The point of the game is to match each car and sign to its proper place on the road where the rhythm value’s names are.  It’s a great game that only takes a minute or two, so it’s perfect for the end of the lesson where you have a little bit of extra time.  It would also work well to keep a copy of this game in your studio’s waiting room area.

When I first tested out this game with a student, he said, “There should be another level where it’s harder.”  That’s when I added the street signs.  :)  So, to follow his suggestion, first ask your student to match the cars.  When they are able to do that successfully, clear the road and add the signs to make the game a little harder.

To download the pdf for this game, visit the Printables > Games page and scroll down to the M’s for “Music Motor Match.”  Enjoy!

Related Posts:

• Rhythm Value Cards for Dictation and More
• Make Me A Rhythm! game
• “Musical Hopscotch” game
• Just Added: Rainy Rhythm Game
• Just Added: The Rhythm Magnet Game

[Visit Music Motor Match – A Rhythm Matching Game to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

My favorite part about these cards is that their sizes are appropriate to show the number of beats each kind of note receives.

I printed my cards on colored cardstock so they are color-coded: green = 1 beat, pink = 1.5 beats, blue = 2 beats, orange = three beats, red = four beats, and yellow = 1/2 beat.  I printed the barlines and time signatures on white cardstock.  I printed and cut enough cards for two complete sets, since I wanted to play a game with two teams at my group lesson.  I also laminated all the cards — which was VERY time consuming, but worth it because I plan to use these a lot in future years!

The pdf contains many advanced rhythms, including sixteenth notes, dotted-eighth sixteenths, eighth note with two sixteenths, etc.  There’s even eighth note triplets and quarter note triplets.  I recommend giving students only the cards they’ll need for the activity you have planned.  I keep the advanced cards in a separate zipper bag from the basic rhythms to make things easier.

These cards have many uses, but here are two quick ideas to get you thinking:

1. The team-based rhythm dictation game I described in this post.  I’ve done this activity with my homeschool music class too, but with no teams or points.  The students simply work together to notate the rhythms they hear.
2. In the private lesson, have students create their own rhythms using the cards and then clap/tap them to see how they sound.  When a student is learning a new rhythm, sometimes the best thing to do is get them away from the piece and focus completely on rhythm!

To download this free pdf, visit the Printables > Games page and scroll down to the R’s for “Rhythm Value Cards for Dictation and More.”

Enjoy, and please let me know what creative ways you find to use these cards!

Related Posts:

• Music Motor Match — A Rhythm Matching Game
• Make Me A Rhythm! game
• “Musical Hopscotch” game
• Just Added: Rainy Rhythm Game
• Just Added: The Rhythm Magnet Game

[Visit Rhythm Value Cards for Dictation and More to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

This worksheet introduces the idea of identifying the space notes on the staff using the mnemonics FACE and All Cows Eat Grass.  These are the only two mnemonics I use.  I don’t teach separate mnemonics for the line notes anymore (like Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge or Great Big Dogs Fight Animals) because it’s simply too much to try to keep 4 different mnemonics straight!  I have found that it’s easier for students to remember just two mnemonics and then learn to jump up a step from the nearest space note to identify a line note.

To download, visit the Printables > Worksheets page and scroll down to the I’s for “Identifying Space Notes on the Staff.”  Enjoy!

Related Posts:

• Just Added: “Gallery of Music” Symbol Drawing Worksheets
• Just Added: Treble & Bass Clef Worksheet
• Just Added: Introduction To The Staff Worksheet
• Just Added: Musical Terms Worksheet #2
• Just Added: Musical Terms Worksheet #1

[Visit Music Worksheet: Identifying Space Notes on the Staff to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

The Basics

In Wendy’s own words:

“Rhythm Menagerie is designed to take away the distractions of note reading, articulation, and other music concepts so that students can focus on having fun while strengthening their rhythm!”

Rhythm Menagerie is a 93-page pdf for teachers to use with their students.  The license permits teachers to print as many copies as they wish as long as they are using it with their own students.  Rhythm Mengerie is for sale on Wendy’s website for $34.99.  (Wendy has kindly offered to give Color In My Piano readers a limited-time discount, however — read to the bottom of this post to learn more!) 

