Before having students sightread, what do you say/do with them to introduce a new piece?  I’d love to hear your ideas.

Here’s some things I’ve tried:

• Scan the piece before playing it.  Ask the student what s/he notices about the piece.  Together, look for key/time signature changes, places where the hand(s) move to other registers on the keyboard, etc.  Ask the student specific questions: “Do you see anywhere else in this piece where this pattern/theme occurs?” or “Can you point to all the places where there is an interval of a fifth?”
• Count and clap the rhythm of the piece, while singing the pitches (with your help).  I’ve found this to be very helpful with young beginner students who are not yet accustomed to sight-reading.  The rhythm practice is always beneficial – but interestingly enough, I’ve found that singing the pitches helps them learn how to “hear” the pitches in their head when looking at a sheet of music (thus it is an ear training exercise too).  It also helps students get an idea of what the piece sounds like.
• Discuss the piece’s contextual background.  This involves talking about the title/subject of the piece, the composer of the piece, and/or the historical background of the piece (i.e., what period of musical history was it written).  This mostly applies to classical pieces, but it may also work well with pieces that have a historical subject or reference (e.g., a minuet).
• Discuss the compositional techniques and composer’s intentions. For example, if a piece is about a popcorn, we will discuss how we can create the right mood and energy level to create the effect of popcorn popping.  We would also discuss how the composer used certain articulations, note values, dynamics, etc., to help create that effect.  For another example: the Primer level of the Faber Piano Adventures has a piece called “Copy Cat.”  We first establish what it means to be a copycat, and then we look at the piece to find where the “copying” occurs.  With beginner/elementary level pieces, I will often use the title/subject of the piece and its corresponding illustration as a launching point for discussing certains aspects of the piece.

Going through one or more steps such as these with the student helps establish good habits towards becoming a better sightreader.  As a bonus, discussing with the student things like the contextual background and the compositional techniques of the piece may help them get excited about practicing the piece at home.  How do you introduce new pieces to students?

Photo credit: John… in 3D | CC 2.0

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“Listen & Sign” Game Printable

This printable corresponds to the game originally described in this post – a game I used in a Piano Mini-Camp held about a month ago.

This game is a nice and quiet game – but still loads of fun! – for students to play.  This game may be best for small groups of students (3-5), simply because you need to print and assemble enough signs so that each student has their own pair of signs (one Different/Same sign, and one Major/Minor sign).

Directions for playing the game follow the assembling instructions below.

Game Objective:

• To develop the students’ aural skills for discriminating “different” and “same” musical examples as well as “major” and “minor” musical examples.  

Instructions for assembly:

• Print the pdf file.
• Cut out each sign.  Be careful not to cut on the line the long vertical line on the page – that is the folding line!  Only cut along the line that separates the Major/Minor sign from the Same/Different sign.  (See photo at the right to see correct cut-out of the Major/Minor sign.)  Laminating the signs at this step is recommended.
• Using large wooden sticks, create handles using craft glue or super glue.  If you find wooden sticks that are large enough (sometimes called “puppet sticks”), all you will need to do is glue each stick inside the fold of the sign.  Because I was unable to find large enough wooden sticks to do this, I had to get creative.  =/  To get a better idea of how I created my handles, take a look at the collage picture below.  To create each handle, I used three-and-a-half wooden sticks, layered in the manner pictured in order to increase durability.  It’s not ideal, but it works.

Click to enlarge.

“Listen & Sign” Game Directions:

These directions might seem rather complicated, but actual gameplay is pretty easy:

1. Give each student a two-sided sign that read, “Same” and “Different.”
2. At the piano, play two examples of a melody, rhythm, or succession of chords.
3. Instruct the students to identify whether the two examples were the same or different by holding up their sign with the correct side facing you.
4. Continue playing pairs of examples for the students.  Sometimes play the examples the same, and sometimes make them different in some way.  Instead of always making the examples different by changing the notes you play, you may also variate the examples in other ways, such as: forte vs. piano; staccato vs. legato; high vs. low register on the piano; etc.  After the students correctly identify each example as same or different using their signs, you may wish to ask the students to explain how the examples they heard were different.
5. After 5-7 minutes, swap out the Same/Different signs for the Major/Minor signs.
6. As described in steps 2 and 4, play musical examples on the piano for the students – but this time, students only have to identify whether they are major or minor.  Examples can be melodies, chords, five-finger patterns, scales, arpeggios, etc.

I hope you enjoy the game!

