Teaching half steps and whole steps to piano students is so easy and one of the fun beginning piano aspects.
However, there are a few different “levels” to teaching half steps and whole steps to piano students.
First, there’s the half and whole steps on piano keys.
Secondly, you have half and whole steps on the staff.
This blog post will guide you through teaching those half and whole steps easily!
Note: for our international readers, whole step = tone and half step = semitone.
Why Teaching Half Steps and Whole Steps to Piano Students is Important
Laying the foundation of half and whole steps is important because it helps the students understand the different distances between pitches.
Half steps are “small distances” while whole steps are “larger distances.”
To me, this is the foundation of teaching intervals (read our blog post about ear training and intervals here)
I also think half and whole steps are very important because many students quickly grasp the steps for major scales and minor scales (read our major scales post here and our minor scales post here).
Teaching Half Steps and Whole Steps on Piano Keys
The very easiest way to teach half and whole steps are on piano keys!
The black and white keys make it very easy for students to visualize.
You can do this in a fun way by using little animal erasers (affiliate link) on the keys.
Students can have two animal friends on keys next to each other for a half step, OR the animals have to “hop over a key” to create a whole step.
You can also place animals randomly on the keys (students can help with this!) and then ask your student to play the piano key a “half step above” or “whole step below” each animal.
Teaching Half Steps and Whole Steps on the Staff
Once the student understands how half and whole steps work on the keyboard, it will be much easier for them to visualize it on the staff!
Students can name the pitches, play them on the keyboard, and then identify them.
Don’t forget accidentals!
While white key notes are the easiest to identify on the staff, once your students grasp them, you can branch out to notes with accidentals on the staff.
If they have a solid understanding of half and whole steps on the keyboard, then it will be a breeze when they translate it from the staff.
Help Students Have Fun Learning Half and Whole Steps with a Game!
Take your students to a rainforest surrounded by adorable sloths as they learn half and whole steps on both the piano keys and staff!
Our music theory game, Sloth Steps (or Sloth Semitones for international teachers), guides students through learning half and whole steps on the piano keys (Level 1) and notes on the staff (Level 2).
If you have a studio with multi-level students, they can easily play together with beginners using Level 1 cards and more advanced students using Level 2 cards at the same time!
Play Sloth Steps with 2-8 players as each player identifies a step, picks a card, and moves.
But watch out! There’s a hawk and ocelot just waiting to scare the sloth away from its home!
Watch how to play it in our tutorial video:
Here’s what you’ll get with the Sloth Steps printable download:
For our international teachers, check out Sloth Semitones, which is the same game but features tones and semitones instead of half steps and whole steps.
Sloth Steps game in 2 sizes: US letter & A4
23 Level 1 cards (half and whole steps on piano keys)
28 Level 2 cards (half and whole steps on staff)
18 half step move cards
18 whole step move cards
8 sloth game pieces
Sloth Steps success poster
Print release
Music Game Club Members will also get
Sloth Steps activity sheets in 2 sizes: US Letter & A4
Poster Sloth Steps game board (18×24” and A3 sizes)
Digital Game for Teaching Half Steps and Whole Steps to Piano Students
If you want your student to have more concentrated review of half and whole steps, try the Sloth Steps Boom™ Cards (Sloth Semitones Boom™ Cards, for international teachers)!
We have four Sloth Steps Boom™ Cards digital games that will help your students with their note names.
Note: we use affiliate links, which means if you purchase from our link, we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
1. Start at the beginning to learn rhythm in Music
What do you think is the topmost important thing for students to understand about rhythm?
To me, it’s knowing how many beats each note gets.
If my student doesn’t know it’s a half note but they know it gets two beats, I’m satisfied.
I definitely encourage them to learn the names of each rhythm note, but “half note” won’t help them play the note correctly. “Two beats” will.
So, I help students understand how to count the rhythms first and foremost.
I teach this a lot by rote and counting with my student.
2. Remember to help students learn rhythm by ear
I was an ear-player before I knew it.
The fact that I reached John Thompson Grade 4 without really counting anything should have clued me into that, but like most teens, I had no clue what I was doing.
I picked up rhythm by ear … however, I was never encouraged to feel the music (I don’t fault my teacher for this; she wasn’t an ear player herself).
Instead, it was just my default to hold notes out as long as I thought sounded good (which, as you can imagine, was sometimes accurate, but very often not quite accurate).
If I were teaching me, I would have leaned into rhythm ear training.
There are so many ways to do this!
Duets, of course, help students learn rhythm as they play with another student or teacher.
You can also use backing tracks to fill this need.
Encourage students to dance to music.
Listen to music and help students feel the beat.
Teach them songs by rote.
Group more than one student together to play the same piece. They can work together to get the rhythm and also hear what others are doing differently than them.
Different ear training works for different students.
I did an experiment with some of my students once, and I found that most of the students I introduced early on to the metronome did well with it while those I waited until their second year of piano really struggled.
When you introduce the metronome in the first month, you can make it a game!
They can sway to the beat, play just one note to the beat, and many other things to help them embody an even beat.
Then, when you apply the metronome to music they’re reading, it makes it way easier.
