More online theory awesomeness

I was looking around for online music theory games and found the mother load!!  MusicTechTeacher.com has a huge list full of music theory, ear training, music history and more.  It appears to be the brainchild of a music teacher in Alabama, and it is a wonder.  I suggest going to the quiz page and checking out all there is, but I looked through and found a few that I know will be perfect for my almost 6 year old (tomorrow - aahh!!!!).  They are all great, but these were some I found that would work well for WonderGirl:

• Treble Word Match
• Treble Louis Armstrong Story
• Find the Missing Note Beethoven Game
• Treble Word Warrior
• Treble Spaces Game
• Bass Word Warrior
• Bone Up on the Bass Clef Quiz
• Bass Clef Ledger Lines Quiz
• Treble Clef Ledger Lines Quiz
• Identify the Music Notes
• Identify the Key Signature Quiz
• Skips, Steps and Repeats Quiz
• Music Terms Hangman Game

Music theory on the web

Is there anything Pinterest cannot do??  I've found the most amazing recipes, activities for my kids and so much more - and now I'm finding some really fantastic music education gems!  I saw a link to the The Music Interactive and was amazed at the games they have - most of them for free!  There is a note name recognition that was cute and simple enough that my five-year-old had a blast playing it.

A rhythm matching game for strengthening those ears -again, very accessible for my kindergartner and up.

A note recognition game called Staff Wars that was tricky enough that it pushed me to my limit (I made it to level 7 :)

Rhythm math:

And a ton more!  You'll need to register on their forum, but then you can then download the games to your own computer for any time fun. I also found this site that has some of them - plus others - web-based and ready to play now.  I've seen and played with a lot of music theory computer games and these are absolutely fabulous!

Music experiments: perfect pitch

Last week I was busy doing something domestic, when I heard some clinking glass in the kitchen.  I peeked in to see what was going on, and saw this:

Thanks to Bill Nye the Science Guy, WonderGirl has been turning into a regular scientist.  I'm not complaining!  She was doing a pitch experiment that was seriously impressive and simple.  I grabbed the camera and started asking questions.

 To try this, you'll need:
2 glasses
a separate cup/pitcher of water
a metal utensil (she used a spoon)

Fill one glass halfway with water, then put less in the other glass.

 Tap on both glasses to hear the pitch of both.  Does the less full glass sound higher or lower than the other?  Then slowly fill the second glass, testing periodically by tapping, until both glasses are the same pitch.

 Then grab another spoon and start jamming out on both glasses.

Last step - wipe up the mess :)  What a fabulous, quick experiment!  Thanks, WG and Bill Nye!

Super-de-Duplo treblemaker style

 I was thrilled to be alerted to this nifty rhythm game (thanks Desiree!) and did it immediately.  I just realized I hadn't posted any of it yet!

 The original site was kind enough to have free printables for the game, but I can't figure out my printer so I used some mailing labels and a pen.  I did 3/4 and 4/4 time, and then drew a few quarter notes, half notes, dotted half notes and a whole note.

 I asked WonderGirl to build me a measure based on the time signature, or I'd start one and she had to add the remaining beats.  Or I made one all wrong and had her fix it for me.

Cool thing is, they are still on the Duplos, and the Duplos are ALWAYS out.  So every now and then I'll tell her to dig in the toy box, find the rhythm ones and build me a measure.  Not too shabby of a toy to have laying about.

Super-de-Duplo

The fabulous Desiree gave me a heads up to this wonderful blog chock full of music teacher helps and theory games.

How amazing is this idea for teaching meter with Duplos??  My mom actually has a game very similar to this that I've been planning on posting since forever, but I haven't taken the time to dig through the basement and find it since our last move.  Using the first Duplo to determine the time signature, you can have your kiddo find proper beats to fill the measure.  And the best part is, on the original post - the author included a free printable with all the notation you'd need!!  The possibilities are endless.  Thanks so much for sharing, Desiree!!!

the Treble Clef song!

