Rally with Rhythms!

I was thrilled when Jennifer Fink of Pianimation came up with Accidental Adventure for the Eggspert.  For Christmas last year, one of my parents, knowing I wanted it, purchased the Eggspert for me for use in the studio!  Apparently Jennifer and I were thinking along the same lines, because I had also been working on some rhythm cards to match the colors of the eggs. 

Using the Eggspert with the random setting, here is a quick overview of how I made these cards:

Beat-A-Rhythm!  - cards requiring rhythm sticks (or clapping) and a metronome.  Students clap/tap a designated rhythm at a specific setting on the metronome.  Obviously, the setting (if you even want to using a metronome with the student) can be altered depending upon the level of the student.
Identify the Missing Note! - A set of four measures is shown with one measure missing a note.  The student needs to identify where the note is missing and what the note value is.
Build Measures! - Using a one minute timer, students are asked to draw measures within a specified time signature. 
How Many Beats Do You See? - a random amount of notes and rests are shown on the card.  Students need to add up the notes and rests and name the amount of beats!
Can You Name the Correct Time Signature? - Four measures are displayed.  Students just need to name to correct time signature that matches!

Grab and Roll! - This set of cards requires the student to grab a white board, roll rhythm dice, or grab a time signature card and complete the challenge.  Obviously there are some additional tools needed for this set of cards!  These are all common items in your studio!

I've also included some Fun Extras such as, Bonus Cards! giving the team an extra point, Sorry...Miss a Turn! cards and Face Off! cards allowing the student to face off with a member of the other team!

You can print the cards off my website here.  I'm planning to use them at my upcoming group lesson!  Enjoy!

Music Game Downloads

As I was poking around Pinterest, I found this site with 3 adorable music games! 


While 2 of them are available for a small fee, there is one free!! You might just want to go on over and check them out to see if they might be a good fit for your studio!

Adding Another Dimension to your Studio

I've mentioned in previous posts that I teach music classes to homeschool groups.  It's a great way to fill in some of those free mornings or early afternoons.  It's also a great way to build your reputation.  I have one particular homeschool group that has loved the classes we have done and requested a way to incorporate some sort of collaborative playing.  Since most of them do not take any music lessons (I'm working on that!) recorders seemed the easiest, least expensive way to get them excited to learn an instrument.  So I developed my next homeschool class...Recorder Karate 101! 

I purchased the curriculum for Recorder Karate and immediately realized what a great program this was!  It's beautifully laid out and easy to incorporate!  The book is full of lots of instruction for the teacher (including how to avoid all that squeeking!) and contains all the reproducible sheets for students.  As an added incentive to the kids, you can also purchase tassels they can hang from their recorders as they successfully reach each level in the program.  I'm using the karate belt colors, but tassels of all colors are available.  I've been doing lots of practicing to make sure I have all the tassels on my own recorder to help motivate!

In addition to working on learning to play the recorder, my class will focus on rhythm and note ID - all through fun games and activities!  I'm pretty excited to add another dimension of teaching to my studio!  Are there other creative ways you teach music to students? 

Notable Notes

It's been awhile since I've posted...sorry about that!  This injury has slowed down my typing ability and 3 times a week I have to schedule in 1 1/2 hours of physical therapy.  Not easy to do when you have so many lessons during the week, but I'm pressing on and trusting that God had a plan for all this!

I also have an upcoming wedding in July!  My oldest son is getting married and I'm very excited to welcome a daughter into the family!  With that said, I'm trying to get my summer camp plans put together now to take the stress off later.  As a said in an earlier post, I'm using some of Jennifer Fink's Mission: Music Practice Incentive.  She did a great job putting it together and since it worked well with my original plan, I did a few adjustments to fit my studio needs and went with it.  It's been such fun! 

I wanted to tailor a camp this summer to work with this incentive so I'm putting together World Music Expedition as a week-long event.  Part of the week will include a carnival with lots of games and events.  One of the requirements, like any good carnival, will be for the kids to provide "payment" to play an event.  I thought about using coins or tickets, but wanted them to have to work at it a bit, so I came up with Notable Notes!

Notice the $ sign is followed by a note or a rest.  In order to play a game, they will have to provide payment of a determined number of beats.  It will be their responsibility to add up the beats and provide the correct notes.  For example, if they want to play a balloon popping game and it requires 12 beats, they'll have to look through their stash and produce notes equal to that amount or pay extra and tell me what change they will need! 



I think it will be a fun twist and will certainly get them thinking!  I realize they are pretty simple to look at, but computer graphics is not my strongest skill!  I also laminated them (all 560 of them!) since I wanted to be able to use them in the studio as well.  There are also lots of other things I'm working on so I'll be sure to share more in the coming weeks!

Rhythm Roll!

I wanted a different way to drill rhythm and since I have so many "active" games for doing this, I wanted to come up with a calmer version.  I also wanted to use my new Googly-eye dice, so I put together what I'm calling...Rhythm Roll!

The game is a "bingo" style game requiring the player to get 5 across diagonally, horizontially or vertically.  And...this game takes a bit of strategy!

In addition to the game boards (there are 6), the game requires 1 standard die (or fun googly eye die!), 2 rhythm dice and tokens.  The rhythm dice have a whole note, half note, dotted half note, quarter note, two connected eighth notes, and a quarter rest on each.  I bought mine, but you certainly could easily make them.
At the beginning of a turn, the player must decide whether to use the google die or one or two of the rhythm dice.  In order to cover the numbers on the game board, they must roll one or two rhythm dice, add up the total beats and then place a token on the matching number.   If they are looking to cover a lower number, they may want to choose only one die, whereas a higher number, such as 8, may require rolling both. 

The standard die or googly-eye die is used to cover the note values.  If they roll a six, the player can cover the note values that add up to 6 beats.
Once a player is close to 5 across, it will certainly narrow down their decision as to which die to use!

This is sure to be a hit!  If you would like to use this game in your studio, you can download the game board and instructions here!

Enjoy!