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Rhythm Dictation Game

This rhythm dictation game by Natalie was a real hit with the students!  I printed off two sets of cards and put the students into groups of two so that they could work together.  Here’s how the game works:

• Instruct the students to sort/spread out the cards on the floor so they can see the different rhythmic value options.
• Clap a rhythm for the students.  Instruct them to listen and be able to clap it back to you before beginning to dictate the rhythm using the cards.  This may take a few listens before they can clap it back accurately.
• Tell students to work together within their team to dictate the rhythm using the cards.

I tried to clap rhythms according to the approximate level of the groups of students I was teaching, and increased the difficulty of each rhythm as they became accustomed to the process.  I also tried to vary the time signatures between 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4.  I kept the rhythms to just 2 measures long, unless we were in 2/4 time or unless the students were more advanced.

I think it’s important to have the students be able to clap the rhythm back in its entirety before beginning to dictate it using the cards, because it helps increase their musical memory.  Otherwise, they will dictate only 1 or 2 beats at a time, and constantly be asking you to “do it again!”  If they can remember it themselves, they can then re-clap it to themselves as needed as they work on dictating it.

On the last of day of camp, the students had just made their own egg shakers during the opening fifteen minutes of camp – so I had them “shake” their rhythm instead of clapping.

In retrospect, I recommend removing all the rhythm value cards that the students won’t be using.  The beginner students were sometimes distracted and confused by the dotted quarter notes and single eighth notes (which they have not learned yet).  Simpler is better when it comes to beginners!

The students absolutely LOVED playing this game, and I think it was very valuable for them because it not only builds their inner musical ear/musical memory, but also builds their understanding of how rhythms and time signatures work.  (Thanks Natalie!)

With the older students on the last day of camp, I had them dictate rhythms on paper using Natalie’s Rhythm Dictation worksheet instead of using the cards from the game.  It was a great way to build upon what they had been doing the past two days.

Listen & Sign Game

This game is one I created myself: a Listen & Sign game (for lack of a better title.  Ideas, anyone?).

This game was a welcome relief from the previous activities because it was much quieter!  The students tended to get excited and a little bit loud with the last game (which I didn’t mind very much because they were learning and having fun).  However, it was also really nice (for me) to have a quiet game too!

Each student was given a two-sided sign that read, “Same” and “Different.”  At the piano, I played two examples of a melody, rhythm, or succession of chords and the students were instructed to identify whether the two examples were the same or different.

This game was a great way to pull together the various activities we did over the three days and review them in a different format.   I played 5FPs and scales, varying them by making one major and one minor, in order to pull from / build on the gem notes on staff & keyboard activity we did earlier in the day.  And the rhythmic examples related to the rhythm dictation game we played.  I also varied the examples using forte versus piano, high versus low register, legato versus staccato, etc.  After holding up their signs to identify whether the examples were the same or different, I asked them to tell me how the examples were different.

I also created signs that read “Major” and “Minor” which we tried out after using the “Same” and “Different” ones.  Again, I played 5FPs and scales, but mostly I played little melodies/ditties.  The students loved it when I played the opening four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth.  =)

This game moves pretty quickly – I wouldn’t recommend doing it for more than 5-7 minutes otherwise you may lose the students attention.

Coming soon: a new printable and a short tutorial with pictures explaining how to create your own set of signs for the Listen & Sign game!

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Wendy also created a great handout that you can give to your students, to assign them tunes to play by ear, harmonize it, transpose it, and do something creative with it.  This handout is available on this post (the link to the actual handout is located just underneath the video).  Be sure to check it out!

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What to tell the student:

1. Where to begin.  Example: “Start with finger 3 on Middle C.”
2. The first interval.  Example: “The first interval is a fourth.”
3. Which keys they will use to play the song.  Example: “You will be using the notes A, B, and C.”

Familiar tunes to assign:

The easiest songs are those that can by played entirely on the black keys, such as:

• Old MacDonald Had a Farm (start on F#)
• Hot Cross Buns (Bb)
• Mary Had a Little Lamb (Bb)
• The Famer in The Dell (C#)

Next, assign songs that stay within the five-finger position:

• When the Saints Go Marching In
• Ode to Joy
• Jingle Bells (chorus)

Then, assign songs that utilize the entire scale:

• Away in a Manger

Harmonizing familiar tunes:

Once the student has basically mastered playing familiar tunes by ear, the next step is for them to harmonize melodies by ear, using tonic, dominant, and subdominant accompaniments.

Songs using tonic and dominant:

• Itsy Bitsy Spider
• Merrily We Roll Along
• London Bridge
• Skip to My Lou

Songs using tonic, dominant, and subdominant:

• When the Saints Go Marching In
• Amazing Grace
• Bingo

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Here’s a link for you……www.musictheory.net  

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