I Can Write the Music Alphabet Worksheet

I Can Write the Music Alphabet

I love to make theory worksheets for my students! Just a little bit of color makes them so much more fun for students.

This worksheet is for beginning students who are learning the music alphabet. I made it with large, easy to read print for younger children. The larger print also makes it possible to use this on your iPad with older beginners who can write smaller. You will have to experiment because pre-children vary a lot in their ability to write on the iPad.

All my printables are free for personal use. In order to print, click on the picture or the link below the picture. That will take you to another page, where you will select “download”.

I am making a series of these larger worksheets for my younger students. I will post more as I have time. I hope you enjoy them!

Funny Thanksgiving Food for Printing/iPad, and Some Sad “Skitch” News

Funny Thanksgiving Food for iPad and/or print

Some time ago I made a worksheet called Funny Thanksgiving Food, and recently I drew a version  to use on the iPad or Android, and it is also a printable. This  worksheet is a review of the notes around middle C. Click on the link above for this colorful version that looks good on a mobile device. However, since it is a PDF so it can be printed, laminated, and used with dry erase markers.

I also significantly updated the print-friendly version below, which has keys instead of notes on the staff.  Funny Thanksgiving Food has been a very popular coloring printable over the years, but I think I draw better now. The coloring version is good to use with younger children at a group lesson while waiting for everyone to show up. What child can resist coloring food all the wrong colors! (I also have a version where the pilgrim has to be colored, which might be useful for parents or a group class. Email me and I’ll send it to you.)

Funny Thanksgiving Food

The mention of the iPad brings up the subject of Skitch, my (used-to-be) favorite app to use with worksheets. Imagine my disappointment a few weeks ago when I discovered the company that bought Skitch, Evernote, has totally revamped the app in version Skitch 2.0, so that it is no longer useful with my students!  As a matter of fact, it has created a lot of resentment and angst among long time Skitch users. You can do a search on the web to read about it. If you have the first version of Skitch, I advise you to keep using it and DO NOT update it! Once you update it, you cannot get the old version back.

I am looking for a replacement app for Skitch that will work in my piano lessons, and when I find one that is as easy as the first version of Skitch, I’ll let you know.  So far I have tried many apps, and none are simple and easy enough for my needs.

All I want is an app to import and open PDF’s from the web, with some easy tools to draw lines and circles on  the PDF.  It should have an eraser without erasing the PDF, and/or an un-do button. There should be a way to clear the screen to start over. It needs to be so easy that even *I* can quickly figure out how to use it. Please leave a comment or email me if you know of one! I’ve tried various PDF reader apps that can be marked with annotations, but none are simple enough for what I am looking for.  I’ve also tried various whiteboard apps and drawing apps. I’m still looking!

I wrote Evernote very politely asking if they could put the first version back in the app store for those of us who use it for education, but they never bothered to reply.

Let’s Play Ball

Let’s Play Ball

I have made a lot of worksheets to help students learn piano keys, but I have not made one for baseball. I have one little guy who just loves the game so I made this for him. In order to save paper and make it more fun for students, I designed it big enough to use on an iPad. If you don’t  want to use this on a mobile device, print it out just as you usually do. Be sure to print in landscape orientation. Don’t try to click on the picture above, because that will just pop up a low resolution image that is only for illustration purposes and it does not look good in print or a mobile device. Click the heading under the picture and it will take you to my website where you can print it.

If you want to try it on a mobile device, here is one easy way to download this into Skitch, a free app for Apple and Android.

Directions for using the Skitch app

1. Using your iPad, open the Skitch app. On the home page there are several icons on the top row. Select “Web.”
2. When the next window opens, there will be a place to type in an address. You will have to open the typing tool. Type in http://www.SusanParadis.com  (do not use the address for this blog)
3. Select “Worksheets” and scroll way, way down the page until you see number SP614, Let’s Play Ball. Select it and then select “Download”. This opens the Let’s Play Ball printable, but you are not going to print it.
4. Turn the iPad to landscape orientation (sideways). Using two fingers, center the graphic exactly like you want it.
5. Click the camera icon on the top left side of the app.  Skitch saves the graphic and places a tiny icon of it on the home page for future use. You cannot change my graphic (other than crop it or zoom in or out), but you can draw or type all over it.
6. Now the student can use the arrow or pencil tool and draw a line from the keyboard to the correct letter.
7. The trash can icon at the bottom of the left hand side will clear the graphic of any marks your student makes so that it will be ready for your next student. The third icon down on the left side is the “send to” tool. You can send it to a parent to show them how much your student is learning!

If you want more info on how to use Skitch, see my 2 posts from this past summer.

