Skip to main content

"Hooked" on Music

This is a nice quick game where students match terms or in the case from the picture below, grand staff notes to keys by hooking them onto magnetic hooks adhered to a magnetic wipe off board.  The board I used is higher up on one of the walls in my studio so to add extra fun to this activity I had my kiddos stand on a step ladder to reach the board.  We're not talking WAY high up on the wall, just a few feet from the floor.  I set up a very sturdy 2-step step ladders. Oh my gosh, did they enjoy that!  They loved playing this game from a height.  I stood on the floor right behind them as an added safety measure. There was one student who didn't want to step onto the ladder so I simply pulled the pieces farther down on the board closer to them so they could reach the hooks while they stood on the floor.

The materials I used were cardstock, a thin tipped black marker (to draw in the sharps and flats), a paper cutter (if you don't have a paper cutter use scissors), 10 magnetic hooks, a hole puncher, magnetic board, blank grand staff paper, and keyboard paper. Down below is a picture of one of the keyboard papers I created to give you an idea of what I did.  

Grand Staff Paper

I made 2 copies of the blank grand staff paper and drew notes on 10 of the staves; 5 bass clef notes and 5 treble clef notes (any notes of your choosing) for the game above, I added sharps next to some notes and flats next to other notes and laminated the sheets. I cut them out and punched a hole near the top of each game piece.

I then copied the keyboard papers onto cardstock, laminated the sheets, cut out the pieces I needed, saved the other pieces for another game, and punched a hole at the top of each piece.  The picture below is one of 3 keyboard papers I created marking each white and black key with either a black or white asterisk. 

Keyboard Paper with Asterisks Marking Notes

I spaced out the magnetic hooks onto the board and hung the grand staff notes from the hooks. I set up the step ladder, had my students step up to reach the board, gave them the keyboard game pieces, and told them to match the pieces in their hands to the pieces on the board by hanging their pieces on top of the matching pieces on the board like the picture below.

Other ideas for this game would be to match white notes to letter names, C Position staff notes (no added sharps or flats) to keyboard pieces, intervals drawn on the staff to the names of the intervals, primary chords drawn on the staff to the name of those chords, and musical terms (pictures to names of those pictures).

Alright, until next time.  Piano blogger signing off............








Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Virtual Piano Lessons: How to make online lessons fun!

 Hi Folks, Here are a few ideas to make virtual piano lessons fun and engaging for your students! I hope you see some new things that will help generate even more ideas for your own students!  The moment you call something a game your students immediately change their frame of mind!  Game equals fun equals happiness (that's if they've been keeping up with their studying of musical terms and notes).  The "games" help break up the monotony of a lesson (especially one that's online) as well as let's me know if they've been studying what they need to. I hope you see a few ideas that are new and more importantly that will generate even more ideas from you for your own students!  If a few of my ideas inspire you to come up with some of your own please share them.  I'd love to hear from you! 1. Showing musical terms to your students (Picture above) I have terms for every level that I teach.  All I do is set my timer for a minute or two, show one

Teaching with a Piano Mat

So I was wondering what to write about today and I came across my piano mat that I bought 5 years ago.  I had to replace the batteries and thought, "Hmm, I could write about all the wonderful uses this mat has".  I absolutely love this piano mat.  I bought mine at US Toys® in Frisco, TX for $40.  Yes, I know, $40 is a bit steep but I tell you what,  I don't regret this purchase one bit!  This is the first time in 5 years.....5 YEARS that I've had to change 4 AA batteries out and it's in perfect condition!  It's a very well made product. I've used this mat to reinforce the teaching of white notes by holding up letters names of piano keys that my students needed to locate and play on the mat with their feet!  The kiddos can change the way the mat sounds by choosing different instruments like a horn, guitar, trumpet, banjo, xylophone, etc. They have played simple songs from their lesson books with this mat.  I've used it to teach intervals, test s

A Valentine's Day Game: Candy Cup Throw

Hi All!  This week my kiddos will be playing a game I thought up while walking through the aisles of a local "Dollar" store. I LOVE the "Dollar" store!  I bought 2 packs of candy cups and 1 pack each of red and pink plastic hearts. The other materials I used were half a poster board, markers, velcro dots, plus a Valentine's Day cup (from a set of 12 I bought a few years ago). Whether this new game's a favorite among my students or not is yet to be seen but hopefully it'll be a big hit. I'll let you know what worked and what didn't after this week. I adhered 10 candy cups with velcro dots to poster board that I cut in half.  I decorated it with markers, gathered the plastic pink and red hearts in the Valentine's Day cup and "Voila"! The Game:  Each student will be given a cup filled with plastic hearts.  The game itself will be placed either on the floor or on a table 1-2 feet away from them depending on the age of the child; clo