Games for Group Piano Lessons-Just ask the kids!

I was setting up my music room at school for what I call “game day” with my 3rd grade students. I save game day for the end of the school year because the games are a conglomeration of what I have taught all year. They cover topics such as: note value, music symbols, names of lines and spaces, solfeggio, tempo, dynamics, etc. I have created between 10 and 12 games that I scatter about the room. The student are divided into groups with 2 or 3 children per group. They then rotate around the room about every 8-10 minutes to play different games. The kids love it and have worked cooperatively solving problems and reviewing vocabulary. It really is great to see it in action.

Sometimes when a group finishes a game earlier than others they come to ask what they should do next. I then make up a variation of the game so that they are occupied while they are waiting. What’s better though is when I see the kids making up a different game with the game parts. They have given me some good ideas! The other day one little girl was asking how I created the games and came up with the ideas. She asked because she thought of a game to teach note value. It really was a brilliant game she created. Together we brainstormed ideas and variations for her new game.

I’m not going to write about it now because I am preparing to teach at the Kingston’s Suzuki Institute in a couple of weeks and plan to use some of her ideas. I’ll report of the results in a later post.

But the moral of this post is- teachers can learn from their students. I have often heard this statement but don’t encounter it too much after having taught for eons. Need ideas for group lessons? Just ask your students!

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The January Practice Slump

It’s that time of year. Living in New York, winter has set in. Daylight hours are minimal and hours of sunlight are at a premium. January is typically, for me, the month I choose to hibernate. Really, the only things I am remotely interested in are eating, sleeping, staying warm, and then eating again.

It is no wonder that it is the month which seems to be the one in which my students practice the least. I have mentioned in other posts that I support bribery which is why January is ‘Practice Contest’ month in my studio.

Starting at the first lesson of the month, I have my students log their practice minutes weekly. At their lessons we chart their minutes for 6 weeks (ok.. a bit longer than January). Here the student can see their progress and that of the others in the studio. I want them to compete with others, but more importantly, I want them to compete against themselves to log more minutes than the week before.

I am not a big supporter of competition, but to me this seems harmless.
They are not competing to play better than others, just to give more effort. When we look at the minutes I do not point out that student X played more than student Y. What I comment on is the particular student’s weekly progress. For some, it’s eye opening. When I break down the fact that 210 minutes breaks down to only 30 minutes a day some are really surprised.

The contest lasts 6 weeks for a couple of reasons:

1. It starts with a new year, so maybe for some a fresh start. It ends just before a school holiday.

2. It shows a realistic view of the amount of time a child devotes to piano and sometimes unveils a pattern in their habits .

3. In a span of 6 weeks, there will be at least one week when a child is too busy with other things to devote time to piano or a period where a child is ill and is not able to practice. That brings another realistic element to the chart.

Students are grouped in two divisions according to age, not ability. What is the prize? Nothing big. In the past it has been a coupon for an ice cream cone or for pizza at our local stores. But as we all know, that’s not the point. Some students really get into it and are really excited for me to hear their work. Others, who practice all the time anyway, just keep doing their best. And for some, it is a real slap of reality; they are shocked at how much others practice and how little they do. I find it all interesting.

If you want to know the results, I will report mid-February. So as always, please keep dropping in.

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Building Technique Through Chocolate

Great title, huh?  Sometimes my spontaneity leads to my best teaching moments.  Last night’s lessons were priceless.

For the Christmas holidays I have a whimsical snowman holding a dish of candy which sits on my piano.  It’s funny to see the kid’s reactions to it.  Last night one of my little ones saw it the minute he sat on the bench and his eyes were so big I thought they would pop out of his head.  So, I asked him to play a piece and maybe he would earn a piece of chocolate.  He played it as fast as he could.  But, expecting a bit more, I told him that his performance was a good warm up.  I then sprinkles the little colorfully wrapped chocolates all over the keys.  I said if he could play the piece without a mistake all the candy was his.  He thought it was a great game and played well.  Of course, the candy was his. We then put it on the side of the piano to continue the lesson.  During the lesson, all my requests were prefaced by, “if you can do this, you can eat one of your candies.”  We accomplished so much!  I felt sorry for the parents having to take him home to bed after I pumped him with candy!

The fun wasn’t over yet; next was his older brother. His lesson began with scales.  This particular student is extremely bright and talented, but likes to play fast, which compromises his accuracy.  I told him for every scale he played perfectly he would win a chocolate, but if it was not perfect, his dad earned the candy.  He loved the game (he’s 15 yrs. old).  But he confessed that his real  incentive was trying to not let his dad earn candy!  We upped the stakes going from one octave to two octave scales which resulted in two candies for accuracy.

