Games are a great way to make lessons fun for you and your students. Not only do games keep them engaged, they enable them to learn without even realising! We’ve put together 5 games you can add into your lessons to bring in some extra excitement!
1. Choose pieces using dice
Switch up the way you choose what pieces to focus on with some dice! Number the pieces you are currently teaching (this can also apply to scales and other materials you are studying with your students). Get your students to roll a dice to choose which piece to play, adding the element of surprise.
2. Music Theory Sums
Make sums using different notes and get your students to add up the values to find the answers. This allows them to tighten up their knowledge of note values and work on their maths skills. You could come up with a points system or rewards for correct answers. Stickers are a great one!
3. Finish the melody
A wonderful way to develop your students composition skills is to write a few bars of melody and ask them to finish it off. You can give them complete freedom or ask them to use specific note values in order to finish it. This also helps boost their music theory skills and has them be expressive in a different way. Play their composition back to them or have them play it themselves
4. Suzuki Says!
A musical wist on Simon says. Choose a specific rhythm to play and when you play that rhythm, your students have to play it back to you. Mix up your rhythms and see if they can hear the difference. This is a great one to enhance their aural skills. You can vary the difficulty of the rhythms based on the level of your students.
5. Spell that tune
Write out 4 or five sequences of notes that spell words. For example: FACE or CABBAGE. Have your students write the letters underneath the notes to identify which words they are. Watch their note recognition skills sky rocket!