Disclosure: I have no connection to Skitch whatsoever, nor does the company know I recommend the app, but I’ve found this one is good for piano lessons. I wanted an app that was easy to use and didn’t take much time to learn, and Skitch is my favorite. Leave a comment if you have a favorite app to use with your students. If you like my printables, please go to my Facebook page Susan Paradis’ Piano Teaching Resources and “like” it!

Ladybug Board Game

Ladybug Board Game

Every year I have a different “theme” for summer activities. This is the year of the ladybug. Besides, I have some cute ladybug and dragonfly erasers that I want to use as game tokens!

The Game Board

Print the one page game board in landscape orientation. I printed my game board on very inexpensive photo paper from Dollar Tree and then laminated it. Children love how vibrant the colors look and really want to play. To download, click the heading under the picture above.

The Game Cards

The game cards are in portrait orientation, so remember to change the setting. There are 5 pages to this game card file. The cards with notes on the staff are on pages 1-3. The keyboard cards are page 4. The optional backs to the game cards are on page 5. Do not print page 5 when you are printing pages 1-4.  If you want to print on the backs of pages 1-4, print out those pages first and then re-insert (according to your printer’s instructions) and select page 5 only.  As a friendly reminder, If you don’t want the backs, don’t print page 5.

Game cards for Ladybug Board Game

The above graphic shows the optional back. It really makes the cards look good and makes the game “happier”.

Directions

This game can be played with students or teacher and student. The players take turns drawing cards and moving to the correct alphabet name. There are some instruction cards to make the game more fun. The optional card that says “move up 3 skips” is a quick way to teach alphabet skips, or to play a more speedy game. The game is over when someone draws a card after G at the end of the path. It is such a quick game you can play more than once. If you are playing with beginners using the keyboard cards, be sure to have the student say the alphabet letters out loud. This really helps them learn the music alphabet. There are so many games you can play with this game board. For example, you can start and G and move backwards. Use your own ideas and I hope you have fun!

Objectives

• To learn the music alphabet
• To learn to recognize notes on the grand staff or keys on a piano keyboard
• To learn the meaning of a skip in the music alphabet
• To play a fast (under 3 minutes) music board game

Ages

• Early childhood to grade 2 or 3

 I’m not going to be posting very much this summer, but if I make anything I think other teachers might enjoy, I’ll post it. At the top of the page you can subscribe to receive an email when I post something new. It is completely anonymous and you can easily unsubscribe.

Bunny to Color Piano Keys

Bunny Keys

The younger the beginning student, the more they need reinforcement on concepts they have learned. Just because they know it today doesn’t mean they will remember it tomorrow! This is why some piano teachers get frustrated teaching younger children. You have to set your frustration meter very high!

With that in mind, I created a little puzzle for students to color in order to reinforce the names of the keys. One of my students loves bunnies, and around the Easter season is a good time for coloring bunnies.

This worksheet is in black and white for those of you without access to a color printer, or if you want to save ink. (The green watermark is not on the copy you will print.) I hope your young students enjoy coloring this. I know I have one who will!

Objectives

• To reinforce the names of piano keys
• To practice fine motor skills and writing letter names
• To enjoy a seasonal activity

Ages

• Preschool and elementary age children to about 3rd grade

Material

• Worksheet
• Crayons (brown can be substituted for pink)
• Pencil

Fun Ways to Learn Keys

I want to share with new teachers a way to make sure your young students never forget the names of the piano keys! Over the years I’ve collected a lot of tiny toys that fit on the keys. These little guys are erasers, but I have all kind of trinkets in my collection. First we learn C, then F, and over several lessons we gradually work up to all the keys. In this photo, my little student picked any item out of my collection that started with the same letter as the key. So that students won’t just count up from C, we let our little animals hop around to all the C’s, all the F’s, etc. I mix up the order, and the time it takes to learn all the keys depends on the age and ability of the student.

We also play the Keyboard Note Race games that I have posted with several different graphics on my website. This week we’re playing the one with the shamrocks. Click on the link below the photo to print it out. For older beginners I don’t use toys, but we play the keyboard race games. Older beginners are notorious about trying to play the piano before they learn the names of the keys, maybe because we move faster and they don’t have as much time for it to sink in. This game helps with that.

Shamrock Keyboard Race

In this game you and your student sit on each end of the piano, draw cards, and try to be the first one who passes either Middle C or Middle E. The original blog post is here, and I even have a version for German teachers! I guarantee you students will quickly learn their keys with this game. I’ve made it with pumpkins, snowflakes, hearts, and I can’t even remember what else, to make it more fun for students. Colored pencil erasers make good tokens for older students.

Hearts and Clubs – Keyboards

Hearts and Clubs – Keyboards

A few readers wondered if I had some keyboard cards to use with the Hearts and Club Note game I posted last week. As a matter of fact, I did, but I was having a problem with what to do with the extra space on the page. I just hate to leave a space blank!

