There’s a Little Wheel A-Turning In My Heart

I have very fond memories of teaching There’s a Little Wheel A-Turning to my elementary music classes in the 70′s.  It is a soothing kind of folk song, and it seemed to calm the children down.  For the second verse we would sing, “There’s a little song a-singing in my heart.” Sometimes the classes would make up more verses and now I don’t know which are part of the folk song, and which ones we made up.

I arranged this for some of my students who wanted a Valentine song that was more challenging. I didn’t want to make it TOO challenging, because there’s only 2 weeks to Valentine’s Day. That’s why I changed the 8th notes to quarter notes in the second measure. Also, I left out the dotted eighth notes in the melody because that just makes it look too hard. However, if you’re students can do it, add them in.

For those of you who use Finale, I had trouble notating the last measure . I wanted the final F to be a tie.  I had to make a different layer to do it. Is it done correctly and clearly? It’s hard to be a one woman publishing  company. When I learned to write music, computers took up entire rooms and there was no such thing as a personal computer, much less one that you could print out your own music. I’m totally self-taught on the computer!

One final note, children now days don’t seem to know folk songs! That’s why I like to arrange them and pass them out to children.

Bass Clef Step and Skip Cards

Here are the Bass Clef Step and Skip Cards that I have been working on.

When I made the original cards to go with the Step Skipping Game, I only made cards for the treble staff. I have been meaning to add some bass clef cards with seconds and thirds and today I finally managed to finish them.   For good measure, I threw in a few cards that repeat.

There are five pages of flash cards in this set. Be sure to set your printer to landscape view. Use card stock for durability and laminate if you use an ink jet printer so your students won’t smear the ink.

I always have a few students who have trouble quickly identifying steps and skips, so I’m going to use these as flash cards and use  some of the flash card games I’ve posted. I hope these will prove to be helpful for you.

If you want more step and skip help, I have also posted 5 note pre-reading step and skip cards here and 3 note cards here.  They are valuable for students how have having reading problems even past the pre-reading stage.

Love Somebody, level 2

I didn’t have plans to post this arrangement of Love Somebody, Yes I Do, because  I have already posted 2 versions, but my students have been enjoying it, so I thought I would share. If you have a young late elementary student, they might want a Valentine’s song. Like Christmas music, I wanted to arrange something they could play and enjoy right away. There isn’t much time left so I didn’t want anything too challenging. I have been using it with students in Level 2B of Piano Adventures.

There are several places in this piece that will test their sight reading skills. Let me know if they enjoy it!

Valentine Notes

 

I hope you will try the game from Cecilly that I posted yesterday. I think it will be a fun activity to brighten up some of these dreary winter days.

I had a request for this Valentine worksheet and it came from one of my students. Young students love holiday inspired activities, which is why we do so many of them as school teachers.  It is starting to be a tradition that I will have notes for different holidays and she wanted to know when I was doing Valentine notes.  I was planning on making this anyway, but the time has slipped up on me. Valentine’s Day will be here very soon so I thought I’d better post this now so you can use it this week.

In making this worksheet I tried to make one that could be used with the notes somewhat in order, or mixed up, like a lot of students need. So if you do this *with* a student (and I encourage that for the young beginner) you can move up and down or you can do all the bottom rows and then all the top rows. Or you can find and circle the guide notes. Another fun way would be to make a game where someone calls out notes and students cover the hearts with candy or a token, like some of the earlier ones I made. I think Hershey Kisses would be fun in the Valentine colors you can find right now. With some of my students I plan to start with guide notes and then try to find the ones up and down from there.

I am going to laminate mine and use dry erase markers so I will only have to print out a few copies.

Let me know if you find any mistakes. I did this in a hurry to get it out before Valentine’s Day.

Quarter Note Hunt

Cecilly has a new game called Quarter Note Hunt and I’m posting the directions today. This is such a simple activity and so easy to prepare, that it will be easy to play at a lesson.  It might be good to have this activity ready when lessons start to drag a little. Boys, especially, need to move around some.

The picture above is a set of cards [ quarter-note-hunt ] to go with her game  in case you would like to print them out.  Be sure to print in landscape format. I hope these cards are  what Cecilly had in mind.  It will also be very easy to just  cut up index cards and draw them yourself.

