Making piano lessons fun and engaging!

Wow!  It's been a while since I've blogged.  I hope everyone is enjoying this spring weather.  I know I am.  I am SO proud of my students who took the statewide theory test this past February!  Way to go for receiving scores of 95% and better!  Also, congratulations to my students who participated in the winter festival who received "Excellent",  "Superior", and "Superior +" ratings! I found that testing my students with quick fun games most every lesson really helps them retain information from week to week.  Here is a matching game I made up using multi-colored pegs purchased from "U.S. Toys" (intersection of Independence and Parker Ave.) or www.cptoys.com .  They remind me of shish kabobs when they're put together so I named this game Key" bobs. Ha! Funny, right? OK, maybe not that funny but I thought it was a cute name for it.  Anyway, I drew or wrote musical terms on a sheet of blank sticker paper and...

I have all sorts of blank grand staffs in my studio of varying sizes from business card sized to poster board to one grand staff that takes up the entire floor length of my foyer.  By now you already know that I LOVE places like Dollar and party stores.  My favorite place of all which is a few minutes from where I live that I consider a teacher's paradise is called U.S. Toys (CPToys online) right next to LaserWorld.  I go in there focused on getting only one or two items that I need and end up walking out with a bag full of stuff....sigh.  Sometimes, for inspiration, I just walk up and down the aisles thinking of what games I could make up with the stuff they have.  This activity came from one of those such aisle walks. I saw these cool plastic party favor mazes (first picture) and at the time I knew it could be used for something musical but didn't know what.  They were cheap enough so I bought them!  A few weeks later the idea came to me! ...

 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.