Last Saturday, I held another Piano Party for my students! These group classes are so much fun. My students really look forward to them!
We started out with what I call the Rhythm Name game — it’s one of my favorites. Students should be seated in a circle. Each student must create a short rhythm that will be their rhythm name. Before beginning, each student should take turns clap their own rhythm name, so that the rest of the group can learn and memorize them. The teacher can begin by clapping his/her own name, saying “calls,” and then clapping the rhythm name of another student. Gameplay is then passed to that student, who must recognize their name and call another student. Gameplay continues until an allotted amount of time. This game is a great test of the student’s aural skills, rhythm skills, and their musical memory!
Next, I allowed a few students to play pieces that they are currently working on. We gave them verbal feedback on things like dynamics, but mostly we just enjoyed the music.
Then we learned about Scott Joplin! I already used this composer study a couple of weeks ago with my homeschool class, and now I wanted to share it with my private students. Ragtime is an important part of American music history!
As students finished their lapbooks, I started two games (spitting the students into two groups). The first one was the Alphabet Trail game from pianimation.com: Continue reading “February 2013 Piano Party”