Organization

Rhythm Menagerie is divided into eight units:

1. Quarter & Half Notes
2. Whole Notes
3. Dotted Half Notes
4. Quarter Rests & Ties
5. Half & Whole Rests
6. Eighth Notes
7. Eighth Rests
8. Dotted Quarters

Wendy varies the time signatures between 3/4 and 4/4 (and some 2/4 too) throughout the units.  At the end of each unit, there is a certificate for the teacher and student to fill out.

Each unit is further divided into 3 levels of rhythms.  Each level is three pages long, which a page devoted to:

1. Single Line Rhythms
2. Two-Handed Rhythms
3. Fun With Sounds

I really like the “Fun With Sounds” pages!  Students are encouraged to snap, tap, clap, play, or whatever to make the rhythms more challenging and exciting!

Appearance

The layout is attractive, colorful, and easy to read — including the music notation.  Each unit uses a different color as the background color.  Various pages through Rhythm Menagerie feature pictures of animals and fun facts about them, such as owls, wallabies, wolves, mountain hares, and more.

Some Notes about Printing

Wendy suggests using Rhythm Menagerie in group settings as well as for private piano study.  To do this, the teacher could print one or more master copies of the whole book to keep in the studio for group classes.  Wendy shares a great video with pictures and clips of her students using Rhythm Menagerie during the summer camp she held last year.

I love this idea, especially the thought of doing the “Fun With Sounds” pages with a group of students!  Because I do not currently own a color printer, I decided to check with my local print shop to see if they could print and bind the book for me.   They quoted about $50 to get the booklet printed in color and spiral bound.  (Color prints cost $0.45 each, and the pdf is about 100 pages long. The binding only costs about $5.  Those copies sure add up!)  Because of the expense, I haven’t made my studio copies yet but I hope to eventually (I plan to buy a color printer before my summer camps).  And so, for now I’ve only been using Rhythm Menagerie in private lessons and have been printing it out unit-by-unit in black-and-white for my students as needed.

One other note: if your printer is not a borderless printer (such as mine), there will be a white margin all the way around the page and the page numbers will be cut off.  I consider this to be a minor inconvenience, however, and I have been writing the page numbers back in myself by hand.

Final Thoughts

I have been using Rhythm Menagerie with a handful of my private students for a few months now.  I assign them one page per week as Wendy suggests (which is 4 rhythm exercises each 4 bars in length), and I require that they write the counts under the notes and count aloud as they tap or play the rhythms.  I like this approach because it requires minimal time out of the lesson or the practice time each week, but over time makes a big difference because they are doing rhythms regularly!  I am already observing improvement in my students’ rhythm skills!

Wendy has kindly offered a promo code for Color In My Piano readers who are interested in purchasing Rhythm Menagerie!  Enter the code “Colorinmypiano” before March 30, 2011 and you’ll receive $5 off.  Click here to learn more about Rhythm Menagerie.

Full disclosure: I wrote this honest review after Wendy kindly sent me a complimentary copy of Book 1.

Related Posts:

• Music Motor Match — A Rhythm Matching Game
• Rhythm Value Cards for Dictation and More
• Rollin’ Rhythms Worksheet Activity
• Christmas Rhythm Learning Moments
• Make Me A Rhythm! game

[Visit Review: Rhythm Menagerie by Wendy Stevens to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

I was inspired to create this set of worksheets after I saw a math worksheet on Pinterest that involved rolling the dice, recording what was rolled, and adding up the numbers.  Here’s a musical version!  I used this worksheet with my homeschool music class last week, and they really enjoyed it.

You’ll just need to create a rhythm die using a wooden cube or foam cube.  Students are instructed to roll the die, write down what they roll, and build measures.  If the note they roll is too big to fit in the measure they are working on, they must re-roll until the right one is rolled.  When each line is complete, students can clap and count the rhythm to see how it sounds.

The pdf contains 4 worksheets:

• 4/4, 3/4, and 2/4 time (2-measure examples)
• 4/4, 3/4, and 2/4 time (3-measure examples)
• 3/8 and 6/8 time (2-measure examples)
• 3/8 and 6/8 time (3-measure examples)

To download, visit the Printables > Worksheets page and scroll down to the R’s for “Rollin’ Rhythms worksheet activity.”  Full instructions are included in the pdf.

Speaking of the Printables page, I’ve been giving it a makeover!  I discovered that the description boxes for each file allow for html code, so I’ve been adding preview photos.  A picture speaks a thousand words, right? I think it should be much easier now to browse the downloads available over there.  :)  I have also combined some of the individual worksheets into sets if they are related (for example, the theory review tests are now all in one pdf).

