Theory

Keeping Progressions, Inversions, and Arpeggios Straight

Posted by Wendy on May 11, 2011 in Piano Teaching, Practicing, Theory | 9 comments

A few weekends ago, my students participated in the Kansas MTA musicianship exams called Music Progressions.  One of my piano teacher friends and I were in the office commenting on how difficult it is for some students to remember the correct terms for the scale skills that they play.  The students are usually able to play them, but if you ask them to name what they are playing or play a particular one, they often ask, “Do you mean this? Or this? Or this?”  My friends Julie was remarking that in the case of chord progressions, it seems like if you hum this little tune, they understand:

So, that got my lyrical mind thinking and I decided that my solution is going to be to

More Games from Anne

Posted by Wendy on Nov 18, 2010 in Games and Activities, Piano Teaching, Theory | Comments Off

I was visiting Anne Crosby’s Piano Discoveries site the other day and found that she had uploaded yet more exciting games!  She has now divided and organized the games into categories including:

Beginner Concepts

Interval Identification

Key Signatures

Notes, Ledger Lines, and Accidentals

Major and Minor

The “Ledger Line Speller” game was particularly helpful to me as I have some students struggling to master these notes. The new “Same Pitch Snap” is also helpful for this same skill.  I’m adapting the “Ledger Line Speller” so that it is not specific to Halloween, and I’ll be making about 10 copies of the staff, laminating them and asking my students to complete this activity while they are waiting for another student’s lesson to end (the extra staves will allow them to make one staff per word and I’ll be able to see their answers. Here is a video to show how a student will play this game:

“Major Minor Match” has also been fun for my students.  I give them the cards and use a stop watch to time them.  If they can beat their time by 2-5 seconds the next week (it’s different for every student), then they get a dip in the candy jar or a certificate of completion.

“Mr. Interval Octopus” will also be useful for my students who need to improve their interval identification time.

There’s even more new games on the site since last time I posted, so visit Piano Discoveries soon!

Fantastic New Games

Posted by Wendy on Jul 26, 2010 in Games and Activities, Piano Teaching, Reviews of teaching materials, Theory | 6 comments

Wow, I have just discovered another incredible website with fantastic new games!  I remember Anne Crosby’s name from her book In My Dreams which I used with a student ever so long ago.  Her compositions were delightfully fresh and appealing to my difficult-to-please student. 

Well, Anne now has a new website called Piano Discoveries which provides a new online piano method for kids as well as some beautiful, professional looking games and worksheets at no charge.  She does provide an easy way to donate if you wish to show your appreciation.  I’m sure you’ll be amazed at her creativity.  You must run to check out her site! 

A few of my favorite games on her site include Leaping Ladybugs for drilling half and whole steps and The Funny Farm Game to review general music concepts.

HT: Ms. Natashia

2-Handed Rhythm Drills

Posted by Wendy on May 19, 2010 in Games and Activities, Piano Teaching, Theory | Comments Off

I have a student who has a bit of trouble tracking rhythms, often pausing between measures.  I recently introduced eighth notes to him and we worked for a number of weeks on tapping these eighth note rhythm drills. 

I then developed a series of 2-handed eighth note drills to help him track rhythms between the hands.  These can also be used for rhythm duets.

Rhythm Worksheets Click here to see these and more rhythm drills.

Eighth Notes 2-handed 1 (or duet)
Eighth Notes 2-handed 2 (or duet)
Eighth Notes 2-handed 3 (or duet)

New Eighth Note Rhythm Drills

Posted by Wendy on May 12, 2010 in Games and Activities, General, Piano Teaching, Theory | 2 comments

I have a few students who are learning eighth notes for the first time.  I wanted to give them a series of eighth note worksheets to tap and count at home, but realized that there was only 1 posted on the website. 

Finding the Rhythm Worksheets Tab

I have added 5 new eighth note worksheets to the Rhythm Worksheets section of the website (under Wendy’s Piano Studio tab/Teaching Resources).  Each worksheet gets progressively more difficult.  I encourage my students to clap or tap and count out loud at home.  I often ask them to also find “intersting sounds” on the piano (triads are illegal!) and play their rhythm with those sounds.  We sometimes use animal noises as well.  Then, when they come back to their lessons, they play their rhythms on a rhythm instrument that they have picked from my selection.

Rhythm Worksheets (Click here to see the following new Rhythm Drills)
Eighth Notes 1
Eighth Notes 2
Eighth Notes 3
Eighth Notes 4
Eighth Notes 5

Stay tuned for 2 handed rhythms and rhythm duets featuring eighth notes!

Circle of Fifths Worksheets

Posted by Wendy on Mar 2, 2010 in Piano Teaching, Theory | Comments Off

I’ve recently begun to explain to my students how I choose the order of their scales by using the Circle of Fifths.  Basically, I just told them that C is zero accidentals (I don’t show them the circle) and that every Perfect 5th up from C adds a sharp and every Perfect 5th down from C adds a flat.  When they finish learning a scale, I ask them what the next key would be and make them use this technique to figure it out.  Periodically, I ask them, “What key would have 5 sharps?” or “What key would have 3 flats?” etc.  This further cements the concept in their mind. 

I remember when I was a student and my teacher showed me the circle…it didn’t make much sense to me at the time, so I just disregarded it.  However, when several of my students recently told me that they’ve been using my scale order technique to remember key signatures for their theory test , I figured the Circle of Fifths was doing more good than I thought. 

I’ve recently found several good theory worksheets for teaching the Circle of Fifths and for giving students the opportunity to draw the corresponding key signatures around the circle.

Worksheet for identifying the key by the number of sharps and flats.  (Susan Paradis’ site)

Worksheet for identifying the key by the key signature AND drawing in the key signature

Bass Clef Circle of 5ths (delineates sharp keys, flat keys, and enharmonic keys)

Treble Clef Circle of 5ths (delineates sharp keys, flat keys, and enharmonic keys)