It's amazing what happens once you begin thinking "outside the box"! I have a friend who is teaching her niece and nephew piano and after reading a few of my ideas she has begun to think outside the traditional piano teaching box and has come up with her own ideas. Bekah purchased a peg board and hammer from a local toy store and now has her kiddos hitting the pegs to the metronome beat. She says that they LOVE doing this. Way to go, Bekah!
I find myself looking around my house, in thrift stores, visiting yard sales, walking down aisles of craft and hobby stores thinking up tons of activities for the metronome. When you think about it there are so many activities your students can do. The sky is the limit. They can jump rope, jump up and down, touch their nose, move their hips from side to side, clap, bend, and blink to name just a few. You can also play "Patty Cake" with your younger students and clap each other's hands on every beat. You could have your students blow bubbles to whole note beats (every 4 beats). Place a towel on the floor where they are blowing since the liquid drips.
Super fun activity: Purchase a few styrofoam balls from a hobby store, tie yarn to the end of a paper clip, push one clip into each ball, tie the other end of the yarn to a push pin, and hang a few balls from an archway or entryway. Get a cheap plastic baseball bat (Dollar Stores sell these) and have your students hit the hanging balls to varying metronome beats with the bat. My students can't get enough of this "exercise".
Parachute activity (very effective for rhythmically challenged students): You can purchase a small two person parachute from a toy or teacher supply store (I purchased mine from "Lakeshore Learning Center") or just use an old cloth sheet or plastic table cover to do this activity. Grip each corner while your student holds onto the other two corners on their side and lift the parachute up on the beat and drop it down on the next beat (repeat). Since you're holding onto one side of it, you can control the up/down motion which is a fantastic way of having your students focus on the beats. At first, some of my students would attempt to lift the parachute before the beat but I'd keep my side down until it was time to lift it. After a few lifts and drops they got the hang of it.
Other inexpensive instruments: Purchase a few inexpensive instruments such as a maracas, jingle bells, a drum, tambourine, etc. You can find these items at Dollar or teacher supply stores, yard sales, thrift shops, and party stores. Have your students play the instrument to varying metronome speeds.
Hand puppets: My younger students really like it when the puppets come out to visit. Actually I was surprised at how many of my older students still enjoyed getting visits from puppets. I utilize my puppets in many ways, one being metronome. While the metronome is clicking away I'll have a puppet play an instrument with the student or I'll have the puppet gently jump up and down on the student's head on every beat. This is a great way to build rhythm accuracy in your students.
Bringing music from home: Sometimes I ask my students to bring a song they like to listen to to their lesson. While their music's playing we throw or bounce a ball back and forth to the beat. I change it up by calling out different note values: quarter, half, whole, eighth notes, tied notes, etc.. They enjoy hearing their music during lesson and it helps them listen in on the recurring beat. I had one student stop in the middle of this activity to ask if she was in a piano lesson. She couldn't believe how much fun she was having!
I'm not sure who has more fun during lessons, me or my students! Until next time, Piano Blogger signing off..........
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