Holidays in music studios and classrooms can be joyful, hectic and unfocused! There's no better way to help kids re-focus then to make lessons fun and entertaining. This year, take some of the stress out by playing...Oh, Christmas Tree! - an exciting board game where players identify notes on the grand staff to earn tree decorations.
This is the perfect game to play for a group activity or during a lesson right before a recital when you want to add a bit of joy to all the nervousness. Players start with a "closet" full of storage cards that feature boxed decorations, knotted lights and other items necessary to complete their trees. As they identify grand staff notes and work their way up the decorated tree on the game board, players collect the Tree Trimming cards to complete their Christmas trees.
Here's a sample of Storage Cards (outlined in red) with the coordinating Tree Trimming cards. Who wants tangled lights?
Oh, Christmas Tree! comes with a game board, three decks of cards and playing instructions. Simply print, cut and PLAY!! This month we're putting the game ON SALE! Our Christmas present to you!
Just click on the button below to purchase the game!
I realize we are now passed St. Patricks Day, but I thought I would share a bit about what I did at my group lessons last week. In the spirit of the holiday and as a link to this year's studio incentive, I wanted to have a bit of a "green" lesson with the focus on rhythm. Most of my students are close to or just beyond the rhythm challenge so I wanted it to be the focus.
To begin the day, we started with a rhythm game that focused on everyone's first name. It amazes me how kids can spend so much time together over years and still forget each other's names! So I wanted to work on that as well! I didn't get a picture of this because I had to lead the activity, but hopefully I can describe it well enough...
To begin, we all stood together in a circle. I had two group lessons this week; the largest group was 15 students and this game worked for both groups. I started out tapping a steady rhythm on my thighs and asked them to join in. We quickly had a nice steady beat going. Then I started saying each student's first name in beat, pointing to them as I went along. Once they got the hang of it, I stopped saying their name and just pointed to them, expecting them to say their name instead. Once they could do this well, the fun really began! I would randomly point to someone and their challenge was to say their name without missing a beat and within the steady rhythm. I got really silly with them and pointed back and forth sometimes going between two students several times or even repeating a student over and over. If they missed it or lost the rhythm, they were out of the game and had to sit. The last one standing won the game. My students LOVED this and we actually played it again at the end of the group lesson!
After that I showed them three YouTube Videos:
The "Irish Washerwoman"
"Amazing Grace" by the Celtic Woman
A performance by Riverdance
We talked about various styles of Irish music and these videos showed them a variety. We also talked about the rhythm of each video and how the performers had to work together to keep a steady beat. They enjoyed watching all three of them as they were just short/long enough to keep their attention.
From there, we worked specifically on note values. I divided each group into students of the same level so I had three groups. I then showed each group rhythm cards where they had to add or subtract the note values to come up with the total beats. The challenge? They had to be the first to shout out the correct beat in order to win a gold coin. The cards were easier or harder depending upon the students level. They really enjoyed this and worked hard to be the first one to shout out the answer. I must say it got a bit loud, but they had fun! There was a lot of laughter and excitement! I didn't make anything extra for this game, just used cards I already had in the studio.
The other game we played involved this fellow!
Not Chopin, but the cute little guy in the front! We played Irish Hot Potato! I went to the piano and played the "Irish Washerwoman" and just like the first video we watched, the tempo gradually increased. Their job was to pass the hot potato in rhythm and try not to be the last one holding it when the music stopped! Again, another fun game they loved.
We also had a quick photo shoot...
These glasses are always a hit and as you can see, I have a quite a few "hams" in my studio! After the photo shoot they enjoyed some holiday inspired cupcakes I made before going home. All of that easily took 90 minutes.
It's amazing how fast the time goes when you're having this much fun!
So many of you have posted all of your great printables and ideas for games to help celebrate St. Patrick's Day. I thought I would remind you of a couple of games I had previously put together in case they would work for your studio as well!
Shamrock Spinner - a fun spinner made using a large foam shamrock and a game spinner. You choose the categories! Here is the post showing how I put it together!
St. Patrick's Day Printables - here is a link to all kinds of printables to use if you give out candy or gifts at this time of year.
Shamrock Measures - a fun game to reinforce beats in a measure. Students try to build a specified number of beats before the other player! Here is the link to how I put this one together as well!
Whatever you end of doing, I hope you have a fun week with your students!!
I'm so sorry to be absent for so long! It's been a very busy 3 weeks between my studio recital, directing our church musical and dealing with a bit of broncitis...not to mention getting my home ready for Christmas! I'm finally in a more relaxed week, with just teaching lessons and doing lots of baking!
