Easter Group Lesson Fun

Yesterday afternoon I held an Easter-themed group lesson for my early elementary piano students. Even though this is my break week from normal lessons, I'd had several students inquire about group lessons, so a few weeks back I decided to schedule a special group class for the younger ones.

I had a blast, and I hope they did too. Unfortunately, I kind of forgot to take pictures once we got past the first activity...but here's the one picture I did take!

As the students arrived, we did some fun Easter worksheets from Susan Paradis' blog. I also had paper goodie bags that each student decorated. They were much more excited about decorating their goodie bags! ;)

Once everyone had arrived and had mostly finished their worksheets, we divided into 2 teams (The Dolphins and The Chocolate Bunnies) and headed outside for our first game: an Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt. I used this wonderful game from The Plucky Pianista. I gave each team the scavenger hunt sheet, and they had to search the yard for hidden eggs and find the terms. Not all of the eggs had terms inside. Some of the eggs were empty, and some had just candy. Both teams came very close to winning- but when the time was up The Chocolate Bunnies won by 1 term!

Our next game involved the rhythm eggs I posted about last week. We played a relay race. Each team had 10 eggs to sort into either a 3/4 or a 4/4 basket on the opposite side of the yard. They had to take an egg and hop like bunnies across the yard to place the egg in the correct basket. The Dolphins won this game.

Back inside, we took a break from all the games and had our performance time. I had the students write the names of their songs on index cards and place them in an Easter basket. I chose the first card, and then the student that played chose the next card and so on. While each student played, the student who had their card wrote 1 nice thing about their performance on the back of the card.

Then it was time for our final game: Pass the Easter Basket. My students did a great job defining the terms- though they found out that sometimes it's not as easy to figure out how to describe a theory term as one would think! ;) We ended up with a tie in this game.

Our final activity was a listening activity using Handel's Hallelujah Chorus. As we listened, the students drew pictures. It was fun to see the different interpretations. Some drew pictures of instruments, and one student drew a concert hall complete with singers, an orchestra, dancers, and a chandelier!

All in all, it was a fun and successful afternoon! Have you been planning any special Easter group activities with your students?

Easter Egg Rhythm Sorting Game

I'm planning a special group lesson over Easter Break week for my beginning students and in preparation I'm coming up with a few easy games that will help them review basic concepts.

This simple game helps students recognize and distinguish between 3/4 and 4/4/ time.

There are 4 pages of 'rhythm eggs', plus a blank page if you want to make up some more of your own. Simply print and cut out the eggs. Then get 2 baskets and designate 1 basket for the 3/4 eggs and 1 for the 4/4 eggs. The student must look at the card and decide which basket to place the egg into. You can do this activity individually in lessons, or as a fun group activity with 2 teams competing to see which team can get all their eggs sorted first.

You can view and print the game by going to the printables tab under "Games". Hope you enjoy this game with your students!

Musical Games for DS

I've had several discussions with parents over the past few weeks on how we can work together to motivate kids to practice and internalize what they learn in lessons. When one of my students showed up for her lessons yesterday with her DS in hand, it got me thinking, "I bet there are some great musically-oriented DS games out there!"

I took a little time to look around this morning and see what I could find, and here's what I came up with. I'd love to hear from other teachers OR students/parents who might have used these games or have others to add to the list. These would make great studio incentives if you're a teacher who uses incentive programs.

Rhythm Heaven : This game concentrates solely on rhythm, and looks to be an especially great choice for students who need a little extra work developing a good sense of pulse.

Easy Piano DS: While not as highly rated as Rhythm Heaven, this game is perfect for the creative musical student. In addition to developing musical skills, you can create and store your own compositions!

Kids Learn Music: With a 5-star rating from Amazon, this game is an excellent, interactive way to learn about music from all over the world, while improving basic musical skills.

Fun New Rhythm Instruments for the Studio!

Yes, it's recital week at the studio, but in the midst of planning group lessons and getting all the recital details taken care of, I came across a few items on Amazon that I just had to purchase for my studio!

The first was a Band-In-A-Box kit which contains a variety of musical instruments perfect for rhythm activities both in individual and group lessons.

I also picked up a set of 4 egg shakers at the same time. I've been wanting to get a few of these for some time now, and this was the perfect opportunity.

The box arrived yesterday, and while I'm dying to use them in lessons, that's going to have to wait until lessons resume after Thanksgiving, giving me lots of time to come up with some creative ways to use these instruments in lessons. :)

I'd love to hear ideas from other teachers out there. Do you ever use other musical instruments in your lessons? How do you incorporate them?

I got something else very special in the mail yesterday as well; a lovely Thanksgiving card from one of the families I teach. In the midst of a rather hectic week, it was such an appreciated gesture, and gave me the extra boost I needed as I went about my recital preparations yesterday evening.

Great Resources to Help Students Meet Their Goals

I'm having so much fun working to help each of my students meet their fall goals. If you're like me, you love a good list of free resources, so I thought I'd share some of the tools I've been using these past few weeks.

For students who noted that they wanted to improve their note reading skills, I've been using Susan Paradis' Notes in the Fast Lane. My students absolutely LOVE these worksheets, and can't wait for the time each week at their lesson when we pull these out. I laminated the sheets to save on paper, and I time my students for 90 seconds. Their goal is to complete the sheet and get at least a 22/24 to 'pass' their current level.

For students who told me they wanted to work on reading intervals, I printed and laminated Wendy Chan's Interval Snap Game. This was a HUGE hit with my students last week (thanks Wendy :) ), and a great fun off-bench activity that helped review basic intervals. We used the cards to play Go-Fish.

Several of my students noted that they wanted to get better at keeping a steady beat, so in addition to a LOT more metronome practice, I printed out Wendy Stevens' Rhythm Worksheets and made packets for my students. Each student is responsible for writing in the counts and clapping and counting OUT LOUD with the metronome.

These are just a few of the resources I've been making use of in recent weeks. Do you have any resources that have become staples in your studio? Or any resources you've been using on a regular basis this fall? I'd love to hear about those!

More Rhythm Worksheets for Beginners

Here are a few more rhythm worksheets I designed with my beginner students, and the summer practice incentive theme, in mind.

The first worksheet is a rhythm matching worksheet. Students have to add up the total number of beats on each sundae and match the correct cherry to that sundae.

The second worksheet drills time signatures. Students match the scoops of ice cream with the correct time signature.

Both worksheets are available on my printables page.

For my next project I'm hoping to come up with some good flashcard sets and games for my students that are in keeping with the summer ice cream theme. Please feel free to send along any ideas you might have!

Sprinkle Rhythm Challenge Worksheet

If you've been following my blog, you know that ice cream is the theme of my summer practice incentive. So far, my students have been super excited about earning scoops of ice cream for their cones and sprinkles and cherries for their sundaes (more on that in another upcoming post!).

In keeping with this summers' theme, I'm putting together a few more worksheets and games to use with my students over the summer months to help strengthen basic music skills. This worksheet is the first of the set and helps beginning students review their basic rhythms.

If you're interested in downloading the worksheet to use in your studio, it can be found on my printables page all the way at the bottom of the worksheets section.

I have so many ideas for worksheets and games and I can't wait to share them with my students and here on my blog over the coming weeks. As always, let me know what you think! And I'd love to hear any ideas you might have for some fun ice-cream themed summer games and worksheets!

Question of the Week: Jan. 24, 2011

To continue with this month's theme of rhythm/pulse/beat/etc...

Do you require your students to count out loud, and if so, do you have any hints/tips/ideas on how to make it something fun?

I'm hoping to get some really great tips on how to make counting less of a chore for my students!