I recently have made what I have decided to call “Musical AlphaGems.” These fun little gems have many uses: they fit well on my DIY Silent Mini Keyboards and also work well on paper printed of the staff (such as this one by Susan Paradis, which is pictured in the second photo below).
I got the inspiration for these Musical AlphaGems from those little magnets that have been so popular over the last couple of years (see this blog article). Continue reading “DIY: Musical AlphaGems”
I recently decided that I wanted to own a set of silent keyboards for doing introductory piano activities with young children, and for using during group theory activities. Unfortunately, buying a set of silent plastic keyboards (view them at musicinmotion.com) can be a rather large studio expense. Of course, a cheap alternative would be to simply print a picture of a keyboard on paper. But there is something nice about the 3D features of a silent keyboard…so I decided to make my own. I got the idea from Anne Cosby Gaudet’s Piano Discoveries website, where she made similar keyboards with wood and foam.
My DIY (Do It Yourself) mini keyboards do not have true-to-life sized keys as the store-bought plastic silent keyboards have. However, I spent less on the supplies for making a set of six keyboards than it would have cost me to buy just one plastic silent keyboard! Here’s how I made my set of six keyboards:
Just added to the Printables > Worksheets page:
Musical Terms Worksheet #2
This worksheet is intended for elementary level students who have learned basic note values and musical terms. The first section of the worksheet, which is Fill In The Blank, reviews the 10 terms which were introduced in Musical Terms Worksheet #1. The second section, Matching, introduces seven new terms: crescendo, decrescendo, ritardando, barline, double barline, repeat sign, and time signature.
Complete list of covered in this worksheet:
Stay tuned – more muscial terms worksheets are to come in the upcoming weeks!
Just added to the Printables > Worksheets page:
Musical Terms Worksheet #1
This worksheet is intended for beginner/early elementary students who have learned basic note values and musical terms. The student is instructed to match the musical symbol pictured on the left to each corresponding term on the right. Terms covered include: treble clef and bass clef, basic rhythms (quarter note through whole note), and dynamics (piano through forte).
Complete list of covered in this worksheet:
Stay tuned – another muscial terms worksheet is to come in the upcoming weeks!
Just added to the page of free Printables:
Five-Finger Pattern Review (b’s) worksheet
This worksheet is intended as a review of all the major five-finger patterns (5FPs) with flats; however, using the “WWHW” pattern template, students can easily figure out any 5FPs that they might not already be familiar with. This worksheet will help students become more familiar with the accidentals needed for each FFP and what each FFP looks like when played on the keyboard.
A worksheet such as this works well in group lessons, or as an extra theory assignment for the private lesson.
To download, visit the Printables > Worksheets page and scroll down the F’s for the “Five-Finger Pattern Review worksheet.”
This worksheet corresponds to previously posted Five-Finger Pattern Review worksheet for FFPs with #’s.
Just added to the page of free Printables:
Five-Finger Pattern Review (#’s) worksheet
This worksheet is intended as a review of all the major five-finger patterns (5FPs) with sharps; however, using the “WWHW” pattern template, students can easily figure out any 5FPs that they might not already be familiar with. This worksheet will help students become more familiar with the accidentals needed for each FFP and what each FFP looks like when played on the keyboard.
A worksheet such as this works well in group lessons, or as an extra theory assignment for the private lesson.
Look for corresponding the Five-Finger Pattern Review worksheet for FFPs with b’s coming soon!
Just added to the Printables > Worksheets page:
Scales & Primary Chords 4 (DbC#GbF#) Worksheet
This worksheet is a continuation of set of worksheets that practice writing out scales and primary chords on the staff (click here to view the first one which is for the keys C, G, D, and F, click here to view the second one which is for D, A, E, and Bb, or click here to view the third one which is for Bb, Eb, Ab, and B).
Ideally, this worksheet is designed for the intermediate+ student who is already familiar with the scales and primary chords for the keys of Db, C#, Gb, and F# major, and perhaps could use some review in writing them out on the staff. However, this worksheet could also be used during a group lesson while introducing these ideas for the first time.
Terms/concepts covered in the worksheet:
To download, visit the Printables > Worksheets page and scroll down to the S’s for “Scales & Primary Chords worksheet.”
Just added to the Printables > Worksheets page:
Scales & Primary Chords 3 (BbEbAbB) Worksheet
This worksheet is a continuation of set of worksheets that practice writing out scales and primary chords on the staff (click here to view the first one, which is for the keys C, G, D, and F, or click here to view the second one, which is for D, A, E, and Bb).
Ideally, this worksheet is designed for the intermediate+ student who is already familiar with the scales and primary chords for the keys of Bb, Eb, Ab, and B major, and perhaps could use some review in writing them out on the staff. However, this worksheet could also be used during a group lesson while introducing these ideas for the first time.
Terms/concepts covered in the worksheet:
To download, visit the Printables > Worksheets page and scroll down to the S’s for “Scales & Primary Chords worksheet.”
One more worksheet in this set is on the way!
Just added to the Printables > Worksheets page:
Scales & Primary Chords 2 (DAEBb) Worksheet
This worksheet is a continuation of set of worksheets that practice writing out scales and primary chords on the staff (click here to view the first one, which is for the keys C, G, D, and F).
Ideally, this worksheet is designed for the intermediate+ student who is already familiar with the scales and primary chords for the keys of D, A, E, and Bb major, and perhaps could use some review in writing them out on the staff. However, this worksheet could also be used during a group lesson while introducing these ideas for the first time.
Terms/concepts covered in the worksheet:
To download, visit the Printables > Worksheets page and scroll down to the S’s for “Scales & Primary Chords worksheet.”
Two more worksheets in this set are on the way!
Just added to the Printables page: “The Listen & Sign Game.”
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. Continue reading “Just Added: “Listen & Sign” Game Printable”
In continuation of the series about music theory at our piano mini-camp, here are the descriptions of a few more of the activities we did:
Music Adventures Board Game
In my music theory classes, one of my goals was to cover as many areas within the broad scope of “music theory” as I could. The gem stones activity covered 5FPs/scales/key signatures; the rhythm dictation game covered rhythm and ear training, and the Hear & Sign game covered more ear training. This game, called “Music Adventures,” focuses mostly on music terminology, but also on note reading and identifying intervals.
You may recognize this game from the picture on the right: I created this piano-bench-sized board game earlier this year, and it is available for download on the Printables > Other Resources page.
To prepare for this game, we first quickly reviewed some music terms on the chalkboard. Then I set the students loose in teams of 2 to play this music board game. You can vary the length of this game by using either one die or two dice. I had lots of things I wanted to do in my 30-minute classes, so I gave each team two dice. We played this game one time, on the second day of camp.
Susan Paradis’ Music Bingo
I used Susan’s Music Bingo game at a group lesson about a year ago and it was a huge hit, and I thought this was a good opportunity to use it again! I used this game on the last day of camp, and it was quite a fun way to end the day.
To cover the spaces on the Bingo sheet, instead of using the red markers picture on the right we used the same colored glass stones that we used for the gem notes on keyboard & staff activity. One less thing to haul along from home with me to camp. =)
Stay tuned – there is one more post about our music theory activities coming soon!
New printable just added:
Piano Lessons Flyer Template (.doc)
Advertise for new piano students by filling in this free Piano Lessons Flyer Template! Just edit and print in Microsoft Word (.doc) and you’ll be ready to post your flyers all over town.
Directions
View the flyer template large below:
Piano Lessons Flyer Template (32.5 KiB, 26,712 hits)
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