A Snail’s Gotta Do What a Snail’s Gotta Do

Snail, Snail

Recently I sang this with a preschool student to help him find his singing voice. After numerous questions that only a 4-year-old can ask, such as, “Why did the snail want to go around the water pail?” and “What is a water pail?” he started giggling and told me he “liked this song.” Trying hard not to get distracted, I told him that was just what snails like to do. Then he asked me to teach him how to play it on the piano.

So, always ready to please my students (preschool children are so more easier to please than high school students!), I wrote it out for the piano. I have to admit I get a little thrilled when a student asks to play something. This time his questions were about my drawings. (“Why is the snail smiling? Why is he green and orange? Why is the water blue? What does a snail eat? What if he falls in the water pail?”). I hope you have a sense of humor because you need it with children.

Getting back to piano, notice that Snail, Snail is played with the third finger of each hand. This is my sneaky way to help little students learn to brace their third finger and drop into the keys. If you have a beginner who is having trouble developing a rounded hand shape, maybe this piece will help. If you are a parent helping your child, be sure to drop into the keys, not lift individual fingers. Try to help them keep all their fingers rounded and not poking out this way and that. Suggest that their hand is holding a cute green snail and we don’t want to crush it!

You can learn about the braced finger from Nancy and Randall Faber’s Piano Adventures and My First Piano Adventures. If you’re not sure how to teach the concept, check out their videos. [On their homepage click Teacher Guides, > My First PA Tour and Videos, > Video Lesson Guide, and watch Hangin' on a Fence Post.]

Firefighter Finger Numbers

Firefighter Finger Numbers

This is an activity for those of us who teach young children or for parents who want to give their children a head start in learning piano.

I made this for a 4-year-old who loves anything related to firemen. I wanted an activity he would enjoy that would be a good way to reinforce finger numbers. Thanks to this game, his confidence has soared because it is now easy for him.

In addition to finger numbers, this activity helps children learn the meaning of the symbols RH and LH as well as to learn to distinguish their right and left hands.

I printed my cards on  magnetic printer sheets but you can also use card stock. The magnetic sheets are kind of pricey, so shop around and see if you can use a coupon. Mine came in a sample pack, so I wanted to try them out. You might want to try printing them on card stock and using magnetic strips you can buy at craft stores. Disclaimer: My magnetic cards are a little difficult for young students to use until they get used to how thin they are. I remove them from the cookie sheet and hand them to the children until they learn how. Standing them up on the sides of the cookie sheet helps.

Material

• The free Firefighter Finger Numbers printable, printed on card stock or magnetic printer sheets
• Cookie tin or magnetic surface, optional

Directions

• Print out both pages of Firefighter Finger Numbers and cut them into individual squares.
• The student will match the finger with a dot on the “glove” with the correct number on the firefighter “hat.”
• Place all the cards in view, so that the young child can see them and select the correct card.
• The student will learn faster if he says the finger number out loud as he works.
• If the student is capable, (older) play a memory game with the cards. If you do this activity, do not use all the cards,  because otherwise it is too difficult for the intended age group.

Objectives

• To visually match a finger number to the correct finger on the left or right hand
• To recognize the printer symbols LH and RH as right hand and left hand
• To identify a picture of a hand as a left or right hand.

Ages

• Early childhood, age 4 to first grade

If you need more material for learning right and left hands and finger numbers, check out Colorful Hands, Finger Numbers for Beginners,  and Colorful Fingers.

I am working on a Bingo Game of some sort for finger numbers as well as some other early childhood printables. Sign up for email updates of my blog so you won’t have to keep checking. Your email will remain anonymous. Click Follow Susan’s Blog by Email at the top right of the page.

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

See the Scarecrow – Primer Level

See the Scarecrow

It’s time for my yearly Halloween post,  where I post a new a Halloween song as well as remind new readers of my old Halloween material.

I wrote See the Scarecrow last year for a beginning student who was just starting to read on the staff.  The only thing that might be a little tricky is the RH thumb on D. This is a good piece to read something simple that is not in middle C position.