Related Posts:

• The Amazing Keyboard Race
• Make Me A Rhythm! game
• “Musical Hopscotch” game
• Just Added: Rainy Rhythm Game
• Just Added: Musical Terms Worksheet #1

[Visit Rollin’ Rhythms Worksheet Activity to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

I am not the original inventor of this game, I’m sure — but in case you haven’t seen it before, here’s how to play this keyboard game with your beginner students!

I call this game “The Amazing Keyboard Race.”  It’s a great game for beginners who need more practice remembering the letter names of the piano keys.  It works well both in private piano lessons and in group classes.

Materials:

• Game pieces — enough for as many players that will be playing.  You can use colored glass gems, buttons, erasers, etc.
• A random way to choose a letter of the musical alphabet.  E.g., musical alphabet cards, a spinner, dice, or Musical AlphaGems.
• Piano keyboard or a Silent Mini Keyboard.

Gameplay:

• All game pieces start on the left side of the keyboard.
• On each player’s turn, they must randomly choose a letter of the musical alphabet (via flashcard, spinner, etc.).  Let’s suppose the first player gets an “A.”  They must move their game piece to across the keyboard to the next “A.”  If a player incorrectly identifies a key or goes to the next octave instead of finding the very next “A,” they lose their turn.
• Continue play by taking turns.  Game play ends when a player reaches the end of the keyboard!

Extensions:

• Once students are comfortable finding the piano keys when moving from left to right on the keyboard, make the game harder by making the gameplay start on the right side of the keyboard and go towards the left.
• This game is also perfect with students who have learned about sharps and flats.   Just add accidental flashcards or an accidental die to the game, so the possibilities include both black and white keys.

I created a ready-to-print pdf of the instructions above, if you are interested in downloading it.  Just visit the Printables > Games page and scroll down to the T’s for “The Amazing Keyboard Race game.”  Enjoy!

Related Posts:

• Group Piano Class Ideas
• 30 Theme Ideas for Music Studio Events
• Rollin’ Rhythms Worksheet Activity
• Musical Instruments Quizzing/Sorting game
• First Thoughts Regarding Faber’s “My First Piano Adventure”

[Visit The Amazing Keyboard Race to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

This worksheet uses dotted lines to teach the student how to draw the treble clef and bass clef. I also included a couple of illustrations in this worksheet showing the development of the clefs over the centuries. Our modern clefs still bear some resemblance to the letters G and F, which can be a helpful tool for students for remembering those landmark notes.  Students will find this bit of history interesting and memorable as they learn about the clefs!

To download this worksheet, please visit the Printables > Worksheets page and scroll down to the T’s for “Treble & Bass Clef Worksheet.”  Enjoy!

P.S.: Don’t forget to enter the giveaways from last week if you haven’t already.  Winners are going to be announced this week starting tomorrow!

Related Posts:

• Music Worksheet: Identifying Space Notes on the Staff
• Just Added: “Gallery of Music” Symbol Drawing Worksheets
• Music Motor Match — A Rhythm Matching Game
• Rhythm Value Cards for Dictation and More
• Just Added: Musical Flashcard Sorting game

[Visit Just Added: Treble & Bass Clef Worksheet to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

Happy Valentine’s Day!  I have a free printable to share today…

This is a set of simple worksheets for having students learn to draw various music symbols.  The worksheets can be used singly or in groups, depending on what concepts your students are currently learning.  I would encourage students to use colorful crayons to draw the symbols.

Here are the symbols covered on each page:

1. Quarter, half, dotted-quarter, and whole notes.
2. Quarter, half, dotted-quarter, and whole rests.
3. Single eighth note, beamed eighth notes, eighth rest, and dotted quarter note.
4. Treble clef, bass clef, staff, and grand staff.
5. Barline, double barline, repeat sign, and time signature.
6. Forte, piano, mezzo forte, and mezzo piano.
7. Sharp, flat, natural, quarter note with flat.
8. Slur, tie, staccato, accent.

If you have suggestions for more symbols to include in additional worksheets, let me know!

To download this set of worksheets, visit the Printables > Worksheets page and scroll down to the G’s for “Gallery of Music – Symbol Drawing Worksheets.”