This game can be played with any rhythm value, but the following directions are for quarter and half notes. I went ahead and put in some other note values on my cards, too,  in case you want to play it when they have learned more notes.   Here is the game in her words:

Quarter Note Hunt

Materials: Timer, a basket, and several small cards folded in half with a quarter note drawn on the outside (vary the stem direction)and 1 short dash drawn on the inside. The card is to sit with the open ended side down and the folded side up (like a triangle). The note is on the side facing toward you and the dash on the inside so when the card is flipped up, the dash is revealed.  Also, make several half notes.

Set up: Place the cards all over the room where they can be easily seen, mixing up quarters and halves. I have mine on the floor, on the shelves, on my desk, in the corner of the piano keyboard, on my table, etc.

Objective: to retrieve all of the quarter notes in the time allotted (30 sec).

To Play: at “go” the student begins to hunt for the quarter notes while I play some exciting music on the piano. For each card that is found, the student should bring it to a central location (on the floor, in a basket, on the table, whatever you’ve chosen). So this becomes a back and forth kind of race against the clock. When time is up, stop playing. The student stops hunting and counts all of the quarter notes he has gathered. Take a moment to have him lift the front flaps up to reveal the dash and thus the number of pulses for each quarter.

Variation: Play again, but have student gather all the half notes. Then after play, allow the student to arrange his notes into rhythm patterns to clap and count/play and count on a given piano key.

As new rhythm values are introduced, I just keep adding new cards and having the student race to gather the newest value first. This helps them visually differentiate between all the different rhythm values.

Have fun.
Cecilly

Thanks again, Cecilly!

 

Don’t forget to draw the dash and dashes on the inside. I might draw hearts above the dash (one heart  for each beat) because I use the Kodaly system method of teaching beat and rhythm.

Traveling Triads

I have a group of students who take the Texas State Theory Test at the high school level, and each year forget how to quickly figure out the name of inverted chords. I’m not sure why it seems so hard for them to remember, but it could be that there is just so much new material to learn every year, they forget the old.

The other day I tried to come up with a worksheet that would make such an impression, they will remember every year.  Since it seems that my answer to everything is humor, color, and big print, in that order, Traveling Triads is what I came up with.

Years ago when I was a college freshman , we had a music theory teacher who was one of the best professors I ever had. He used humor to teach a difficult subject and we loved him for it. That is when I realized the value of humor as a teacher and it has served me well. Thank you Dr. Josephson.

If you ever wonder what my teaching style is, this worksheet will give you a clue!

I have a lot of teachers asking me when I am going to finish the fish flash cards that I have been working on for several months. I am still working on them and I will eventually get them posted. If there is anything else I told you in an email I will post, feel free to remind me.

Bye the way, this first time I posted this, there were several errors which I have fixed. If you see anymore, let me know.

Fishy Scales

Arlene sent me a great idea to keep track of scales, called Fishy Scales. I already had these fish drawn, so for her idea, I just drew in the “fish scales” and the place for the student name. I tried to draw the fish to be easy to cut out, which is why they don’t have a fin at the bottom.

Print, cut out, and laminate one fish for each student. Post the fish on a bulletin board that you have decorated. When a student learns a scale, write it inside the “scale” on the fish. Use a dry erase marker to write on the laminated fish, and you can use them over again each year. In one of my earlier posts I mentioned the clear book covers that I used to laminate my material. Now that I have an inexpensive laminating machine, I don’t have to use that, but I encourage you to try it if you don’t have access to a laminating machine.

I included two colors, in case you want one color for major and one for minor, but that is up to you. You could ask the student to pick the color they want.

If you  teach in your living room or a church sanctuary and you’re not keen on posting fish all over the walls, make a portable bulletin board on foam board and keep it with your music supplies. Sometimes I prop things up on my hearth and remove it when I have company. 

Arlene made a bulletin with had blue paper on it and at the top said “Fishy Scales. ” She put some construction paper seaweed and other sea decor at the bottom of the board. Doesn’t that sound cute?   Here’s the really fun part. When they learned all the assigned scales, she gave them a bag of Swedish Fish!

