I’m really big on music games in my lessons. I find they can be even more effective than music theory worksheets, because the student is so engaged in a fun activity. It’s easy to turn commercial games into games for your lessons. One I recently made is “Musical Checkers.” All I did was buy a cheap checkerboard for $4 at Walgreens and draw musical symbols in the red squares with a sharpie pen. The rules get shifted a bit by making the student say out loud the name of the symbol he moves his checker piece to. Other than that, it’s just the same rules as regular checkers. My kids beg me to play it every time, and it’s paying off, because they are finally memorizing the symbol names now!
Another idea that a student had recently is musical Twister. All you would have to do is take a sharpie and draw notes on the colored squares and doing the same thing with the spinner. So for example, let’s say you make all the red squares quarter notes. Make sure the red square on the spinner has a quarter note, and when you spin to that square, say “place a hand/foot on the quarter notes.” You could even make it more challenging by writing only the names of the notes on the spinner, and drawing the notes on the game mat. That way the student has to really think about which note is which.
The possibilities for this idea are endless. All it takes is a little time to think about which games you enjoy already, and some imagination. Please post your ideas here, so that we can all create more fun, educational experiences for our students. Happy gaming!
About the Author
When I was just a college Junior, I started teaching private guitar lessons in order to support myself. I was in a rock band, writing songs and performing on a regular basis, and I certainly did not plan on becoming a teacher. My plan was to graduate, get a job in social work, and just continue writing songs. Teaching surprised me. I ended up falling in love with the act of guiding a student from point a to point b. To watch someone go from knowing nothing about a subject, to simply performing in a recital, is such an awesome thing. I ended up scrapping that social work idea. I was doing more good as a teacher, minus the intense stress that most social workers go home with. I currently have a busy program that teaches private guitar, piano, and voice lessons in Los Angeles homes. I am also the creator of the music and service blog 38 Ways to Change the World Through Music.
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by r4 card — Thu Nov 5, 2009 @ 5:09 am
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