Piano Teaching Games

BEACHBALL RHYTHMS
Use a beach ball and add rhythm patterns on the white parts. Toss it around
and where ever the ball lands in front of you, clap out that rhythm.

STAIRWAY TO 7-11
This game is to reinforce the concept of skips and steps (2nd and 3rd
intervals), but can be used for all intervals. I made a 1D staircase that sticks to
the magnet board along with several different color mice. At the top of the
staircase is a 7-11 sign and a slurpee. Each child draws a card that has an
interval on the bass clef or treble clef and they have to move their mouse up
the number of stairs that equals that interval. First one to the slurpee wins!

FIND THE STICKY NOTE

When building fluency with note names, I create a set of colored sticky notes
with one note name on each, then pre-hide them around my studio before the
student comes in. Favorite places include inside the bench, on the back side
of the music rack, behind the coat stand, etc. Then, whenever its convenient
in the lesson, we can take a couple of minutes for the student to search
around the room. When s/he finds a sticky note, s/he plays all of that note on
the piano, then returns to searching until theyre all found.

WAR PIANO STYLE

I have a card game that I created using scrapbook paper, a copy machine and
note values based on the card game of War. Assuming that you know how to
play WAR with regular cards, the rules are similar. The whole note is the note
of highest value (4) . I made 4 whole notes, 4 dotted half notes, four half
notes, four quarter notes, four (ti-tis), two eighth notes grouped together, four
sixteenth notes four quarter rests. You can make whatever rhythmic symbols
the student is studying as nothing is set in stone. The notes and rests are on
one side of the card and the other side of the card has scrapbook paper or a
copy of scrapbook paper so it looks cute. I declared that (set the rule) that
note values beat its equal rest value. That made it easier for me. I also
created a list for students to look at to check the values, like a cheat sheet.

Overall rules of WAR:

Pass out all of the cards evenly to the players face down so no one can see
them. Place them in a pile in front of each player (face down).
Everyone flips over the top card and places them in the middle of the players.
The card that is of the most value/longest duration wins all the cards. The
winner is declared when one player has most or all of the cards.

If there is a tie, it is called a war. The tie is when the values are the same.
Ex. two eighth notes and a quarter note or rest. When a war occurs, the
involved players put two cards face down and then turn the third one up. The
winner takes all the cards. Have fun with your students.

MATCH IT!
This is a simple game that I use at the very first piano lesson to help introduce
students to music.

Materials: set of cards with simple music symbols on them. I do some number
(for finger numbers) some letters (for the musical alphabet) and a few different
notes- quarter, half, and whole. Make two cards with each symbol.

How to play: Lay the cards face-down in a square. You can turn two cards
over at a time; then the student turns two over. When you get a match, ask
the student how that particular symbol relates to the piano. Whoever gets the
most matches wins!

CARD RACE
I play a game with my students where I have a stack of cards with the letters
of the music alphabet on them (A-G), and the student starts at one end of the
keyboard and I start at the other. They draw a card, and find the note that
matches the card that is nearest to where they are, and see who can make it
to the other end first!
BEAN BAG TOSS
At my last group lesson, we had fun practicing note reading with a bean bag
toss game!
I purchased 7 brightly colored sand buckets from the dollar store, and wrote
on each a letter of the musical alphabet.
We set them up and the students drew a card that had either a note on staff to
read, or a picture of the keyboard with an x on a certain key to identify.
The student had to identify the note or key, and then got three tries to toss a
bean bag into the correct bucket. They had a blast!

LEAPFROG INTERVALS
In Australia we have these yummy little red lollies in the shape of a frog, youll
need two for this game. Place one on the bottom key of the piano, name an
interval and have the student place the second frog on the correct note.
Continue naming intervals and jump the frogs over each other all the way up
the piano. A nice game for the end of the lesson when attention span is
dwindling and a sugar hit is needed!