Thanks so much Arlene for the great idea. I bet there are going to be a lot of “fishy scales” in piano studios this year!

Love Somebody (primer level)

If your young students started in the fall, they may be past the pre-reading version of this folk song that I posted the other day.

Today I am posting a very easy 0n-the-staff version.  I arranged  it with the right hand thumb on D, just like some of the Halloween songs I wrote back in October. You can change that around if you wish. Just white out my finger numbers!

I had fun drawing the legs on the little heart. I hope your students will enjoy it!

Love Somebody, Yes I Do

I made a lot of hearts a while back for teachers to use to work on rhythm. Since Valentine’s Day is coming up in a few weeks, I added some arms, legs, and a face to one of my hearts and put it on Love Somebody, Yes I Do.  This is a song I use to sing with my classes when I taught school. In an effort to post it in time for teachers to actually have time to use it, I haven’t tried it out with a student. So if you see anything wrong, like the time I left out bar lines ;)  please let me know.

I hope there aren’t any mistakes, however, because notating music in pre-reading is harder for me than the normal, on the staff, way. First of all you have to add the tiny keyboard so students know where to put their hands. Most songs are different, so I have to make a new one each time. Then there are all the bar lines and finger numbers that I add, plus the words and the hyphens for the words. It is very time consuming. I can do it all in Finale, and it’s faster, but I don’t like the results so I do it the hard way.  It’s all worth it if it makes a student want to practice.

Twister by Wendy Stevens

Wendy Stevens is a piano teacher and a wonderfully imaginative composer. She has a new piece that is hot off the press from Hal Leonard. Any student who is around level 2 of a method book will enjoy this piece. The Hal Leonard Student Library is leveled differently than most of the well known method books. So this piece is labeled Level 3, which is about Level 2 in most books. 

Twister is an exciting, energetic piece with easy accidentals that  put it in C minor.  Since it is ingeniously written in 3/4 time,  a late elementary student can get the  feel of 6/8 before he has reached that point in his lesson book. There are no eighth notes and  it  is mostly written hands separately in five finger positions.  Since Wendy is a piano teacher herself, she knows what students like and what they are able to play at this level. Your students will impress their  family and friends with the fast sounding tempo, minor sound, and the broken C minor chords.  It is so much fun to play, your student will be happy there is a repeat and a long coda on the last page.

 The reason I am featuring this piece here is because, frankly, it’s hard to create an exciting sounding but easy to learn piece at this level.   I played this for a student at the suggested tempo and my student loved it, but sadly thought it sounded too hard. When I showed it to him, he was so excited, because it looks easy and he knew he could play it. I suggest you try this piece with a student at your recital this year. Hal Leonard has been publishing some good solos lately, so check them out. I hope they will publish more of Wendy Steven’s  music.

Up a 4th, Down a 5th

Yesterday I said I would post the companion to the sharp key signature hand-out, and here it is, Up a 4th, Down a 5th.

Many teachers have their students  take standardized theory tests such as the Royal Conservatory test,  the National Music Certificate Program,  and tests given by various affiliates of the Music Teachers National Association. My students take the Texas State Theory Test, and other states offer one, too.  In my opinion, this is a good thing for teachers to add to their studio. While it is extra work, it really pays off. You have the guarantee that your students are prepared for whatever musical path they choose. Even if you think your students are not that serious, how do you know what they will want to do with music in the future?

Down a 4th, Up a 5th – Sharp Key Signatures

I was discussing with a student how to draw Down a 4th and Up a 5th when writing sharp key signatures for the Texas State Theory Test. She looked at me in amazement and said, “Why didn’t you tell me that before?”  Well, I thought I had, but obviously I didn’t do a very good job of it. So I made this worksheet that I plan to use with all my students who reach this level. This is really more of a study guide than a worksheet, but there is a small treble and bass staff where they can do some supervised practice. You can also print out my worksheet Simple Sharps, which offers more help.

I actually made this on the computer years ago, but it was hand made, not on the computer so it didn’t look very polished. I’ve updated it to post here. If you see any mistakes, let me know.

Those of us who have students take standardized theory tests have to teach this at a certain time, which is not always the level of the students’ playing. Sometimes all the knowledge doesn’t click for the student at the same time and they need to be shown and told in several different ways. I hope this will help a little bit.

