This ‘But-the-Pieces’ lesson plan is a 4 week intensive upgrade for your students’ sightreading skills. Over the 4 weeks they will work on interval recognition, reaction speed at the piano and thoughtful preparation for sightreading exercises. The Sightreading Supercharge plan is designed for students at the late beginner level and up. As well as the … Read more
Tones and semitones (whole and half steps) and enharmonics are some of the most confusing concepts early intermediate students need to conquer. This game works on identification on the staff so that students can get really comfortable with them. Note: Since the words are not used within the actual game, this game does not require … Read more
This is a great game to practice beginning reading skills and to review the piano keys which works with one student or several. How to Play 1 Player: Place the paper keyboard in front of your student on a table. Place the cards with the staff side up where they can see them. Your student … Read more
By taking the concept of tones (whole steps) and semitones (half steps) away from the piano and onto a stairs, we can lead students to understand that all the stairs, and therefore all the piano keys, count – whatever they look like. How to Play Place a counter for each player at the bottom of … Read more
Naming finger numbers and actually connecting them to finger movement are two very different things. Newbies (especially young ones) need lots of practice playing patterns of fingers and can really benefit from doing this away from the piano so that there is less pressure to play the correct notes. How to Play Check which finger … Read more
Translating finger numbers into action in with this simplified staff reading activity is a great precursor to on-staff reading of steps. Although listed as a 1 player game, you can easily do this activity with multiple students side-by-side in a partner, buddy or group lesson. As an added fun element, try folding a paperclip around … Read more
Many beginners have trouble seeing whether notes are going up or down on the staff, especially when these notes are far apart or the stem changes direction. The Step Ladder isolates exactly this issue with example notes in different contexts and with various note values (even ones they may not have encountered yet) so that … Read more
This fun primer level review game can teach your students a little detail about Beethoven’s life too: he used to pour ice cold water over his head to help him focus (which would then drip through the floorboards to his neighbour below!). Tell your student this story and make them feel closer to one of … Read more
Reading music is all about recognising patterns, and intervals are a big part of that. Learning to see written music not as individual dots but as familiar sequences takes time and practice. Get your late beginner students off to a great start with this interval card game and they’ll be off to the races with … Read more
Interval qualities take a lot of practice, and this game will accelerate that process. Be warned – Moja is not an easy game! Players will need to be pretty confident with how intervals work and how to figure out the interval qualities: major, minor, perfect, diminished and augmented. Moja is the perfect game to use … Read more