P.S.: I received an email yesterday from the MTNA Collegiate Chapter at Butler University, asking if I’d send a link to the survey they created about online marketing for piano teachers.  They are looking for responses to help them with a session they will be presenting at the MTNA National Conference in NYC next month.  Please take a minute of your time to help them out!   http://tinyurl.com/butlersurvey2012

P.S.S.: Today is the last day to sign up to attend the MTNA National Conference at the early registration discount!  Visit mtna.org to learn more.  Hope to see you in NYC!

Related Posts:

• Just Added: Five-Finger Pattern (b’s) Review
• Music Worksheet: Identifying Space Notes on the Staff
• Just Added: Musical Flashcard Sorting game
• Just Added: Introduction To The Staff Worksheet
• Just Added: Printable Musical Dice

[Visit Just Added: “Gallery of Music” Symbol Drawing Worksheets to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

Have you ever have a student play a piece with frequent hesitations throughout, even though you know they can play much better than that?  This phenomenon can occur with all ages/levels of students.  Why does this happen?  What is going on when this happens?  This article will examine possible causes of and solutions for a lack of fluency.

A lack of fluency could be caused by a number of things: (1) a lack of the proper technique required for the executing the piece, (2) a lack of familiarity of the notes of the piece, (3) a tempo that is too fast for the student’s ability at that moment, or (4) a lack of mentally “chunking” the information on the page properly.  The analogy I use to refer to Number 4 is that the students feels like they are wearing horse blinders, or are mentally experiencing tunnel vision.

It is fairly easy to tell when Number 1 (lack of technique) is the cause of a lack of fluency: the student will be making inefficient gestures when trying to execute the passage.  Number 2 (lack of familiarity with the notes) and 3 (tempo that is too fast) are fairly self-explanatory, essentially boiling down to a lack of practice.  Number 4 (the presence of horse blinders or tunnel vision) is the one I’d like to discuss today.  It’s a less obvious fix than the others and deserves some discussion.

How do you know if a student is experiencing tunnel vision?

• You know they can play the piece better than that!  Perhaps you’ve actually heard them play the piece better before too.
• The student know s/he can play the piece much better than that.
• You’ve eliminated Numbers 1, 2, and 3 from the list above: you know they have the chops to play the piece, you know they know enough to play the notes well and can tell the student’s been practicing, and you feel that the tempo the student chose is appropriate.  When technique and practice is not the problem, then it must be a problem in how the student is perceiving the music — process of elimination.
• The student seems to be focusing on only one or two notes at a time, instead of thinking about the big picture.

How to help the student remove their blinders and break out of tunnel vision:

1. First, explain to the student that you suspect s/he is wearing blinders and/or experiencing tunnel vision.
2. Encourage and help them see the big picture.  Examine the music together to look for the overall shape of the melodic line, any patterns in the music, and any larger “chunks” of information they can create for the brain.  Mark these elements in the music together with a pencil.  Rather than focusing on only one note at a time in the line, encourage the student to allow their eyes to scan the whole line freely as needed, both ahead and behind.
3. Ask the student to play the piece again.
4. Evaluate: Was it a more fluent performance?   Did it “feel” better now that the blinders are off?  The student should feel a sense of ease and pride as they play the piece more fluently than before!

Photo Credits:

viennacafe | CC 2.0

Pimlico Badger | CC 2.0

Related Posts:

• Just Added: Printable Musical Dice
• Practice Tips: Bringing out the Melody
• Top 5 Reasons to Learn Scales
• Just Added: Five-Finger Pattern (b’s) Review
• The Amazing Keyboard Race

[Visit Teaching Tip: Achieving Fluency to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3M0_kThFIQ

HELLO SONG
Hello, it’s time,
For music class today.
Let’s have, some fun,
With ____, _____, and ______.  (Fill in blanks with students’ names.)

GOODBYE SONG
Goodbye everybody, yes indeed,
Yes indeed, yes indeed.
Let’s make music again next week,
Yes indeed my friends.
Goodbye ____.  (Fill in with student’s name. Repeat this line as needed, then sing the first 4 lines again.)

There are lots of different Hello and Goodbye Songs out there to choose from – just google it and you’ll see!  These were just two that I liked that I found somewhere online.

Related Posts:

• Music Motor Match — A Rhythm Matching Game
• Rhythm Value Cards for Dictation and More
• Music Worksheet: Identifying Space Notes on the Staff
• Review: Rhythm Menagerie by Wendy Stevens
• Rollin’ Rhythms Worksheet Activity

[Visit A Hello Song & Goodbye Song for Group Classes to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]