Finger Number Flashcards for the Beginning Student

I started 2 new students this past week, which inspired me to make these flashcards to help them learn their finger numbers. It seems like every student has their own personal challenges and I try to cater to those specific needs and help them overcome those challenges. These particular students were having a bit of trouble remembering their finger numbers.

The cards are very simple and can be used for a matching game, or just to drill finger numbers during lesson time. There are 2 types of cards, with a set for RH and LH. One set that shows a hand with a finger number in the middle:

and another set with an arrow pointing to the different fingers:

These flashcards are available on my printables page under the flashcard section. Please feel free to print them and use them with your own students!

Shamrock Interval Builder Cards

We still have 1 week left to our February Valentine Note Challenge, but I'm already planning ahead for the month of March when we'll be working on emphasizing intervals.

I've got several ideas for some fun activities to help my students become better interval readers, and here's a look at the first one. I designed some basic interval drill cards that we'll be playing with over the next few weeks. The cards drill basic intervals of steps and skips, then 2nds all the way up to 7ths.

I'll be printing these out and building intervals with my student using my note gemstones. Here's how I plan to use the cards:

Step 1: Decide which intervals to drill depending on the students' level and/or intervals that might need a little extra work(beginners might just use the step and skip cards).

Step 2: Start by having the student pick a stone and place it on the left leaf.

Step 3: Have the student quickly 'complete' the clover by choosing the correct gemstone for the interval specified

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The cards are available on my Printables page under "Flashcards". Any other ideas on how these cards could be used? What fun St. Patrick's Day activities are you planning in your studio?

My Favorite Holiday Resources!

Good morning! My presence on the blog will probably be scarce as Christmas looms closer and closer, but I wanted to share a brief list of some of my favorite places for Christmas resources for my students. I've been using these worksheets and games in lessons this week, and plan to use them at our term party in just another week as well.

1) Susan Paradis' website has a wealth of Christmas-themed activities and individuals and groups alike. Check out this post for a complete list of all the Christmas materials on her site.

2) D'Net Layton has some adorable sets of flashcard ornaments and stockings that are perfect for the Christmas season.

3) Jennifer Fink at Pianimation has several excellent games and theory activities as well. All of her Christmas resources can be found in this post.

Did I miss anyone? If you know of other great resources, please let me know! Merry Christmas to you all! :)

Middle C and C Position Flashcards (Revised)

Ever had one of those moments where your best laid plans didn't quite turn out like you'd hoped? I went to print my flashcards yesterday in preparation for some games this week, and realized that the margins did not line up AT ALL! My apologies to those who may have printed them already.

I spent some time yesterday re-vamping these sets of flashcards to make sure that they lined up correctly. These new and improved sets can be found on my printables page under flashcards.

Making flashcards and worksheets is definitely a learning process for me! If anyone has tips they'd like to share, I'd love to hear from you! :)

FACE Flashcards for Treble and Bass Clef

As a relatively new piano teacher, I'm constantly in the process of developing new resources for personal use in my studio (I can't wait to see where I am 5 or so years from now- I'll have flashcards and worksheets galore! :) ).

This morning (Saturday) my hubby got called into work. I wasn't planning on doing any studio work...but I'd been itching to complete these flashcards so I started some laundry, made a cup of coffee...and voila! The flashcards are complete!

I don't know how many teachers use FACE in the bass clef to help students remember notes, but I've created a set of FACE flashcards for both bass and treble clef. This is a spin-off of a concept used by my mentor when I was student teaching. Basically, each card contains three notes from a FACE group...the goal of the student is to identify the notes as quickly as possible.

The possibilities are many and varied. You can use these cards away from the piano and have the student(s) call out the note names, you can incorporate this into an individual lesson as an activity at the keyboard by having them play the notes, you can mix and match both sets and play a matching game (if I made these cards correctly the treble and bass sets should be identical as far as note patterns go), you can use a tabletop or floor keyboard and have students place tokens on the correct keys...as I said- many and varied! And I'm sure there are many more ways they can be used as well!

I'd love to hear of any other creative ways you can think of to use these cards! They're available for download under the printables tab. Each set consists of 3 sheets- the third sheet is a template for flashcard backs- completely up to you whether you want them to have backs or not- it always helps me when I'm looking for a specific flashcard set in a hurry!