As far as the studio goes, I've had lots of VERY distracted kids over the last 2 weeks...as I'm sure most of you are experiencing as well! Sitting at the piano for the full lesson...even 10 minutes has been a challenge! So, I've tried to keep lessons low key with a focus on games and musical activities. Here are a few pictures of some of the games we did:
A fun game of Musical Sorry between siblings! This is a game to test and reinforce intervals. You can find all the details about the game I adapted and the cards I put together here.
A fun game of Dominotes! This is a wonderful game to test rhythm and my 5 year old scored 100%. I was so proud of her! Played like the game of regular dominoes, you match up note values. I used a simpler version with my student and she really excelled at it.
And of course, I had to pull out the Keyboard Snowflakes for a few scavenger hunts for my younger students!
All in all, it's been a productive week. As long as they are moving around or doing something fun, we've been able to reinforce learning! I hope you are finding ways to keep your students focused as well!
My studio Christmas recital is December 2nd and we are in the process of all the planning and practicing as I'm sure many of you are as well. It's always my goal to create an atmosphere of quality musicianship, but I also want it to be fun. I want students as well as parents to enjoy the evening together. So...this year as part of my recent group workshop, the students and I worked on a little "surprise" for their parents!
I put together a Notable Music Studio version of the Christmas song, "The 12 Days of Christmas" and the kids worked together to figure out who would do what part. We had SO much fun practicing and they're really excited to share it with their parents in a couple of weeks.
Here's our version:
On the first day of Christmas, Miss Sheryl gave to me...The One Minute Club for Note ID
On the second day....2 rhythm sticks
On the third day....3 guitars strumming (3 young guitar students I teach will strum together!)
On the fourth day...4 beats a measure
On the fifth day....5 BA-CH Bucks!
On the sixth day...6 Continents to Conquer
On the seventh day...7 Music letters
On the eighth day...8 notes an octave
On the ninth day...9 flashcard drills
On the tenth day...10 flashy fingers
On the eleventh day...11 finger puppets
On the twelth day...12 Major scales!
Of course, we'll have lots of visual aids to go along with the song and occasionally, we added a few extra "expressions" that work with it! When we originally starting practicing, I gave them some things to hold up/use but as we went along, they came up with some really great ideas to work into it as well! So fun and SO creative on their part!
Doing something like this is unique and fun, but it also gives my students something fun to look forward to! It really helps to offset some of those nerves! Are you planning something unique or fun for your recital this year?
I am planning to celebrate St.Patricks Day with games and activities at next week's group lesson, but I thought I should do something little this week since this week is the actual holiday.
So...I made what I call the Shamrock Spinner. I simply bought this large foam shamrock (it's about 12" across), labeled the leaves as you see here and added a spinner.
At each lesson, I am allowing the students a spin to find out which 5 minute activity or game we will play at their lesson. The stem became "your choice" just for added fun.
If you've never attached a spinner, here are some quick instructions. It's extremely easy!
You need a spinner, which can be found at most craft stores, a bead or charm that has a hole in the middle (It doesn't matter what it looks like - this one is heart shaped and I just cut off the loop at the top with metal cutters) and a brad long enough to go through the spinner, the bead and the board (or in this case, the shamrock), and be able to turn the ends slightly on the back.
The charm or bead adds the necessary height so that the spinner spins freely. I also bend the two ends of the spinner up slightly to give it added movement. That's it! Pretty easy, right?
I hope you are having a great week with your students.
With St. Patrick's Day next week, I thought I would share with you that I found this site that put together 10 links with some really cute FREE printables if you like to give out treats during this holiday.
There are bag toppers, gift tags, cards, cupcake toppers, etc. Just a bit of something fun that is all ready for your printer! It's nice that others are willing to share and it's nice to be able to add a fun touch to your weekly lessons without much work or expense!
Ok...they say that admitting you have a problem is the first step to solving it...I guess I am obsessed with foam shapes! I couldn't help myself when I saw these little shamrock pieces at Michaels. The bag came with 150 pieces in a bag and yes, I added notes and rests to everyone of them! It actually went quickly - I just worked on it while watching the news one night and simply used a ballpoint pen. I chose 10 different symbols - whote note, half note, dotted half note, quarter note, eighth note, 2 eighth notes together, whole rest, half rest, quarter rest, eighth rest - so I just made 15 of each. Very simple!
I had planned to have a group lesson in February, but because I got sick, I am rescheduling if for March. So, we just have to have something related to St. Patrick's Day, right? Here's how I plan to use them. I'm going to turn them all over (notes & rests facedown) on the table and give my students a specific time signature and the number of measures they need to build (For example, 3/4 time and 3 measures). Each player starts by picking 10 shamrocks out of the pile and placing them face up in front of them. Each player takes a turn trying to build measures with the shamrocks they have. If they use 4 shamrocks to build a measure, but cannot build anymore, their turn is over. They take 4 more shamrocks from the pile and then the next player goes. The first player who can build the specified number of measures correctly, wins. This will also give us a good opportunity to talk about full measures and making sure that we give each note and rest it's full beat.