PAPER PLATE FUN

Supplies: thick permanent marker, colored plates. I drew different note and
rest values on plates. As I clap or play a rhythm, the student (or students in
teams) make the rhythm by lining up the plates on the floor. Then I clap it
again as they tap each of their plates and we check the answer together.
Begin with just a 4 beat rhythm and then progress to two measures at a time.

ENVELOPE SURPRISE
One of the games I use the most when teaching note names (I use Do, Re, Mi
because I am italian) is this: I play against my student, we both have a little
character, we set them on the lowest key of the piano. We take turns fishing
from an envelope full of little pieces of paper with note names, and we then
move our little giraffe or whatever we have to play with along the keyboard.
The first who gets to the highest note wins a sticker or a candy. They love it!
Its easy, fun and they get to memorize note names very easily. I sometimes
ask them to help move my character too, when I cant reach mine, so they
learn twice as fast

GIVE EM A HAND!
To help spice up quick warm ups at the beginning of a lesson, I purchased
foam hand shapes and wrote all the names of the major/minor five finger
patterns on them (ex. CM, cm, AM, am). When my Book 1 kids step into their
lesson, they grab a hand or two and play those five finger patterns for me
using fire fingers, caramel fingers, and any other way they like. No more
boring warm ups!

DRESS UP!
This was an idea I had recently while working with one of my newest students.
She just turned 5 and loves doing off the bench activities, so I was trying to
think of some more fun ways to teach her finger numbers. I then remembered
how much I loved dressing up in crazy costumes and jewelry when I was that
age, So I gathered up a bunch of colorful rings and made a Simon Says kind
of game out of it by asking her to put rings on the different fingers Id call out.
It was adorable and she really seemed to enjoy it!

WHITE KEY ALPHABET

I like to make a game of finding the white keys on the piano for beginners.

You need something to mark the keys (erasers, polished stones, something
big enough to not fall between the keys) and Alphabet Cards A-G

I have the student find keys and mark them as I flip the cards over. The only
trick is, you cant mark the note right next to one thats already been marked,
so if you already marked C, you have to find a different D. This forces the
students to find notes in all octaves of the piano. I generally go through the
alphabet (not in order) about 3 times.

CHORDCRAFT
Chordcraft is for my minecraft-aholics that are learning about the root and
inversions of chords. Dirt, grass, and stone cards (with the letters of the
musical alphabet on the back as well as a few sharps and flats) are set up as
you would set up a memory game. Students must mine letters and complete
their set of chords (for example, c pos. would require 3 c, 3 e, and 3 g to craft
the 3 inversions) and then play them.

GO FISH!
One of the games that my students ask for over and over again is Go Fish. It
seems silly because the card game has been around for ages, but the kids
have gotten so good at it that they can beat me. (I really think we should
rename this game, Beat the Teacher) Its a set of sixteen cards. Two of each
pattern. They have the quarter note, half note, whole note, dotted half note,
quarter rest, half rest, whole rest and a set of eighth notes. I purchased mine
through Fun Music Company, but anyone can make them.
Of course they have to be able to identify what they are holding so they know
what to ask for. When they get two of a kind they lay it down. Because its only
eight pairs, the game goes fairly quickly but reinforces identify notes and
rests.

When I have young restless students we play a game where I call out a note
name and they have to quickly play it on the piano, then run around the piano
bench as Im calling out the next note. This is a fun way to reinforce where the
notes on the piano keys are and it breaks up the lesson with a quick fun
game.

PUMPKIN BLOWING
Using flash cards to name musical notes, each time a student names the note
correctly, he may puff two times into an inflatable pumpkin. (I used a medium
sized pumpkin). If the pumpkin is inflated totally by the end of the lesson, the
student receives a small Baggie of candy. In this case, I used Halloween
candy corn and pumpkins. I also rewarded other positive things the student
did during the lesson. Kids love it!

MUSICAL CATCH
Take a deck of go fish cards and make 2 pair of music symbols, note names,
etc. then, student play as they would go fish matching pairs. Instead of saying
, go fish, we call it Musical Catch!!! We have already worn out 2 decks of
cards!!! They all love to play this!!!!

