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Resources for Group & Solo Piano Lessons : Online & In-Person

Note Ninjas Escape Room

2/19/2023

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​Yesterday we had our note learning event! We made it a kind of Escape Room - so the students had to work together to find the code to unlock the box of goodies.

Most of our students are online, so it was great for them to actually be in-person with the students from their online groups.
Ten students attended and 3 of our teen students came to help out and man our 3 Note Drill stations:

  1. iPad Note Drills (using the Flash Note Derby and Piano Notes Fun apps)
  2. Worksheet Note Drills (writing note names beneath the notes)
  3. Note Puzzle Note Drills (a puzzle to match the staff note to its alphabet name)​
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There were so many other activities that we could have included, but we had just one hour, and we didn’t want to add too many activities and run out of time. The main thing was for the activities to be very different from each other to keep the students focused and interested.

The students were arranged into 3 teams:
  • Rockin’ Reds
  • Sunny Superstars
  • Green Machine
The teams had 15 minutes at each station (which definitely wasn’t enough - next time we will make the event longer).
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At each station, all students in the team had a given number of note-learning challenges to complete in order for the team to earn a musical clue. (The clues weren't actually related to the note-learning activities, but they were based on music theory).

​They then had to work together to decipher the clue and write the answers on their “Clue Calculator” sheet.

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On completion of their Clue Calculator sheets each of the teams ended with a single digit number. Those 3 digits were the combination to the lock on the box of goodies that they took home with them.

​The kiddos were super excited putting their digits into the lock, and delighted when the lock finally opened, and they could grab the goodie bags from the box.
Our Ninja Prize Box
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It was such a fun event! We got such good feedback from the parents, and it was encouraging seeing the students' scores improve on each repetition of the activities. We will definitely be doing another "Escape Room" again.
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Score Study - New Song Prep

12/28/2022

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So many students dive into a new piece without looking through it first. This coming term, I will be doing score studies with the Little Mozart students. I'm calling it New Song Prep, and we will be doing it for each piece in the books from now on. Having a formalized structure like this should get them into the habit for the future.

If you think it would be useful for your classes, please feel free to download it and use it. Let me know if you have any suggestions for improving it.
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Elephant Face Quiz Book

12/21/2021

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The Elephant Face Quiz Book is another way we keep our students practicing note recognition. It's not a book for the students to write in - it is a series of random note timed quizzes for the students to play in 60 seconds or less.
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Using cute phrases like "Good Bikes Don't Fall Apart" and "Elephants Get Big Dirty Feet", our students are not only recognizing notes on sight, but they are also finding the corresponding keys on the piano keyboard. 

We let them practice the quizzes during the week between lessons. It works ok because they don't know which quiz we will ask them to do at the actual lesson. We've also started using these cool PowerPoint Timers in our online group lessons. 
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We start the timer running when the student starts the quiz. It creates a lot of excitement among the others as they watch to see if the student will beat the clock or not.  They're always super excited to color the "30 second circle" in their books when they complete a quiz in 30 seconds or less.

The Quiz Timer will be our January freebie for Piano Together Club members to use with the Elephant Face quizzes, or for anything else!  You can purchase the Elephant Face book from Amazon.  
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Elephant Face composition Activity

11/30/2021

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We have many activities to help our students learn the staff notes. Our latest one is this Composition Activity for them to create their own pieces using Treble Clef Space Notes, and another for them to create using Treble Clef Line Notes.

They can create their own piece unaided, or they can use the spinners to help them select their next note. I am excited to hear what they come up with!

Take a look at some of the other activities we use to help our students learn the staff notes:
  • Key Note Races
  • Countdown
  • Don't Miss the Bus
  • Staff Note Reading Bundle
  • The Piano Note Slide Show
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tHE mUSIC aLPHABET

11/19/2021

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I thought all our primer students fully understood how the music alphabet worked. And then, after months of lessons, one student asked me "When are we going to get to the Z note?" 

​So now, we use this PowerPoint activity to rehearse music alphabet every week 😊.
​And any students who are struggling get to use the flashcards to practice at home with mom and dad!
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Christmas Recital Countdown

11/16/2021

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In December we will be presenting our Christmas Piano Postcards to families and friends. Over the next 2 weeks, students will be tidying up their performances and making their performance videos. We have a week break from lessons at Thanksgiving, so to keep the students practicing over the break until they make their videos, we have created Christmas Recital Countdown practice cards.

Practice doesn't usually happen over Thanksgiving with our students, and we are really hoping to change that this year with these practice cards. Keeping fingers crossed!
If you think they would be useful for your studio, you can download them here. There are even some blank cards included so you can write in your own practice ideas. Let us know how your students enjoy them!
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Don't Build A Snowman

11/12/2021

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We've all had students who rush into a piece without checking hand position and start notes, and then proceed to "start over" a dozen times.  

​I was super inspired by an idea that was talked about in one of the music Facebook groups this week. It was based on the Hangman game kids play for guessing a word, and was geared towards helping students to play carefully rather than impulsively.

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I love the idea, though I didn't really want to use Hangman, and then I saw someone suggested building a snowman instead of a hangman. Today I put together a PowerPoint activity that we will be using this month to get everyone ready for their Christmas Piano Postcards.  ​It worked so well in today's lessons that we'll be sharing it with the Piano-Together Club members later this month!
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STAFF PETS

11/9/2021

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Last week, at the end of a lesson, we had a little time left. I decided to use the Staff Pets Power Point activity to do a little quiz on the lines and spaces on the staff. I randomly selected line/space numbers and the students had to identify pet on that line/in that space.
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What I thought would be a quick fun exercise turned out to be a big challenge to one of the students in the group. She has been playing Middle C position staff notes for the past year. We had covered the line and space numbers several times early on, but it seems she hadn't really grasped it. She confused the lines with the spaces and became very frustrated and unhappy - especially as the other students were answering the questions correctly.

This was yet another reminder for me to review, review, review and then review some more. So I added extra slides to the PowerPoint for introducing the lines/spaces. I also created additional quiz slides to keep it interesting, as this is another activity that students will be doing every week until they have completed the primer level.

We'll be sending this out to Piano-Together-Club members in December. If you want one earlier, join the Piano-Together-Club, and we'll send it to you later this week! 
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Staff, Steps and Skips

5/19/2021

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A few years ago, we put together a little booklet that we used to reinforce steps and skips for our young students. It was very popular, and your young students may find it useful. It was kind of long (lots of exercises for the students to practice, practice, practice!), so we've cut it down to remove some of the repetition.
Click on the images below to download and share with your students.
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Wheel Of Names

4/28/2021

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Getting students to embrace playing pieces they have "completed" can be a challenge. We have met this challenge with "Wheel of Names." 

Our lessons are mostly group lessons and all are online, so this is a great visual for the students. The bright colors are an added bonus!
So the week before, I tell the students which pieces we will be reviewing. Then at the lesson, I enter the titles of the pieces into Wheel Of Names and then spin it to select a piece for each student to play. I award points for "recital level performances."
  • Restarting a piece is an immediate zero.
  • 5 points if there were mistakes
  • 10 points for a recital level performance without mistakes.
Usually, having the most points at the end of the lesson, is enough of a reward, but last week I gave boxes of Skittles to the winner. That brought big smiles to several faces.

Find it at www.wheelOfNames.com

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    Julia & Diana

    Two sisters on two different continents, working together, creating resources that keep our students motivated and loving piano!


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Two sisters on two continents - working together, teaching together and creating super resources for group piano lessons! Yay!
These are resources we used in our in-person group piano lessons. Now we have created online-versions of everything to keep our students loving their lessons.
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