I had never drawn a scarecrow before and  it took forever, but it was fun and my students were happy with the way it turned out. There are a lot of noisy crows around the house this time of year, and  that’s what inspired me to jot down the song. It was interesting that some of my students did not know the purpose of a  scarecrow!

If you are looking for more beginning Halloween music, check out some of the pieces I have posted over the years. Most of them are written in both pre-reading and on-the-staff notation, so they are perfect for beginning  students. The last one is 2 pages and a little more difficult.

It’s October (finger numbers only for the first week of lessons)

Hey Mr. Mummy  (on staff with teacher duet)

Halloween is Almost Here (pre-reading)

Halloween is Almost Here (on  staff)

Halloween, Halloween (pre-reading)

(Halloween Halloween on the staff)

Once A year On Halloween (pre-reading)

Once a Year On Halloween (on staff)

Spooky Spiders (on the staff)

Five Little Pumpkins (pre-reading, but long for a young beginner)

Five Little Pumpkins (on the staff)

Sneaky Sneakers (Level 1)

 

 

Cute Certificate for Completing Fishy Scales

Fishy Scales Certificate

When your younger students learn their 5-finger scale patterns, reward them with this colorful certificate!

I made this last year when a teacher asked me if I had a certificate for my Fishy Scales. I didn’t have one, but I thought it was a good idea, so I made one!

I’m not quite sure why I never got around to posting this when I made it, but here it is now.

The nice thing about this certificate is that you can not only use it to go along with the Fishy Scales,  but really for anything, since it is blank.

If you are looking for something for your older students, check out this different technique certificate I posted several years ago for older students.

Be sure to set your printer to landscape mode. Try setting your printer to 2-up, which will print 2 on a page and save some paper and ink.

I hope your students enjoy the fishy scales certificate!

Fishy Scales Revised with a Very Sad Minor Fish!

Minor                                 Major

Fishy Scales

If you’re not using Fishy Scales to motivate your students to practice 5-finger scales, cross-overs, or octave scales, you might want to try this out for the new teaching year with your elementary age students.  They are recently revised after a suggestion from one of my students to draw the minor fish “sad-looking.” I’m sharing the new design with you. (The major fish is the same.)

Now it is easier to identify minor sounds because students can relate it to the fish. Younger students are always asking me why some of the fish are a different color, and this is a good opportunity to let them hear the difference in major and minor chords.

After I started using Fishy Scales my students practice their scales with more enthusiasm. I make a fish for each student, and as they learn a scale they are very excited to write the name in the “scale” on their fish. When they complete a scale set, I give them their fish to keep and we post a new one for the next set.

I keep them on my wall with  reusable lightweight mounting strips, which come in all sizes. They are very easy to remove when I don’t want “fish” on my piano room wall, and easy to replace.

Print them out on card stock for best results, and cut each page on the lines. There is no need to cut out each fish individually. My students also write on the card what they are working on, such as Octave Scales or 5-Finger Scales.

Thanks to Arlene Steffen for the idea for Fishy Scales. It really is a lot of fun, good motivation, and is very easy for a teacher to implement.

School Is Starting Back – a pre-reading piece with duet

School is Starting Back

I composed this little solo for a beginning student who has taken long enough to play on the white keys. In order to avoid skipping fingers I tried to make all the notes seconds. Sometimes that leaves a little to be desired when it comes to melody. Although Beethoven was able to produce the greatest 5-finger melody ever written using only seconds and a couple of skips,  I don’t have that ability by any means! However, I added a teacher duet you can play along to spice this up.

The most difficult spot may be the fourth finger in the right hand of the last phrase. That is not a strong finger so I plan to do a little spot practicing there.

As usual, my teaching suggestion is to teach the song first without piano (transpose, because it is in a register too low for children), tap out the rhythm like a drum on the fall board, repeat using the correct hands,  practice playing in the air with the correct fingers, play using fingers on the fall board, and finally try it on the piano. Usually if I do all that, the student is successful and very proud of himself! Of course, older students won’t need all those steps, usually.

