Making piano lessons fun and engaging!

 Happy Holidays everyone!  I hope that you are having a wonderful time with family and friends.   I received some pretty awesome gifts for Christmas this year including a few items that I'll be incorporating into my future lessons so stay tuned for some wacky ideas, games, and activities in the new year!  Are a few of your students having a little difficulty remembering the meanings of different tempo marks such as Adagio, Allegro, and Andante?  Throwing "snowballs" at varying tempos really helps my students remember which is which.  It's especially easy to get the "A" words mixed up when first learning them so I thought up this idea of  us throwing "snowballs" at each other based on which tempo mark I call out.  It's a great way to help teach and reinforce the different tempo marks. This is the perfect time of year to have an indoor "snowball fight' with your students using small styrofoam balls (about 2-21/2" in diameter) and ...

 Wow!  My students rocked the house last Friday night at their winter recital.  They did such a wonderful job.  I couldn't be more proud of them!  Now, on to more note ID games......I created this game "Note Rollers" close to 5 years ago.  It's a great game to reinforce quick note identification.  I bought a table top rubber piano from Toys R Us ® a few Christmas's ago and it has been such an asset to my piano program.  My students get a kick out of this flat rubber piano.  They think it's the coolest thing ever.  I use it for quite a few activities.  If you are interested in purchasing one of these, I'd suggest looking for sales now around the holidays.  I bought mine for half off the original price (about $13.00).  I wouldn't roll it up as they suggest since it actually damages the keys.  Keep it flat at all times.  I bought a few foam dice from a local teacher store (although I've seen them in craf...

I love thinking up ways to help my students quickly identify and locate piano notes. I came up with this game about 3 years ago and have been using it ever since. The beauty of a game like this is that it grows with your students. All you need for this game is card stock, magic markers, colored sticker dots, and a ball.  I'd suggest laminating anything you make. There's this store near to where I live that allows you to laminate your own stuff for only $.25 a foot!  I go in there at least once a week.  Great place! I lay down six to seven note cards on the floor.  Each with a  circle sticker adhered to a particular note. Then I hand my students the ball.  I hold up either a letter name or staff note (depending on their level of understanding) and they have to find the card on the floor that matches the card in my hand.  When they find it, I tell them to slam the ball down onto the card as hard as they'd like.  ...

WOW! It's been a while since I've blogged.  I just had to share this game I'm having my students play this week.  I like getting the kiddos outdoors every once in a while to take teaching beyond the four walls of my studio.  Since we're in the middle of our fall season I wanted to create an outdoor matching game where my students would match pumpkins to scarecrows.  I feel the best way to keep musical terms and note identification fresh in my students' minds is to constantly quiz them with  games. I got this idea as I was wandering the aisles of a local fabric store and spotted these amazing scarecrows.....DING!  The idea had been planted.  I then thought, "wouldn't it be cool if I could buy 10 ornamental (fake) pumpkins and have the kiddos run around my front yard matching pumpkins to scarecrows?" I kept visiting the fabric store until the scarecrows were discounted as far as they were going to go  (...

Since the weather has warmed up, my students have been blowing bubbles to the metronome beat outside. I bought a bubble pack with all sorts of different bubble wands. Even my older students enjoy this activity. They blow eighth, quarter, half, dotted half, and whole note bubbles. When blowing eighth note bubbles equip your students with one wand in each hand so they can alternate blows. I had one student dunk 5 wands in the bottle and held all five in one hand like a set of cards. This activity takes no more than two minutes of their lesson time but it adds that fun spontaneous element to the lesson. I like to use "Miracle Bubbles" brand bubbles since it coats the wands well and produces good bubbles but you can certainly make your own solution or buy these items at your local dollar store.

Phew!  What a whirlwind this past week was with my son being home sick.  He is well on his way to recovering so life can go back to normal now.  I've written out over 30 metronome rhythm sheets at this point from very simple patterns of quarter, half, and whole notes to more complex dotted quarter, eighth note, eighth rest patterns, to each hand playing different rhythm patterns at the same time.  This activity takes no more than 2 minutes of your students' instructional time and it is a great way to help your kiddos understand and develop rhythm sense.  You could have your students simply clap out the sheets while the metronome's clicking in the background but to make it even more fun you could hand them an instrument such as a tambourine, a pair of maracas, or a bongo drum to play while reading the rhythm sheets.  Have your students first read the sheet to a slow metronome beat then increase the speed and have them play the same patt...

"Splash Bombs" Here's a little metronome activity I thought of while visiting a local dollar store and hobby store.  I purchased a butterfly net and a set of throwing balls that you'd use at the swimming pool. This is the perfect time of year to visit a dollar and hobby store for summer items but if you can't find the net and balls there, places like Walmart ®, Toys R Us ®, and Target ® carry these items as well.  Give your student a set of three or four of the swimming pool balls depending on how many they can hold in their hand, put the metronome beat on a moderate speed, and have the student throw the balls in according to what note value you call.  The smaller the note value the closer you want to be to the student.  The bigger the note value, the farther away you want to be.  For instance, I hold the butterfly net pretty close to the student when I call out eighth or quarter note throws but as I call out half, dotted half, whole no...