first.

The first student plays. As soon as he makes a mistake he must immediately stop playing. Now it is the other student’s turn.

They continue to take turns until someone plays it through with no mistakes. That person receives a point. If they both play it correctly, they both get a point.

 The first person to get 3 points is the winner

Why This Works for the Students:

This formula works because of 2 key ingredients: A song the students like and the friendly competition. Being the first to correctly play a song that you and your friends love significantly raises a  student’s level of cool!

Why This Works for the Teacher:

Students will be practicing without even realizing it!