Note-Go-Find

Note-Go-Find

I designed this game for my youngest age group, because they told me Quarter Note Hunt  was their favorite group lesson game. It is also a quick game at an individual lesson.

This black and white printable looks great printed on different colored cardstock. After printing both sides and cutting them out, score each card in the middle and fold like a tent card. It is better if you do not laminate it, because that makes it hard to fold.  If you’re worried about smearing, spray it with a fixative.  A few of my cards did get a little smeared, but it only slightly.

Hide the cards around the room. Now you can play several different games:

• Play it like a scavenger hunt. Give students a list of the notes they should look for. I made a list for every student, and each one was  different.  There was a check off box on the sheet. If a student finished, I asked him to help a younger student.
• Give each student one specific note to look for. This way a beginner can look for an easy note he knows, such as middle C.
• Play it at an individual lesson when you introduce a new note. After introducing E, for example, tell the student to find all the E’s you have placed around the room.  Since there are other notes hidden as well, the student quickly learns that E is on the first line. There is nothing like a game to learn notes. It is much more effective than flash cards!
• Use the blank card for you or a special student to draw and hide a challenge card.
• If you have a student who doesn’t know the notes yet or has learning disabilities,  make up an answer sheet or give him some flash cards with the names on the back.  It might be good to have something on hand in case you see a student struggling in a group situation.
• I found that I can’t hide the cards too well. They have to be easy to find! 

Thanks to Cecilly for giving me the tent card idea.

If you use this game in a creative way, consider leaving a comment here so we can share with other teachers.

A pre-reading version of Bingo

Bingo

I often receive email from teachers who are not used to young beginners or  parents who want to try out my pre-reading music,  so I am posting a suggested teaching plan for this fun folk song. Experienced teachers do not need to read on!

1. Before you begin, teach the song if you discover your student doesn’t know it. Have fun, and maybe play some instruments or march around the room.  

2. With both hands, drum out the rhythm on the fall board, singing along. At this point, chanting or singing the song in rhythm takes the place of counting.

3. Using the correct right and left hand, tap the rhythm on the fall board. Each hand has a different colored highlight to help students who get mixed up. 

4. I am going to assume your student knows piano finger numbers. But if he does not have experience with skipping fingers, you will need to work on that before you proceed. A good piano method book for young children is invaluable. Also, I have posted some pre-reading solos  easier than Bingo that I use as supplemental music.

5. If this is the first time he has used skipping fingers, practice 3 to 1 and 4 to 2 on the fall board. Circle the places on the music where these are found.

6. Play the song in the air, using correct fingers. Try it on the fall board. If he ”gets it”, he’s ready to play. Let him find his position.

7. Always count off. Like most folk songs, this one has a pick up beat, which you don’t need to explain at this point. It helps the rhythm if you count off 7 beats at the beginning:  “1 2 3 4, now let’s play….”.  Point to the notes as he plays so he will learn to read and not look at his hands. This is where all that preparation helps.

8. Make sure he drops into the keys using fingertips and keeps his wrist fairly level. Drop with the forearm. Avoid excessive lifting of each finger up and down in isolation to the rest of the hand. That will lead to some hard to fix problems. 

If you are not sure what I mean, watch the following videos.

Dennis Alexander This video shows the student tapping the rhythm on the fall board and playing with a relaxed hand.

Nancy Faber This video shows how to drop into the keys. Watch her other videos of beginning lessons for more information.

Piano Recital Certificate in a Casual Style

Casual Recital Certificate

Have you ever had certificates to pass out to everyone in your recital except for that one little student who just started taking lessons? Here is something you can pass out to him or to all of your students.  I designed this in a casual style, but I also made one that is more formal, and I will post that in a few days. So hang on if casual certificates are not your style!

We all know that students get a lot of certificates and awards nowadays.  Have you ever wondered what happens to all of it?  I visited one of my students a few years ago  and he proudly showed off a scrapbook he made with everything he had ever received from me carefully preserved. I was so touched, and it certainly makes the time and effort I put forth to make this material all worthwhile!