The next game was for the older brother to earn candy with sight reading, one piece for perfect notes, two pieces if he counted it aloud as he sight read.  We all had so much fun and so many laughs.  It was wonderful to see the two boys and dad munching on their way out the door and big strides in musicianship were made.

Ya gotta love the holidays!

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Painting Pictures Through Music

I love and respect art, and have found that painting a story during piano lessons is a very useful tool.

Varlery Lloyd Watts, concert pianist and teacher from Canada (she’s the performer of the Suzuki piano literature) is exceptional in her field for creating stories around the pieces she plays. Often in concert she will begin by telling the audience a story she created about a piece. She will tell the story and insert snippets of the piece so her audience is able to correlate the visual idea to the aural. It’s a great way for audience members of all musical backgrounds to get more involved with the music by providing a heightened opportunity of listening.

Valery does this also with her piano students. In master classes one will often hear her say, “When I hear that music it makes me think of…”. Then she proceeds to further her picture with the student and collaborate ideas. She is a master at this technique.

Although my stories are a bit less entertaining than hers, I love using this technique with students.
Here’s why:
1. It uses the right brain instead of the left. So often teachers say, “play forte here, add a ritard there….” Wouldn’t it be more fun to say, “play like a happy giant here who is slowing down to capture an annoying bird”?
2. When thinking a story the child’s brain focuses on the story instead of technical points, over all, creating a performance that includes more passion.
3. It helps the child get the big picture which brings unity to the entire piece. I especially love creating stories to sonatinas because of their structure. They lend themselves easily to a beginning, middle and end.
4. It gives incentive to practice. I would much rather think about practicing a piece about a princess who gets rescued by a handsome prince than think about watching my hand position, the exposition, or the diminuendo, etc.
5. It brings creativity and fun to the lesson.
6. It gives the child another tool to use when practicing. I have had students come to me with stories they created. My daughter has told me she uses the story technique when she goes to concerts and creates stories in her head while listening.

What I also like to do is start a piece with a story and then have the student finish it themselves for the next lesson.  It almost always results in a more passionate performance.

So grab your paint brush and give it a go!

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Raisins: The Piano Practice Food of Choice

Although you may not be old enough to remember the dancing raisin commercial, you are probably wise enough to know the benefits of raisins. These little gems are “nature’s candy”; an antioxidant, they help to keep the blood clean and flowing, help ward off osteoporosis, and help with eye sight and oral hygiene. They are obviously a must in one’s diet. In our family, they were a must at the piano too.

In raising our first child, I was a purist in far too many ways. I would glare at the person in the grocery store who bought paper diapers or canned baby food. I would only buy educational toys. I refused to use a baby swing because my daughter might have dosed off and lost precious learning time. AND…. I had my daughter believing that raisins were candy. Needless to say, I was far more relaxed with my second child. But, that’s how raisins found their way to our piano.

I was looking for a repetition reward system. Raisins being my daughter’s favorite food, I decided to see if a bit of a bribe would work. I placed five raisins on the side of the piano and told her that she could eat one after each repetition. No problem! Lots of fun! Until…. she tired of that. On another day, five raisins again. But this time she had to transfer the raisins to the other side and then eat them all at the same time after all repetitions were complete. Then…… instead of her removing her hands to move a raisin, after each repetition I would pop one in her mouth. Of course each repetition got faster and faster, which made the game funny and streamlined the practice.

The whole idea was fun and established delayed gratification. As my daughter grew older I would see her at times with food at the piano on reserve as her personal reward. I taught this idea to piano students and found out this year that a graduated piano student took chocolate to work with her to reward herself at different intervals. I felt like she had taken some of my teaching with her as an adult.

I never used raisins to practice with my son; we used chocolate!

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Fortune: A Fun Practice Game You’ll Love

Do you remember making this little fortune game when you were a child? Read on to hear my practice brainstorm!

I was teaching at the Suzuki Kingston Institute in Canada last summer. I was assigned a very bright little 7 year old girl who was not only creative, but hyper and her own boss! After our first lesson, I knew I had to come up with an idea that would spike her interest as well as let her know I was in charge!

At the next lesson I asked her to play a piece that she had at the first lesson that I knew she could play well. Then I asked her if she could play it with her tongue sticking out. That really got her attention! She liked that idea very much and did it. Then I asked her if she could play the piece standing on one foot, kneeling on the floor, while whistling, etc. (I think you’ve go the idea) To my delight, I captured her attention for the entire lesson and she, her dad, the audience and I were laughing the whole time.

For her assignment, I told her that she had to come up with at least 3 bizarre things to do while she played the piece at the next lesson. During these lessons, little did I realize the creativity of her dad.What I didn’t know was this little girl loved making fortunes (the paper game in the photo) and spent much time playing with them. Her dad came up with the idea of having her create one for the next lesson of things she had to do while playing her piece for me.