Jennifer Fox suggested I use an empty keyboard, similar to the Fly Keyboard cards, so that is what I did. You can either use it as a wild card, or take a red marker and make it whatever key you wish. Or use it for your student to draw the letters on the keys.If it is laminated, you can use it reuse it next year.

In order to play this game, you will have to use the game board for the Hearts and Club Note game. You will also find the rules for the game on that post. All you need to do is modify the game for use with the keyboard cards. You can also use these cards as flash cards, if you don’t want to play the game. And don’t forget the famous “run up to the piano and play this card as fast as you can” game!

Ornament Bingo

Ornament Bingo

If you are looking for a simple game for beginners for the holidays, you might be interested in this game.

There are four cards in this PDF.  I suggest laminating them if you want to keep them, because home printer ink will smear. The teacher calls out a letter and the students cover it with a bingo token.  Students can win by covering all of one color or row.  Younger children like to play several short games. Older beginners will want to play “black out” and cover all the ornaments.

If you have a few students in your group who are not beginners, make it more difficult for them. Give them a big staff and let them place a token on the staff note as well as the piano key. I have many big staves on my website you can use. There are always ways to make music games more difficult if you think about it.

I used to have some students who had trouble learning piano keys, no matter what cute little ideas I used at the piano. But once I started playing games like this, they learned the keys very quickly. It is a fact that if something is fun, students learn faster. Maria Montessori showed teachers a long time ago that children learn through play.

You know what’s fun for a Christmas group lesson? Instead of using bingo tokens, use green and red M&M’s.

Keyboard Fly Cards

Keyboard Fly Cards

How about using flash cards to teach brand new students the names of the piano keys? Make the cards a fun game that can be played several ways. That’s what I’m posting today. Jennifer, whose website I recently added to my blog roll  made the suggestion. Since I have been honing my Photoshop skills and had some new techniques to try out, I thought I might as well make something useful. If you’re a Photoshop user, you know that there is more than one way to do things, and there is an endless supply of new things to learn.

 Getting back to the cards, here are some suggestions.

• You can use these to play Swat the Fly like the Fly Flash Cards I made earlier. Place the cards on a table, call out a letter, and the student swats it as quickly as possible.
• You can play hide and seek with the cards, hiding the cards around the room. Tell your student to find the fly holding the “D”, for example. Little students need the cards to be very obvious. Older children like a challenge.
• In a private lesson, have the student sit across the room from the piano.  While you time him with your phone or a timer, he grabs the card, runs to the piano, and plays it. This is a variation on my favorite keyboard game. It’s easy, fast, and it works.
• In a  beginning group class,  pass out the cards and let students run up and play their note on the piano.
• In a group, students sit in a circle and pass the cards while music plays.  When the music stops you call out a letter. The student with that cards runs up and “swats the key” by dropping a braced 3^rd finger into the key.

 I hope some of you will leave a comment here for other ways to use these cards because I know how creative piano teachers are.

 There used to be a time when some of my students had trouble learning the names of the keys. I am happy to say that by using some games and a few worksheets at the beginning lessons, all of my students learn their piano key names quickly now and can identify them with speed. While learning sentences and ideas such as the Back yard where the Cat and Dog Eat and the Front door, where Granny and Auntie live are helpful to introduce the keys, I also needed some way for the student to identify them quickly and not have to count up from C. That is my objective with these games.

 This is a large PDF file with 2 pages. It may take a little while to download. There is one card that is intentionally left blank.  I’m not sure what you can do with it, but maybe you can come up with a game where it is the free card and the student can play any note he wants.

Snowflake Keyboard Note Race

Snowflake Keyboard Note Race

It is the last lesson before  the holidays and you want to do something different. This is a fun game that is the same game as the  Shamrock Keyboard Race  game I posted last year except it has  a snowflake graphic. Maybe you never got around to playing it last year, so now you can play it before  the holidays and even into the winter months.

Print 2 pages of the cards and cut them out.  Give one set to the student and the other set to the teacher. Both players sit on the piano bench with their own set of cards, which have been shuffled.  Each player has a set of cards on his side of the piano.  Players take turns  drawing a card and moving a pawn to the key they draw.  The player on the right side always moves to the left and the player on the left side always moves to the right , with both players moving toward the middle.  The first player to pass the middle (either middle C or middle E; you can decide) is the winner.

You may run out of cards before you get to the middle, so you can turn the cards over and start again, or you can print out more cards and play past middle C and down to the other end of the keyboard.

I added an F# and Bb card to the deck, but I will not use it with beginning students. I included it just in case you play this with a student who is starting to learn sharps and flats.

If you have ever discovered that your student doesn’t know the names of the piano keys, this game will really teach it to him quickly!