Of course,  your comments and emails are encouraging, too, and I very much appreciate them. Thank you!

Chocolate Valentines and other Valentine Piano Music

Chocolate Valentines pre-reading

Here is a little Valentine’s piece for your beginning students who have learned how to use all 5 fingers. It’s very easy because there are no skipping notes. It is good for sight-reading because the second line is a little harder for them.

I have several students who are beginning readers and I wanted to re-use my graphic, so I made an on-the staff version.

 Chocolate Valentines on-the-staff

If you are looking for more Valentine’s Day material, a few years ago I posted several arrangements of folk songs we sang when I taught school, as well as some Valentine themed activities. The links are below:

Love Somebody Pre-reading

Love Somebody Primer (on-the-staff)

Love Somebody Level 2 (8th notes and some hands together)

There’s a Little Wheel a-Turning in my Heart (late elementary)

Write a Valentine’s Song (a composing activity)

Valentine Notes (a worksheet to write notes on a grand staff)

Valentine Note  worksheet  (draw lines to connect notes to the staff)

Rhythm Heart Beats (for dictation)

More Rhythm Heart Beats

If you want to keep up with other Valentine’s Day material I may post, you can subscribe to this Word Press blog at the top. It is completely private and you can unsubscribe any time.

Enjoy!

New Year Game Reminder

New Year Game

Game Pieces

I have over 300 pages of activities, music, and ideas posted, all available at no charge to music teachers around the world. With this much material, it is very time comsuming for a teacher to sort through it all. With this in mind, I am reposting a New Year’s game you can play this month.  This is one of those games that it is easy to forget about until it is too late! 

When I first played this game, it was with a group of beginning students.  This week I plan to make it a fast activity at a private lesson. I plan to put the star game pieces in a bowl and let the student draw a star, name the symbol, and place it on the hat. This is simple and it won’t take very much time at a lesson. With an even younger child or with a new beginner,  you can leave off the identification and let the student match the symbols to help with visual identification.

You can also play it in a group, but notice there is only one game board.  You can go here if you want to read the directions I posted several years ago for playing with a group.  Feel free to make up your own rules and post your ideas as a comment to share with other teachers. 

For durability, laminate the game pieces and game board. You can cut the game pieces into stars, or keep the circle shape. 

 

A Thanksgiving Pre-reading Piece

Hurray, Thanksgiving Day

There aren’t too many Thanksgiving carols and hymns,  and trying to find a pre-reading one is even harder. With this in mind, I started writing some this summer, but time being in short supply, this is the only one I’ve been able to post.

As I wrote it I thought about all the fun I had when I was a little girl in South Carolina getting together with all my relatives on Thanksgiving on the farm. I had many cousins, and we all played together outside and had a great time.   When I asked one of my beginning students what is the most fun about Thanksgiving, she said it was playing with her cousins, so I guess things have not changed that much after all!

This beginning piece is not in middle C position, so follow the fingering on the tiny keyboard. There is a skip on the first line in the left hand as well as a fourth. That will be a problem, especially the skip,  so practice your “skipping fingers” on the piano cover. I highlighted the left and right hand parts to make it easier for one of my students. I also made an on-the-staff version, and I hope I get it posted before Thanksgiving!

It’s October

It’s October

I wrote this  piece  for a new student because  I wanted something special to play at her second lesson. She was delighted with it.  

If you’ve never seen piano material like this before, this is a pre-reading piece that can be used at the first or second lesson. The student plays on the group of three black keys, moving down toward the bass.  If you need more help, check out some of the newer piano methods at your local music store. I use My First Piano Adventures for pre-school and first grade children,  and Book A of that series contains a lot of pre-reading material.

No wonder students get confused when learning to play the piano. The numbers and words go one way (right), while the left  hand moves down the keys the other way.  In a few weeks it is normal for most students, but others have get confused.  It is something to think about when we try to understand why some children have so much trouble learning to read music. Reading music presents so many challenges for young children! 

