Game ideas for piano lessons

Reading notes becomes child's play - note memory

Many students find it difficult to get used to the notation at first. To be able to read music is basically no art, but it doesn't work overnight either. Prevent frustration and impatience by adding specific music reading games to your classes build in.

• You can easily create a note memory yourself. Take a large piece of white cardboard and cut out as many small squares as you want. On each square, draw 5 staves and a note, e.g. B. d 'in treble clef. Each note of the scale must be represented twice at the end. You can have others too Symbols install, e.g. B. Clef and rest mark.
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• The game works just like the well-known memory game. The cards are shuffled and distributed on a table. Now the student has to reveal two cards and check whether they have the same symbol or symbol. is the same grade. In this case he may turn over two cards, otherwise it is the teacher's turn.
• With this game you will practice quickly assigning and recognizing notes. Also, always leave the student with the appropriate grade Names to name. Ideally, he can name notes correctly at the end of the game without thinking twice.
• The advantage of the note memory is that you can easily convert it into a rhythm memory. For this game, simply write note values ​​or small rhythms on the cards. Compared to the note memory, this is the next level of difficulty, because the students have to think in larger contexts here.


Piano Pieces for Beginners Lessons - Recommendations

In piano lessons you are always with an almost inexhaustible selection of notes ...

A sound story on the piano

• If students cannot read music yet, sounds play a particularly important role. The first few hours are often used to get to know sounds and to play on the piano, both on the keys and in the interior. This can be done through trial and error or through extra-musical associations, e.g. B. happen with animal voices or thunderstorm sounds.
• You can do a sound story in the first lesson. To do this, invent a small one storywhich the student makes music by making corresponding noises on the piano.
• First of all, going to the zoo, for example, is a suitable topic, because here the pupil can use all of the animal voices discussed previously. An elephant or a hippopotamus (deep, powerful sounds), but also a kangaroo (long jumps) or a mouse (fast, quiet movement) can be implemented well on the piano.
• If you want to make the story a little more polished, you can add even more sounds and movements. The subject of the story can be B. be a walk with obstacles.
• If the student can already assign the note names on the piano, you could e.g. B. Start with the "highest c" or with the "lowest g".
• A leisurely stroll can be represented as a step movement on the piano, sometimes in one direction, sometimes in the other. B. goes back to pick some flowers.
• Depending on how dramatic the story is and how quickly something "happens", the student's ability to react is required. Moving from leisurely walking can take a wide variety of forms. Fast finger movement is combined here with a certain expression.
• In the story, for example, the walker can run away from a dog (quick steps of sound and -jumps), climb a tree (jumps upwards), fall down (glissando downwards) and make your way continue.
• Some students know immediately where they can musically intervene. If it is difficult for a student, point this out to them in the appropriate places and, if necessary, discuss them. with him, which sound suits the place.
• This game not only trains dexterity, but also creativity and the ability to improvise. It brings variety to the lesson and gives the children the opportunity to help shape the lesson themselves.

For puzzle lovers - read note words

• This game is not only suitable as an exercise in reading music. It is especially fun for students who like to puzzles and puzzles. All you need is a sheet of music paper and the tones of the music alphabet.
• In general, it is sufficient to use the root tones c, d, e, f, g, a and b. For advanced learners, however, you can also include the accidentals: c sharp, d sharp, cis, f sharp, g sharp, a sharp and his or ces, des, es, fes, ges, as and b. The more tone names are available, the more words you can form!
• Now enter a sequence of notes into the staff that will result in a word. To begin with, use easy words like "a-f-f-e", "f-e-e" or "d-a-c-h". If the student can recognize these words quickly, you will make it more difficult, e.g. B. with "g-e-h-e-g-e", "fis-c-h-e" or "a-s-c-h-e".
• Agree with the student which spellings are possible. The tone letter "es" appears in the word "ash" as a single letter "s". This increases the difficulty, but also increases the student's ambition.
• It is of course nice to change roles in between and let the student think about a word and write it down. This shows how well he has internalized both the correct spelling and the correct notation. In this way, you not only promote his knowledge of reading music, but also his language skills.
• If the supply of tone letters is no longer sufficient, you can expand the game as follows: Search take any word and write the appropriate letter where there is no note name there. Now all the student has to do is fill in the gaps in the word by reading the notes.
• The word "coffee" e.g. B. contains the letter "K", which cannot be expressed in musical notation. Write it at the beginning and let the student recognize the remaining letters "a-f-f-e-e" on the notes. The longer the words get, the more challenging the game becomes. If you have a particularly talented student, you can expand the game to complete sentences to make them even more challenging.