Cover the Key Game

Cards  for Cover the Keys Game

Every beginner’s first challenge is to learn the names of the keys on the piano. I think the fastest way to learn is to make a game of it, such as Cover the Keys. In the past I called out letters and the student would cover them with large plastic tokens that I bought at Staples.   

Recently I decided it would be more fun to select alphabet cards rather than calling them out, so I made some I could  use for a long time. 

To play this game, laminate the cards,  cut them out, and put them in a small bowl.  Laminate and print out one game board for each student. Students take turns  drawing the alphabet cards  and then covering the correct key on the Cover the Keys game board.  I still use my colorful  plastic tokens to cover the keys,  but I made the cards small enough to use as  tokens on the game board if you would rather do that.

In an individual lesson, I play along with the student.  One of my students is  just learning the notes, so I had to help her out.  After playing the game a few time, I didn’t need to help her because she had learned all the keys. How’s that for quick learning? When you take turns drawing the cards  there is an element of luck involved, and she was tickled to actually beat me!

If you play this game with a lot of students, be sure to print enough of the alphabet cards, especially if you use them as tokens.  I’ve actually never used the wild card, but since there was a space, I made one. It is certainly optional, and depends on how much time you have to play the game.

If you notice, I have the keys grouped into two and three black key groupings. If they learn that the group of two starts with C and the group of 3 starts with F, it helps them learn the keys faster. You can go to the piano before or after you play the game and have the student play CDE and then FGAB all the way up the piano. Little children, especially, need to relate the game board to an actual piano!

If you want an European version of the music alphabet, please send me an email and I will send you one. Tell me what you would like on it.

Table Top Keyboard

Table Top Keyboard

I have some large colored bingo chips that I bought at Staples in the teacher supply section. This paper keyboard is large enough for those chips. Print it out in landscape on card stock, cut it out, laminate it, and tape it together. Then you can spend some off-bench time with your student learning the names of keys, steps and skips, and intervals. Children need to get away from the piano some, especially children with different learning styles. Children who learn kinetically do a lot better if they can place a manipulative on a keyboard and move it around.

If you don’t have any bingo chips, cut out some colored paper into circles that will fit this keyboard.

This graphic can also be used by young children to write the names of the keys. If you do this, you can print it with  economy mode  of your printer on inexpensive paper or even the back of paper you’re discarding. I never throw away a piece of paper if I’ve only used one side!

Shamrock Keyboard Race – a fun keyboard game for St. Patrick’s Day

Shamrock Keyboard Race

Shamrock Keyboard  Gameis  for students who are just learning the notes on the keyboard, or you can play it with anyone just for fun. I got the idea from Cecilly’s Sharp and Flat Race to Middle C.   I like to have a variety of seasonal and holiday activities available because I think it adds something and keeps piano lessons from becoming predictable.  While these cards are fun around St. Patrick’s Day, I use them all during the year. I also have Pumpkin Keyboard Race cards, and various other holidays.

Print out both pages on card stock and laminate them for durability. Cut out the cards and give one set to the student The other color is for the teacher or another student.  Both players sit on the piano bench. Shuffle the cards  and put a deck on each side of the piano and give each student a pawn. I have found that a removable eraser makes the perfect pawn. It’s not too big and doesn’t fall off the keys.  Each player takes turns drawing a card and moving their pawn.  The player on the right side always moves to the left and the player on the left side always moves to the right , with both players moving toward middle C. The first player to pass middle C is the winner.

Here is a picture so you can see how well a pencil erasers work as a pawns. You can buy an inexpensive pack of many different colored pencil erasers. Mine only cost $1.00 for a large supply. I use the yellow and green erasers for this game. I keep the erasers with the cards so I can use them quickly.

You may run out of cards before you get to middle C, so you can turn the cards over and start again, or you can print out more cards and play past middle C and down to the other end of the keyboard.

I added an F# and Bb card to the deck, just in case you want it. It is a good way to introduce the two accidentals that are used first in a lot of method books.

Students will always want to play again, so switch sides and try again. This is a quick game, it doesn’t get the student too excited, and really does teach help them learn the keyboard. It is a good game to play if you have a minute or two left before the next lesson. If you have an older student, try Cecilly’s Sharp and Flat Race to Middle C.

Gingerboy Keys

Gingerboy Keys is is a very fast worksheet so you might want to print two to a page.  I used this yesterday with some beginning students  and they did it fast and seemed to like it.  My new crop of students have learned all the piano keys very quickly this year. I think it is because we played the Cover the Keys game back when they started lessons. It seems like in the past some students have had a lot of trouble remembering the keys. I recall a 5th grade honor student who didn’t know the key names after a year of piano. I think I’m doing a better job of teaching it now!

This worksheet  was fun to make, but I have to confess I didn’t draw the gingerbread boy. My daughter the artist drew it.  The nice thing about Photoshop is that I can recycle all the graphics so you might see Mr. Gingerboy on something else.