EGG CARTON SHAKE-UP

This is very quick game Ive been using the last 5 or 10 minutes of lessons to
give the students a little break from working on new music.
You will need an egg carton (washed out really good of course).
I used little rectangles of paper and drew either a quarter note or half note on
each one. I taped a note in each section. I put little candies like skittles (about
6 total) and closed the egg carton. The student would shake te egg carton and
then open it up. I told them you can have any of the candies that landed in a
quarter note. And I let them do it until they earned all the candy. I also did this
with one little eraser- just in case parents dont want them to have the candy.

TAG YOURE IT
This game is a little like tag and works well for a small-medium group. The
teacher counts out 4 beats in a measure, accenting the first, and students try
to tag each other by moving only on the first beat of the measure. Of course, it
can be adapted to teach any new time signature!

PIANO PILATES
I have a bouncy 11 year old boy who hates itting still for his lessons. So I
occasionally take away the piano bench and have him play standing up, on a
pilates ball (he bounces a few bars inbetween muic lines) Be careful as this is
very stimlating though and should be kept as a reward at the end.

MUSICAL FEET
One game that my younger students enjoy playing is to play music with their
feet. I put out a keyboard mat on the floor, and they get to stand on the
starting note and than step or skip up and down the mat based on the music
notes. I am stumped on music games for the 11 and up students though and
would really apreciate some suggestions.
REWARDS
For my younger pupils I do Rebeccas Rewards. This involves stickers in
homework notebooks and stars on a star chart displayed on th wall. Then I
have a big poster saying what a certain number of stickers or stars gets. For
me 5 stickers =bag of sweets, 5 stars=playing a music game instead of theory
work and 10 /stars = lucky dip which is where I keep a bag of small gifts like
colouring pencils, bouncy balls etc (cheap and cheerful) In order to gain a
star, they are set a Star Chart Goal each week under the condition if they
meet it they get a star. Good way to focus on pupils particular weak areas!

MAGIC BALL
Items required:
7 plastic balls (like ping pong balls, or the kind from a ball pit)
1 black permanent marker
1 bag or other container

Take the marker and write each letter of the musical alphabet on a ball. Then
place all the balls in the bag. Ask the students to join you on the other side of
the room and reach into the bag to grab a magic ball. Next we call out the
letter name and run to the piano to see who can find that key first.

PUMPKIN KEYBOARD RACE

There is a great game called Pumpkin Keyboard Race by Susan Paradis! Its
a cool game for students who are learning how to identify the letters on the
keyboard! You have to download the document to print off the Pumpkin letters
and you will need to make 2 copies in order to make 2 stacks of cards. Here
are the directions below!

The teacher and student sit on the bench at each end of the piano. Each
player has one set of cards and one token. The first player draws a card and
moves his token to that piano key, the closest to the end of the piano. The
second player does the same. Play continues with each player drawing a card
and moving his token toward the middle of the keyboard. The game is over
when one player passes the middle of the keyboard. My younger students
LOVED this game!
MUSICAL CHAIRS
You can play this game with almost any age or level student. Musical chairs-
turn on any music you have.pause the musicand whoever is out has to
answer your questions relating to whatever concept you choose- key
signatures, musical terms, intervals, etc.. My teens especially ask for this
game over and over in group theory class.

IN A TENT WITH MOZART

At a piano party we went back in time to Mozarts era by sitting inside a
small tent I had set up. Christmas lights were hung inside the tent and
Mozarts music was playing. We then read a short story about Mozart and
played quick little music games. Because the tent was small,I did several
parties, with about 7 students at each party. They remembered this party with
the tent!

SMARTIES
The Candy Game Smarties Game
I have a bag of smarties sitting on my desk and my students frequently ask if
they can play the candy game when we are spot practicing a difficult section
in one of their pieces. The student just decides how many smarties theyd like
to use (between 2-7). All the smarties they select are placed on the left side of
the piano music rack. If they play the difficult spot perfectly, they get to move a
smartie to the other side. If they mess up, all the smarties on the right have to
be moved back to the left. The goal is to get all of the smarties moved over to
the right side. If they are successful, I let them keep/eat the smarties. You
wouldnt believe how excited some of them get about taking home/eating 7
smarties!