If you want some more music for the first lesson when students have not yet learned quarter notes, I have posted a few.  From my website you can download:

What the Robin Said to the Worm,

What the Worm Said to the Robin, 

 Fourth of July, and 

 Canada Day.

In addition, there is a lot of pre-reading music on my website using quarter, half, and whole notes. The ones above use only finger numbers.

Musical Memory Level One

Musical Memory Game Level One

This summer I finished up the theory memory games I started last spring for all the early levels of piano lessons.  These games are just like my Rhythm Memory Game, except they use vocabulary words and musical signs. Since I think memory games are more fun with  colorful backs,  I made the graphic for the back of the cards that you see above. Also, each level has a different color graphic on the back so I can keep the levels sorted correctly. The levels contains the vocabulary and symbols on the Texas State Theory Test. However, I could not fit all the words on level 4 because I only had 8 spaces. 

If this game looks familiar, it is the same game I posted in April, but I have changed the back sides. This time I promise to add the other 3 levels in my next posts. Last spring I was busy with recital plans and dropped the ball on the other levels.

Even if your students don’t take a special theory test, every piano student needs to learn these terms.  What better way to learn them than by playing a memory game? The student turns over two cards, trying to match the symbol with the definition. It is fun to play it with a partner, and the one who collects the most pairs wins. If there is only one student, I am the other player. The student can also play alone if you have the time.  I’ve noticed students who are good at sight reading are also good at this game, so a good memory helps with that skill.

If you would like to see how I set up and store music memory games, check out this post.  I am going to post a grid for this game to make it easier to play, so check back.

Stuck in the Tar Pits

Tar Pits

I received this email the other day.  Susan, do you have any new material you will be using this fall that you can share with us?

The answer is, yes. Stuck in the Tar Pits is a new graphic that I designed and drew to teach students how to work on a difficult section, how to practice in small chunks, and how playing slowly will make it easier to learn a difficult section. As you know, young students have trouble with spot practicing.  They prefer instead to practice by playing the piece over and over and going back to the beginning if they make a mistake, rather than just working on the problem measure. 

This summer I visited the amazing tar pits in Los Angeles, and as usual, I thought of a way to not only share such a fascinating archaeological sight, but to tie it into piano lessons. Stuck in the Tar Pits is an idea that was inspired by Philip Johnston’s book, The Practice Revolution, that I reviewed last week.

 I waited to use this when a student was having trouble with a short passage. I noticed he was starting to get frustrated, so I did what I usually do in this situation, changed the subject.  I showed him a picture I took of the tar pits and how the prehistoric animals would get stuck in the tar, and now thousands of years later we can see their bones. He was too young to understand what tar is.  I grew up getting tar on my shoes in the summer but we don’t use much tar here in Texas. It’s too hot, I guess.  So we discussed how tar is sticky and gooey, and how the animals would get stuck in the tar.  After a short discussion of ice age animals,  we went back to the lesson. 

The student, distracted from his frustration, was excited to try to get out of the tar pits. We put a tiny plastic tiger (pretending like it was a saber tooth tiger!)  on the 1st black glob and the student played the measure that was giving him trouble. Oops, he played too fast and got it wrong, so we pretended like his little figure was stuck and he couldn’t move forward. On the second try he played  a lot slower and it was correct, so he moved to #2, and then to #3, moving his little tiger along until he was in the grass. He discovered it wasn’t so hard after all once he relaxed and played slowly. I gave him a copy of Tar Pits to take home and use and I laminated one to use in my studio.  

He learned a valuable lesson about practicing slowly and  how to spot practice.  On top of that, we had fun!

Hot Cross Buns – Pre-reading for Left Hand

Hot Cross Buns for Left Hand

When I made up the original Hot Cross Buns for the right hand, I also made one for the left hand and due to popular demand, I am posting the left hand version today.

Put this in their binder with the right hand version and  ask your young students the difference in the two pages. See if they can notice that the stems go down, the buns are on the left side, the finger is blue, and the border is a different color. Learning to notice things on the page will help later on when they have to notice musical symbols and expression marks.