Hold on if you want a flat key signature study guide. I’m posting it tomorrow.

I’m also working on some step and skip flash cards in the bass clef, which  I’ve never posted before.  And I’m still working on fish flash cards for the fishing game. At the same time, I’m trying to come up with a *game*,  not a worksheet,  to teach key signatures. Suggestions are welcome!

Cecilly’s “Who Am I? Swat Game” with “fly” flash cards

When Cecilly sent me her “Who Am I? Swat Game” idea,  it gave me an idea to make some fly graphic flash cards to use just with that game. I intended on just making a few but I got carried away and made a full set. There are three pages, but if you use these with beginning students, you don’t have to print the last page. You can use just the cards your student knows.

In addition to Cecilly’s game of spot placing the notes, I have also used the game to  learn the notes and not play it as a timed game.  I put out just some landmark notes to a student who is just in the process of learning them and we used the fly swatter to identify them. Now that you have the fly swatter idea, you can also make up some games of your own that will work with your situation.

If you have a student who is easily distracted, these cards might just be too much, so use the flash cards I posted the other day.  But for the right student, I hope that someone finds these  fun.

Let’s thank Cecilly for sending us this game idea!

“Who Am I? Swat game”

Place various note flashcards face up on a table or the floor. Give
student a flyswatter and have her stand or sit in front of the cards
so they are in clear view. This is a timed game, so allow 1 min. to
see how many notes the student can correctly identify by slapping.

Ok, at “GO”, you, the teacher do the actual spot-placing out loud but
without naming the note. For example: say you’re looking at F in the
treble clef. You would say “treble G down a 2nd” quickly and wait
for the student to mentally do the spot-placing, find the note, and
then swat it and say it’s name. If correct, you say “Point!” and
immediately go on to another. If incorrect, make a Bzzz sound and
repeat the spot-placing for another note.

At first I thought I’d turn the answered note card over, but then I
thought otherwise because that same note could be spot-placed from a
different direction (Mid C up a 4th for example).

Anyway, this could be a game that’s repeated in subsequent weeks so
the student can see if she can beat her previous record.>

Reverse side of Flash Cards

If you downloaded the flash cards from yesterday, you can now add the backs with the letter names. This makes them a lot more useful. However, remember to tell you parents if they are printed on regular paper the students will be able to see right through them. I would only print on the back when I use card stock. There are four pages, one for each page of the playing size flash cards.

I’m not a great proof reader, so if anyone would like to proof these to make sure I actually have the correct names of the notes in the correct places I would appreciate it. If you see any mistakes, email me as soon as possible and I will change them as soon as I have free time.

I enjoyed hearing from everyone at during the holidays. I hope we keep in touch during the new year.

New Flash Cards

I have flash cards in several sizes, and here is another set. These are playing card size, the same size as the ones in the Goofy Piano card game. But this set is expanded and arranged  differently on the pages. There are 4 pages to this set and I arranged them this way:

The first page is a set for beginners. If you have a new student who is learning the notes around middle C, you can tell the parent to print just the first page.  It seems so much less intimidating for the parent and the student. If parents need the name of the notes on the back and don’t read music, they can bring them to you.

The second page and part of page 3 has rest of the notes on the grand staff but no ledger line notes.

The rest of page 3 and page 4 have ledger line notes above, below and in between the staff. There is also a left hand middle C. 

You will need to hand write the names of the notes on the back until I can get the back of the cards posted here. That is on my to-do list!

If you’re a new teacher, you may notice that students need to learn where the placement on the piano is, not just the name of the note. Also, most teachers agree that flash cards don’t help very much with music reading, but they do give a student confidence to move up and down the keyboard quickly. And let’s face it: students need to learn note names if they are to be a musician! Creative ways to use flash cards will keep it fun and not drudgery.

When we work on flash cards, students have to “say and play” the cards.  I set aside no more than 6 weeks of the year to work on them and students try to join the “One Minute Club” by being able to say and play them in one minute.   The one minute club is not my idea,  but one I got from the wonderful teacher and composer Jane Bastien. Of course, older students are not a bit interested in the *club*, but do like the challenge of seeing how fast they can do them.  I make a different membership card each year and put the number of years they have been a member.