Its a fun way to get the concept across!

NO H IN SNAKE!
Theres No H in Snake
Music alphabet activity. Students learn order and concepts of before and
after
Make ABC cards out of colored index cards. 6 sets.

Students put the cards in ABC order on the floor like a snake. Teacher guides
them to hook together their individual snakes to make one big long snake.
They often like to make the snake curvy! Have student point to each letter
card as they begin to sing the Music Alphabet. Simply use the familiar tune.
The catch is, they will want to sing the letter H, but there is no H in the
snake! Oh no! I have to remember NOT to sing H, but to start over with A!

Its a fun way to get the concept across!

BEJEWEL ME
I use huge jewel rings from the dollar store to teach finger numbers. We also
sing This Old Man, tapping the finger number in each verse.

FLASHCARD FLYSWATTER
We love the flash card flyswatter game! The student chooses 10 challenging
flash cards and lays them out in front of him or her. I (or the parent) call them
out randomly and the student swats the correct card with a flyswatter.

HEART BEAT BOARDS

My students all love learning rhythm using Jennifer Finks Heart Beat Boards
on her Pianimation website. We use silly putty to allow the kids to understand
through a different medium the relationship between note values and time
signatures. I build them a rhythm with the note value cards and they use the
silly putty on the hearts to visualize it. Great fun for all!

BEG FOR BOWLING

My students love to play a simple bowling game. I have many more
complicated games that we play, but the one they beg for is where I write
instructions on separate papers and attach each paper to a pin on a $5 plastic
kids bowling set. I set up the pins on the other side of the room and they roll
the ball and follow the instructions on the pin they knock over. The instructions
are simple: Play one song youre working on. Start learning a new song.
Work on scales. Play one of your favorite songs. Pick a treat. This isnt
any great, new, inventive game, but the kids love it!

RACE OF THE KEYS

A real hit at my studio is a super simple, but fun keyboard game called race
of the keys. The student and I both place a token on middle C, and I plant a
finish line flag in front of the top octave of the keyboard (made from a
toothpick and cardstock!). The student and I alternately pick a game card and
follow instructions such as move to the closest group of three black keys and
sit on the bottom white note, and then I ask the student to name the note
he/she lands on. The first person to pass the finish line wins. This is a great
game for new students. My students pride themselves in beating me every
time

YIELD SIGNS
For pre-schoolers and kindergarten I use a game board that (boys) has four
cars and 4 yield signs. The cars has either a quarter note, half note, dotted
half note, or a whole note on the side of the car and the yield signs has 1 or a
2, or a 3 or a 4. The students has to put the car of the correct street. For the
girls I have a board that has dogs in a park.

THEORY IN THE CARDS

Several theory assignments seem to have 6-8 parts. I have a deck of cards
with multiples of cards 1-8 and a few wilds. The student draws a card and
does whatever is assigned to that number. Can be used with a variety of
activities.

GOLDILOCKS AND THE 3 BEARS

Well, this isnt exactly a game, but just today a young student and I decided
that forte = Papa Bear, mezzo-forte = Mama Bear, piano = Baby Bear. Mezzo
piano? Whos leftah, Goldilocks! What a great time we had with dynamics,
and Ill use this idea with other students this week.
JELLYFISH AND JUGGLERS
I have a set of flashcards that the students choose from facedown. Written on
the other side of each card are topics ranging from: jellyfish, juggler, a king
and a queen dancing, 2 kids playing tag, a deer, a cat, etc etc etc. I give the
students an accompaniment and they improvise on the chosen topic! I be sure
to tell them to make sure to use a quarter rest orsome eighth notes orthe
C major scale-whatever the newest concept is that we are studying.