I plan to use some painted letters I already had to remind students of the time signature. It should be a fun game and the shamrocks are just the right size for little fingers!
Easy storage as well! The cost? About $1.30 (yes...I had a coupon!)!
During such a busy time of the year, I'm extra thankful for my fellow piano teachers who come up with great ideas! Thank you to Joy who came up with the idea for making these gems! My youngest student - a 4 year old made great use of them today! (And yes, she did them herself...AND got them all right!)
I also used them for a waiting room activity for my newer students by also making use of Susan Paradis' fun Ornament Bingo. Rather than play it as a game, I just had them work at getting the right gem on each keyboard ornament. They really liked this activity and it kept them quiet for just the right amount of time!
I also made these Musical Alphabet Ornaments with the intention of using them for my magnetic staff boards. I thought it would be a fun Christmas twist rather than using the plain black notes I usually use.
You can read the original post I did on the magnetic staff boards here. What fun activities have you been doing lately?
Because the studio recital is this Friday night, I wanted to do something fun this week in lessons. Everyone is excited, but there is also some performance anxiety, so I wanted to make this week a fun week and try to capitalize on the excitement rather than focus on their nervousness. With that in mind, I am planning some fun "Christmas activities" to do in individual lessons or to do with a couple of them that come back-to-back for lessons. In addition to going over their recital pieces, I'm also planning...
a game of Musical Christmas Lights designed by Susan Paradis which is going to work great for my beginning students. They love to play "bingo" type games and using fun glass pieces to cover the lights will be a hit!
For my pre-reading students I picked up these foam snowflakes, adapted them with keyboards to help reinforce key names, and plan to hide them around the studio.
I had done something similar at my fall workshop and the kids have been asking me to do it again! I picked snowflakes so that I can use them in other ways all winter long. Fun! Fun!
For my intermediate students, I am planning to use some familiar Christmas songs to test their aural rhythm skills. They will have each measure of a familiar song printed out and will have to think about the rhythm while trying to put the measures in the proper order. This is a bit of a change since I usually have them look at a rhythm and tap it out.
You can find these rhythms already done for you on D'Net's site here. Just print, laminate and have fun!
I hope you all enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends. There is so much to be thankful for!
I'm so thankful for all of you - amazing teachers who want to make a difference in the lives of their students. Teachers who want to improve their skills and find find fun, creative ways to introduce children to the wonderful gift of music!
May you all be very blessed and surrounded by family and friends and lots of great food! And may you reflect on all the many blessings God grants us everyday!
My studio is in the midst of Christmas "excitement". Our Christmas recital is scheduled for the evening of December 3rd and everyone is practicing hard! Because I also have lots of responsibilities at my church at this time of year, I need to have the studio recital earlier in the month. I also find that it's a good time for parents because it happens before many other Christmas activities are scheduled.
I have lots of beginning students so this year the recital includes some Christmas and Non-Christmas songs. As you know, songs for beginning students are pretty short...30 seconds or so?? Even if each beginning student played through a song twice, it would be a pretty short! When parents come to watch their children, I want them to be able to enjoy their child's playing for longer than a minute! So each student will be playing 3 songs - 2 non-seasonal songs that we have been working on in lessons and one Christmas song. Of those 3 songs, one will be a duet with me or another student to also celebrate the "Year of Collaborative Music".
The order for the evening will include each student performing 2 non-seasonal songs, one right after the other and then when everyone is done with those, they will each go back up to the piano and perform their Christmas selection so that we end with the Christmas spirit! I will also introduce each student and share a bit about them and the songs they will be playing.
And of course...what's a recital without a reception with goodies?! My parents are all bringing desserts to share and I'll be providing drinks. (Have I mentioned that I have THE best parents of any piano teacher?) One big advantage for me is that I have use of my church for the recital. I use the sanctuary for the performances and a connected area that includes a little kitchenette for the reception. It works out super well. I'm also using siblings of some of my students to be "ushers" and pass out programs. They often come to lessons and wait with their moms so I've gotten to know some of them quite well. They're excited to do this "grown-up" job!
This year I'm going to be recording performances so that each student will have a copy to remember the evening (and for some - to remember their first recital!). One of my friends from church who works with the sound system (and does an incredible job!) told me he would come to the recital and take care of everything! He's also a photographer so he's planning to take all the pictures for me! I am very blessed to have him!
I am directing our Christmas musical at church the following weekend so all the decorations are going up the week before the recital! The room will be surrounded with Christmas beauty! I'm very thankful I won't have to decorate twice!
Well, that's a look at what I'm doing...what are you planning this year?
