Musical Hearts!

The gift that keeps on giving...

Another 18" last night...sigh...













Now on to more fun and less exhausting things:

Knowing that Valentine's Day was coming, I was trying to think of some fun activities for lessons as well as the group lesson I have planned for the following week.  Once again I picked up some foam shapes (I really don't have an obsession with them!  They just seem to work well and stand up to lots of abuse!).  Hearts!

I took a sharpie and put challenges on one side of the heart. Name the key, Name this note and find it on the piano, Name this interval, Name this term, Name this note, and Clap this rhythm!  This game is obviously for my group of beginners.

There are 35 hearts to a package and I only bought one package at Michaels, but I'm considering buying another. They are pretty inexpensive - $3.00 or so when you use a coupon found on-line for 40-50% off!

Now that they are all labeled, here's how I plan to use them:
I'm going to lay them all out in a path upside down as you see pictured here and the path doesn't have an end or a beginning.  It can be in a circle, oval, trail around the piano, whatever...

Each student will stand on one heart of their choosing (without shoes on!).  I will start to play a tune on the piano and they will walk from heart to heart to the beat of the music.  When I stop playing, they stop on the closest heart and try to complete the hidden challenge.  Each person takes a turn.  If they complete it correctly, they can stay in the game.  If not, they are eliminated and can watch or help by playing the piano for the next round. 

The game is played until there is one person left standing or until the time limit you set for this activity is complete.  I thought (after I finished writing on all of the hearts!) that I should have put a goofy piano or silly looking note on one and that would be the "old maid" of the set and the heart to be avoided!  If I decide to get another set, I'll add that in.

On an individual basis, my students are happy if I hide them around the studio!  When they find one and can correctly answer the challenge, they can keep the heart.  If they don't, I get the heart!  Whoever has the most hearts at the end of the game wins!  This should help keep them moving, reinforce all those concepts and help with steady beat as they walk to the music!