Every Good Boy was getting old, and trying to spell FACE with that silent E was a wee bit frustrating, so we wrote a song to help us remember the treble clef notes.  Enjoy!!

Theory is poppin'!

Music theory day over here.  I decided to spice things up by making a staff with pipe cleaners on a book.  Plus it was snack time, so we put our popcorn to good use.

We focused on the treble clef, and I came up with a great tune to remember the note names with a tune from a Jim Gill tune.  I'd sing it for you, but my video camera is MIA, so that'll come later.  I had her point to the "notes" as we sang.

I'd tell her she could eat the piece of popcorn on a certain note, and if she picked the wrong one I got to eat it.  Or I'd have her close her eyes, I'd eat one and she had to tell me which one I'd gobbled.

Or have her put the popcorn on the two Ds or Es or Fs... you get the idea.

We also dropped it onto the "staff" and she got to eat the popcorn if she could tell me what note she'd landed on.

Doing this with M&Ms is always a winner, but I'd  rather she eat a lot of popcorn or cereal over a ton of candy any day.  Really, the possibilities are endless.  And delicious!

Sidewalk staff

WonderGirl drew a big "WELCOME HOME!" picture on the driveway a few days ago, and has been very proud of her artwork.  I decided to put her love of graffiti to good use and we played a beanbag game outside on a sidewalk chalk staff!  Since I don't have bean bags, I put some rice in lonely socks and tied them shut.

uh oh... need to add some ledger lines!

To start off, we played the Throw the Bag on a Space Note game, followed by Throw the Bag on a Line Note game.  Then we stepped it up to either one of us calling out a note name and the other trying to toss it there.

We both had a great time!  I'm seriously considering making a bigger staff and doing Staff Twister on a day that is slightly more cloudy.  I spent the entire winter indoors and I'm still not used to all this natural sunlight :)  Super summer fun!

Floor staff

Occasionally, WonderGirl forgets the note names on the staff.  She's only been reading music for a few weeks, after all!  I had planned on doing this a while ago, but only just got around to it today.  Now, my super awesome mom actually had a huge staff on the floor in her music classroom back in the day, made out of loooong strips of Velcro - and I was lucky enough to inherit it when she retired.  But I wasn't able to locate it in the basement today so I had to settle for vinyl tape (that I was running out of, hence the super short lines).

For the record, I've used the Velcro strips and it's fantastic.  But this sufficed, and masking tape does as well. Then we used a bean bag to place on the staff. The possibilities for using this are endless, but I'll just tell you how we used it today.

First, I'd call out a note and she'd put the bean bag on it as fast as she could.  Then, she called out a note for me - but I would try to trick her and put it on the wrong note occasionally, so she had to make sure it was in the right spot.

To finish up, we got silly and she tossed the bean bag onto the staff and had to tell me what note it had landed on.  And why yes, she IS wearing a superhero cape - which is not the most shocking thing she's already worn today (in public, nonetheless).

Another good beginner game would be to cut out paper notes with the names on them, and have the child put them in the right place.  Hrm... I think I'll try that next time.  It's so easy and fast, and the clean-up is a breeze (WG already tore the pieces off and is now playing with her huge tape ball).  I'm sure we'll revisit this again - but this was a good way to start.  Who knew music theory could be so fun?  ;)

How to teach your own kid how to play the piano - More lessons learned!

As I've mentioned before, the jump from playing music written on the staff has been a challenge for WonderGirl.  We've been flying by with the first Alfred Prep book but it was quite a leap.  I have a 7 year old student who is nearing the end of the book who hadn't the slightest hiccup while making the transition, but WG is still very much a 4 year old.  Both of us were wringing our hands, so I headed to the local music store to see if I could find a book that spent a little more time introducing the staff.  