THIS DIAMOND RING

The little beginners especially the girls love a finger number review game
we play with two dice and a bag of dollar store plastic rings. They roll the dice
(one is marked LH and RH, the other is a regular die) and then choose a ring
to put on the corresponding finger. If they roll a 6 they get to choose the finger
number. It seems like one particular finger always gets loaded up with rings,
so it can get a little silly trying to get one more one there!

RHYTHM RELAY
This is a group activity, but could be done with one child and a stopwatch as
well. I call it Rythm Relay. I use two project boards and put a line of velcro
across the middle. I cut out 2-3 each of every note (whole, half, quarter, etc). I
use a metronome, and clap out a rhythmone person from each team will
then try to put the rhythm that I clapped on the project board. As they finish,
the next person comes to me for a new rhythm. The firs team who finishes a
sequence of rhythms without error is the winner!

IMPROVISING SPECTACULAR
Improvising Spectacular! I create a stack of cards, each with a note name
on them. A student will draw a card and have to improvise a short tune using
that note as the home note or tonic. (For young students I just ask that they
include it in the tune). The student cannot hesitate once they start playing on
the piano. If the student successfully completes the improvisation then they
get a tally mark. The person with the most tally marks wins. This game can be
altered for the age or level of students playing. (Musical terms can also be
substituted in place of improvising e.g. tremolo, trill, forte, piano, etc.)
FLASHCARD COMPETITION
At the end of one lesson and the starting of the next I have the 2 students do
a flash card competition. I lay out 4 flash cards and when I say a note the first
one to slap the card holds onto it. The one with the most cards at the end wins
a small prize. Kids really enjoy this one!

MUSIC BOWLING
Musical Bowling My students constantly ask for Musical Bowling, which I
tailor based on each students level and needs. I bought a miniature bowling
ball set at the dollar store, used letter stickers to label seven pins with one
letter each of the musical alphabet, and put question mark stickers (two blue
and one red) on the remaining pins. After each time the student bowls, I ask
him or her to put the knocked-down pins on the appropriate piano keys, play
an interval up or down from each indicated note, play the scale indicated, . . .
there are many possibilities! Each blue question mark indicates Teachers
Choice (I choose the piano key, the note to use in the interval, etc.), and the
red question mark indicates Students Choice. Have fun creating your own
variations on this game!

SWAT THE QUARTER NOTE

The game my students request over and over (even after lessons for a couple
of years!) is Swat the Quarter Note (thanks to Cecilly). Small flashcards (to
coordinate with colour I use for RH or LH) are folded in the middle. On the
outside would be a picture of quarter, half, dotted-half, and whole notes, and
number of counts on the inside. For the first time playing, I would hide notes
around my studio in plain sight, then in subsequent weeks, they would be
under a cushion or chair, stuck in a picture frame, under a rhythm instrument,
in a potted plant, etc. Students use a fly swatter with the hole cut out of the
center to swat the rhythm note. They would find all the quarter notes, then
half notes, etc. This allowed drill of note recognition, note name, and which
hand played the note (stem up or down coordinated with LH or RH colour),
etc.

REMEMBERING NOTE NAMES

When I have a student who has problems remembering note names, I pull out
cards and we play Go Fish. You can do 4 cards make a match, but I have
found the game moves more quickly if you only do 2. I can choose cards with
just C position or Middle C position or whatever I need. Several places online
offer free flashcards and it is easy to make more than 1 set so you can play.

THE MYSTERY WORD

One simple way I use to get the kids engaged in the lesson right away is to
give them a Mystery Word. I have a small whiteboard on which I draw a grand
staff. The Mystery Word is any word that the student is currently learning
about (music terminology, time period, composer, instrument, etc.). I draw the
letters I can as notes on the grand staff, the rest I write underneath the staff.
(For example: for crescendo, Id write: __ r __ s __ __ n __ o. The Cs, Es,
and D would all be drawn as grand staff notes). The kids love this short game
to start off the lesson, it gives me a minute to gather my materials for the next
student, and it gives me a chance to assess what they remember, provided
they can tell me the definition! Prizes are awarded after successfully defining
the word!