I also use ready made flash cards, but many times students lose them from one year to the next.  With cards posted on the Internet, they can just print new ones to their hearts’ content. There is no excuse to not study them at home!   Playing Card Size Grand Staff Flash Cards

Slap Game from Cecilly

You’re sitting at the piano bench with a student saying “up a second, down a second”, on and on and it’s getting kind of tedious. So just get off the bench and go over and play the Slap game for a few minutes,  just enough to add some vitality to the lesson.

This is another game from Cecilly. It is a game for students who can’t seem to “get” intervals. I think it can also be successfully used for students who are just learning intervals in their primer level book.  If you use my alphabet cards,  you will have to print out more than one page unless you want to stay within an octave.  (Look for the July 27, 2008 posting to see my original posting on the alphabet cards.) I went ahead and laminated mine with clear book covers, so they are going to be slippery. It was suggested by other teacher to used removable putty on the back to help them stay in place. It was also suggested to use a flyswatter and swat the interval rather than slap.  Like all of Cecilly’s games, you can modify it to work for you. If you play it, let us know how it worked out!

Interval path “Slap” Game:

Either on a table or on the floor, lay out 2 sets of ABC cards in a
straight line,  row, or slightly curved (like a rainbow). Have the
student stand or sit facing the cards.

Much of this activity is “silent”. The teacher calls out “Starting
note” followed by a letter (ie “Starting note: C”). The student
places his pointer finger just below one of the C’s. Then the
teacher dictates a simple 5 or so note interval path saying the
direction and interval (ie up a 2nd, up a 2nd, up a 2nd, down a 2nd,
etc.). The student may follow the path with his finger after each
interval. Then the teacher, when the path is completed, calls
out “Slap!” The student then slaps the final note as fast as he can
(ie “Starting note:C, up a 2nd, up a 2nd, up a 2nd, down a 2nd,
SLAP!”) AT THE SAME TIME, you, the teacher, also go to slap the
correct letter card. Whoever slaps first earns a point.

You can make the path as complicated as you wish depending upon the
student’s level. Also, you can play it as a SECRET Interval Path
game where the student CANNOT use his fingers to mark the path as you
dictate but must follow the path with his eyes only in silence. When
you call “SLAP!” you both go for the letter.

You could also require that the final letter name be called out along
with the slap. If the student fails to call the letter, even if he
slaps first, no point is awarded.

New Years Game

 

Game pieces for New Years Game

The New Years Game with game pieces  [ new-years-game-pieces ] came about because a  teacher  wanted an easier bingo type game for Christmas. I was unable to get it done in time for the past holiday season, so I made one for the New Year.  In a few months I can recycle it for another holiday.   Remind me if I forget!  I made this game  for 2 players, but it can be adjusted as you see fit.  Here are the directions for the game.

For each player,  print one game card and one set of game pieces (stars).  Use card stock and laminate. To save money you can use clear book covers or clear Contact paper. Cut out the circles (stars) from the game piece page.  You don’t need to trim them into the star shape, but it is a nice touch. I have some hand problems, so I’ll just do circles.

Give each student a game card. Put the game pieces in a container. The first player draws a star. If he knows the name of the symbol on the star he put the star over the corresponding star on his game board. If he does not know the name of the symbol, he give it to the or player, or if more, the player on his right.  If no one knows the name of the symbol, the teacher tells the name and puts it back in the container to be redrawn.

If a students draws or is given a symbol he already has on his board, he passes it to the other  player to name. If there are more than 2 players, you may set the rules before you start. You may want to just keep passing it to the right. You will have to be flexible with the rules, depending on the age of the students. You want them to be successful and every student to have an chance to win. Feel free to make up your own rules. If you are playing this with very young students, I’m taking about 4 to  immature 6, be gentle with the rules. I don’t want to be responsible for any crying students. It’s supposed to be fun. With very little ones, you probably want them both to win, or don’t even mention the “win – lose” words. Older beginners are a lot more competitive and understand winning and losing.  The first student to cover all of either the blue stars or the yellow stars wins.

There is only one game board for this game because I made it for beginners.