Why do some people like me have so much trouble with their right and left hand?  When someone says use your left hand, to find it quickly I make an “L” with my left hand and thumb. I have students who do that, too.  I’m right handed, but I use my left hand for a lot of things, such as eating and using a computer mouse. I don’t know if that has something to do with it or not.

I’ve seen teachers get impatient with those of us who have this problem and say “left hand, left hand, left hand” louder and louder, as if saying it louder is going to help. Trust me, it doesn’t! The best thing to do is just accept that it has nothing to do with intelligence or musical ability and go on from there. One of my students is a wonderful artist and musician, and yet she always mixes up her hands. She composes and plays by ear, too. I usually just gently touch the hand I want her to use and that works.  

Hot Cross Buns for Pre-reading

 

Hot Cross Buns

I made the notes very large on this, probably because I have been having so much eye trouble that I could barely see the computer screen. Rather than shrink the notes down,  I decided to leave them big for my young beginning students.

How do you like my drawing of the hot cross buns? I hope they are drawn right.  Those of you from the UK or wherever they are common can let me know.  I’m not really an artist but I like to pretend!

Now I have a great new pair of computer glasses and I hope all will be fine for a while. 

Do you think I should post the one I made for the left hand?

Ed: After I posted this, I noticed a mistake in the last 2 measures, and I have corrected them.

Canada Day

Canada Day

There are a lot of Canadian teachers who read this blog, and they are all so nice. They email me with such nice comments,  support the site quite out of proportion to their numbers,   and I am so appreciative.  I have visited Canada and the people are good-hearted and friendly.  I am a big fan of your maple syrup and beautiful summer flower gardens.

I remember back in 1976 when I was in a small town in near the Canadian border watching a Bicentennial parade. The town was so small there was no band, so a high school in Canada sent their tiny marching  band to play in the parade. They had learned a bunch of American tunes to play just for the parade and to honor our Bicentennial. It was so sweet and I’ve always wanted to thank them.

Canada Day is July 1, close to our Fourth of July and it is a holiday like our Fourth of July, with picnics, lots of red and white,  and all kinds of summer fun.  I borrowed the format and some other things from my 4th of July pre-reading piece, but I started from scratch with the flag and the border.  I even made a maple leaf brush in Photoshop to draw the border!   

Change the fingering if you wish. Be sure and set your printer to landscape, and I hope your little students enjoy this! Let me know if I captured the feeling of Canada Day for your youngest beginning student.

What the Worm Said to the Robin

What the Worm Said to the Robin

Last year I posted What the Robin Said to the Worm and this year I am posting What the Worm Said to the Robin. Ok, the worm is a little slow! Better late than never.

I am trying to finish up the summer binder that I plan to give my beginning students.  I want to include some simple pre-reading pieces to play,  since this is all about playing the piano.

How is your pre-school binder coming along? If you don’t have a student to use this with now,  you might want to print it anyway and start a binder for the future.  If you are like me, by the time fall rolls around you will forget where on the web you saw it!

In the poll  I posted last week, pre-reading pieces received the most votes, so in addition to this new piece, I am reposting some that are in  my student’s binder. Below are the the easiest I’ve composed.  My student just loved Right Hand, Left Hand and played it over and over! I am working on some more that I will eventually post,  but  this is a very time consuming job.  Teachers also suggested some note learning printables, and I actually have made one for the summer which I hope to post soon.  It’s not too late to take the poll.

You will find many more pre-reading and easy on-the-staff songs on my website, if you look under the Music menu and take the time to scroll down. They are scattered throughout the Music menu, and some are more difficult than others.

I am working on one like The Fourth of July (posted below) for Canada Day, so all you Canadians can check back in a few days.

If anyone has questions on  how to teach these pre-reading pieces, send me an email and I’ll  post instructions  here on my blog.

Thanks to all of you who have donated to keep my website going!

What the Robin Said to the Worm

Fourth of July

Right Hand,  Left Hand