The piano is a fascinating instrument with more than 12,000 parts, yet even a lot of our early advanced students – who can play beautifully – don’t really have an understanding of how it works. So, it’s time to get naked! Er, um, that is, time to get the piano naked. In the Naked Piano … Read more
Ahoy, Matey, it’s time to get to know the staff! The staff, bar lines, repeat signs, clefs, and more can make reading music intimidating. Musical Cadets allows newbies to get familiar with these symbols away from the piano so when students see them on their music, they won’t be scary strangers – they’ll be good … Read more
If your beginner students draw a line in the sand when it comes to theory review, turn that into a positive! Lines in the Sand is a great primer review game which doubles as a way to introduce or reinforce how intervals work. If you want to use it with a late beginner student or … Read more
Which present would Gary like best? How about Alice? It’s up to you to find the Perfect Presents for your friends! Newbies need lots of practice identifying piano keys. And the more ways you can vary that practice, the better. This quick and easy game is a great way to review piano keys with newbies, … Read more
Recognizing groups of black keys is a critical skill before new students can begin to see the black keys as a map of the keyboard. In Doggy Froggy, students will begin to associate groups of 2 black keys with a dog and groups of 3 black keys with a frog. In subsequent lessons, you can … Read more
Sometimes students can be a bit reluctant to participate in a group lesson, especially if they don’t know the other students. Group activities can be intimidating if you’re nervous about making a mistake. If you need to break through the tension, try Gelato! This non-competitive board game helps students get to know each other, while … Read more
This is a great game for students of all ages who are having trouble with right and left hands, or who struggle to associate those with up and down on the staff. The quick pace and fun actions of Left Right Smash Crash make it a great brain break, too, for little ones who need … Read more
Feeling a little chaos coming on? Make a cake out of it with Cake of Chaos! The cards in this game interject a little musical silliness into lessons just when things feel like they’re getting out of control. Use this game year-round, or make it a fun tradition for celebrating your students’ birthdays! How to … Read more
One of the hardest things about doing online lessons as a vibrant teacher is that we don’t have access to our beautiful games library! This means we need to rethink a few things, for sure, but there’s no reason for online lessons to become dry and dull. Try out these games and bring the fun … Read more
If you need a way to ramp up the excitement for your students to correctly name and play notes or do clap backs and sing backs, then here it is! Piano Pyramid encourages students build a pyramid of random objects on their piano, adding another piece to the pile with each successful turn. If they … Read more