The creative juices flowed and the little girl went to work, not only making the fortune, but also practicing with it to impress me! Needless to say, when she presented it to me at her next lesson she had mastered her piece and was able to perform it doing really crazy things. All the kids in the room wanted to try it! We laughed and had so much fun!

The next day, all the kids started making them. I still haven’t figured out how to fold the paper into a fortune, but I pass the good fortune of the game onto teachers and parents. To think, piano practice tips from a 7 year old and a very creative dad!

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Scramble: A Practice Game

Children generally don’t know how to practice the music their teacher expects them to accomplish. Even the most enthusiastic child usually practices by starting at the beginning of the piece and playing through until it sounds decent. Playing a game called “Scramble” can be a lot of fun and help kids know how to practice.  This is one I learned from my dear friends Carole Bigler and Valery Lloyd Watts at the Kingston Suzuki Institute.

When beginning a new piece, divide the piece into what we call “scramble numbers”. (I circle these numbers to differentiate them from fingering numbers). The scrambles can be of any length, but they should make musical sense; in an early piece, they could be divided by phrases, in an advanced piece, such as a sonata, by the theme, development, coda for example.

Children then use those small bits to practice. One day the child might start practice with scramble #4, then jump to #3 then to #8. They might choose to do the left hand of scramble #1 and the right hand of #5. It really doesn’t matter!

Once scramble sections are provided, here are some ways to use them:

1. At the beginning of a practice, play the entire piece through. Find the scramble number that needs the most work. Go directly to that number and work it until it is acceptable. Then go to the next section that needs the most work. At the end of the practice session, play the piece through again to decide which scramble number to start on the following day.

2. Using a deck of cards, take out of the deck the number of scrambles that are in the piece. Take out a red and black of each number. (for example, if there are 10 scrambles in the piece take out cards 1-10- a red and black of each number) Shuffle the cards. Turn the cards upside down and choose one. Black cards are left hand, red cards are right. So, let’s say a red 5 is drawn. The child would practice the right hand of scramble 5.

3. Same game as above, only take one card of each number. When the number is drawn, the child plays that scramble hands together.

4. Same game as #2 and #3. Add a face card to the deck. When that is drawn, the student has to play the entire piece. Add another face card and the student can play any scramble # they want. Add the joker and the parent has to play the piece. haha

5. Play the same game as above, without using the music! Yes, I mean from memory!

6. At the lesson, I keep a deck of cards at the piano to play these games. Then I ask the kids if they want to gamble. The answer is always “yes”. I have the students choose a card. Whatever number they choose is how many times they have to practice a certain scramble # each day. The beauty of this is that I assign the sections. Let’s say that scramble #1 is easy for the child. When the child draws a low card, that’s the scramble I assign. Let’s say the child draws a face card (all face cards = 10) I then assign the most challenging scramble to that card. It’s brilliant! The kid thinks they are choosing their destiny! haha Parents love this game because at home, if the child complains, the parents just say that it was their luck!

What are the benefits of scramble?

1. It’s a game and children love games. It makes practice fun.

2. It takes time and adds to the bulk of practicing making the practice more thorough.

3. It aids in memorization. The child can also memorize in small chucks and not be overwhelmed when asked to memorize.

4. It helps in performance. Because the child has worked in small units, they can visualize the small units during the performance.

5. It can rescue a child if a memory lapse occurs in performance. Let’s say that the child is performing and has a memory lapse in scramble #3. Instead of panicking, the child can make a quick, calm choice. He can try the scramble again, go to scramble #2 and hope he can play through, or ditch the scramble and go to scramble #4 to avoid the situation all together. (we all know how painful it is when a child has a memory lapse during performance and starts over at the beginning!)

6. It aids in learning how to analyze the piece, which also aids in learning the piece faster.

I think that about sums it up. Practice should be fun not only for the child but for the teacher and parent too. It’s our job as educators to show kids how to practice and have fun at the same time.

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Music Computer Games for Kids

Without a doubt, kids love to spend time on the computer. As parents, choosing creative solutions to channel this desire is important.

The link below is to my blackboard site. Blackboard is a site offered to teachers to use as an enrichment tool along with their teaching. I bring laptops into my music classes to have the kids log on and play games or do research to enhance my lessons. The kids love it, and even during their sessions with their computer teacher they ask if they can go onto my site.

Just click the link below. That will take you to Mrs. Frack’s Music Class. Feel free to browse any category. But external links is where the music games are located. They are entered by grade level but can be interchanged and fun for all ages.

As a review:

1. Click the link below

2. Click the purple button which says “external links”

3. Click on a grade level.

That’s it! Remember, the games are fun for all ages. So give it a go!

Music Games

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