Voila, enter the Faber My First Piano Adventures.  I'd looked at the series a few months ago, but the first book didn't seem quite WG's speed (it's delightful though).  The second book is all about introducing the staff, note by note (it comes with a CD that we haven't tried out yet - I'll give you info on that when we do).  It moves slowly, but it's chock full of games, theory and cute songs with catchy lyrics - which is exactly what WG needs right now.  She learned how to read English, but she'd been speaking it for about 2 years already - she's only been speaking "music" for a few months now, so I need to remember to be patient.

The bright illustrations and cute stories have WG excited, and I'm thrilled to pieces.  I plan on coming back to the Alfred book in a bit and using both, because she responded well to it too.  Plus I know once we get a firmer grasp on reading notes on the staff, it'll give her a big confidence boost to be able to rock the songs that had previously been difficult.

The lesson I've learned here is:  if your kid seems to hit a brick wall, sometimes you need to head to the music store and find a book that has a different path around the wall.  The end destination is the same place, and  will be more peaceful experience for both of you!  Who knew great method books could make a mom so giddy??

Practice time in Fort Rox!

Our afternoon schedule involved piano practice, making a fort and watching Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  We decided to save some time and combine the first two.

My forts/tents are usually a disappointment, but this one was awesome!  I took 2 music stands and put them on either side of the piano, then a microphone stand behind her chair.  One sheet clothes-pinned to all three, and then instead of using two more sheets, I used the sheer curtains we've just had to take down from her room (the Dude wouldn't stop playing in them - he broke the curtain rod!) and used clothespins to attach them to each side.  Voila!  We actually had some sun today, and it felt great to have it shining through her fort walls.

We're making the transition to reading music, and it can get poor WonderGirl in a tizzy lately.  So today, I decided to have her go through all of her old songs and review them so she could get her confidence back up.  Playing in her own special fort didn't hurt either :)

You're a grand old staff!

I had another HOORAY FOR MY MOM moment last week, as I stumbled on on some more music materials she'd bequeathed on me.  She just retired as an elementary music teacher and I am loving being the recipient of her spring cleaning!  I found a stack of these large grand staffs she'd made and laminated, and since we are starting note reading, they are being very used and loved.

Since they were laminated, I can write on them in dry erase marker or crayon and use glass cleaner to wipe it all off when we're done.  First, we practiced finding the G on the treble clef and the F on the bass clef.  I'd call a note name out and she'd put a penny on that note, lickety split.  Today I used Smarties - quite the hit!

I also used star stickers and put them on the lines and spaces and had her play them for me on the piano, then guess the the melody (sometimes it was just random notes to try and trick her).  There are a kajillion places online with free printable staff paper - you can customize your own at http://www.blanksheetmusic.net/.

Make & Play a Rhythm Game

We encountered 3/4 time today in WonderGirl's piano lesson, and it sparked a discussion on rhythms and measures and such.  As we were talking, I noticed an unmarked blue file folder sitting on the piano, just behind WG's book.  Curious, I opened it up and discovered this:

My amazing mom sends me tons of goodies and music all the time, and somehow this gem surfaced at the perfect time!  It's a rhythm game that is fun but is not competitive (I have one that is - from dear mom, of course - and I'll share it later) and perfect for the preschooler and beginning student.  This basic version has 3 kinds of cards with symbols on them - one that stands for a quarter note, one for a quarter rest and one for 2 eighth notes.  The folder has 4 spaces for the 4 beats of a measure, and you put a card in each box and clap out the rhythm.  I did a few to give WG the idea, and then she had a ball creating her own rhythms over and over.  We covered up the last square and did 3/4 rhythms too, to tie in her new piano song.

The next level will be to move from the symbol cards to cards with the actual notes on them, and play the rhythm on an instrument, but this was the perfect place to start.  It reminded me of games we played in music camp as a kid where we would make up rhythms in teams and try to stump the opposite team.  I can see this working with multiple kids together or one on one.  The best part is the simplicity of it all - just some paper, scissors and a marker!  Thanks so much, mom!!