4. Help students learn rhythm in music with various instruments
I’m a piano teacher, and often I get hung up on teaching piano only.
However, sometimes it’s easier to embrace rhythm with different instruments.
If you’re teaching group lessons or have two students of similar levels that can overlap, it would be fun to have different students on different instruments for the same piece!
5. Involve the student in their rhythm learning
Some of my favorite rhythm flashcard ideas are to have the students build their own measure (check out our game, Counting Caterpillars, which is dedicated specifically to this!).
If the student is building a measure, they’re working through the mathematics of rhythm, which helps them remember it better than if we just tell them ten times.
6. Have students count out loud to learn rhythm in music
Most of my students hate counting out loud, but I stick to it because I believe it is that beneficial.
When my student counts out loud, I can catch any rhythm errors they may be making (it might sound like they’re holding that note for one and a half beats, but they could be counting it as two beats).
Plus, I think counting out loud helps with the skill of playing and singing together.
7. Remember that perfection isn’t key when helping students learn rhythm in music
It can be easy to get hung up on making sure the student plays everything extremely rhythm-perfect.
But sometimes, there are learning pieces.
These are pieces that I just want to see the student grasping the general idea, even if they can’t play it perfectly three times in a row.
Even though it’s important for students to learn rhythm, they will learn better in an environment where they’re having fun.
8. Help Students Learn Rhythm in Music with Music Games
We believe rhythm theory games are highly effective in teaching students rhythm.
You can browse our entire collection here, but today I’d like to highlight just one rhythm music theory game.
Take your students on a mountain vacation with Rocky Rhythms.
This idyllic campsite has everything a nature lover wants: tent camping, canoeing, mountain goat sightings, hiking, and, of course, your mischievous bears and raccoons.
While students will want to retreat here, they’ll be learning their note values in no time!
Rocky Rhythms takes a twist on the card game “Spoons” and is a speed note rhythm game.
You can play it with 2-8 players and keep track of points (which are tricky–there are some negative points on the board!)
Today, I’m focusing on teaching chords away from the music staff–primarily, with letter names.
5 Ideas to Easily Build Chords with Music Students
For these ideas, we’re going to be using letter cards only–which you can get with our Crow Chords printable music theory game.
Bear with me, the theory nerd in me comes out a little, but I hope I’ve explained these in a way that you can translate to your students.
1. Build chords with Music Students – and play them!
When your student learns that chords are built by “skipping” letter names, they can start building chords easily!
Start with the all-white major chords (C major, F major, G major).
Give your student the root (F), ask them to build up 5 letters (F G A B C), remove the skips (G B) and play what’s remaining (F A C).
This idea can double as an ear-training game when you reach major chords that require black notes.
Encourage your student to build a chord starting on A (A C E), play it, and realize it doesn’t have the same tonality as the other major chords.
That’s because it’s a minor chord!
To make it major, the middle note needs to be raised (C-sharp).
Another way you can check major chords is by my favorite pattern: skip 3, skip 2.
Students play the root, skip 3 piano keys, play the third, skip 2 piano keys, then play the fifth.
This helps them master their black-note chords easily (B – skip 3, land on D# – skip 2, land on F#).
You can use the formula with the letter names to help the student visualize how chords function.
2. Build chords – and change them!
If your student has a pretty good handle on major chords, then start having fun with introducing many other chords to them!
Start with C major (C E G). Tell your student that you must keep the root (C) the same, but you can play around with changing the third and fifth to create different types of C chords.
Lower the third (E-flat) and it creates a minor chord.
Lower the third (E-flat) and fifth (G-flat) and it creates a diminished chord.
Raise the fifth (G-sharp) and it creates an augmented chord.
Add a lowered 7th (B-flat) and it creates a dominant seventh chord.
You can even write out a chart for what to manipulate for each chord, then build all kinds of chords starting on any pitch.
Bonus: this will help your students learn how their flats, naturals, and sharps work in raising and lowering pitches!
3. Build Chords with Music Students – and Improvise!
Students of any level can improvise once they’ve built a few chords.
Here are some go-to ideas for improvising with chords:
Play the notes low
Play the notes high
Play the notes arpeggiated
Play the notes with a rhythm
Play the chord fast 4x in a row
I’m sure you and your students can come up with a list of fun improvisation ideas!
This is a super important theory concept I wish I had learned sooner.
Chords closely connect to the major scale!
The short idea is every pitch in the scale is the root of a chord.
C = C E G (major)
D = D F A (minor)
E = E G B (minor)
F = F A C (major)
G = G B D (major)
A = A C E (minor)
B = B D F (diminished)
If you lay out a major scale (C D E F G A B C) plus the next 3 notes continuing on the C major scale (D E F – enough notes for them to build B diminished at the top), you can help your student see ALL the chords build into a major scale.
All you have to do is pick a root (let’s go with E), skip a letter (F), find the third of that chord (G), skip a letter (A), and find the fifth of that chord (B).
The chord I just found was E minor.
Now, count from C. That is the third chord on the major scale.
Once your student has found their 7 scale chords, they can do a lot of fun improvisation with both major and minor chords!
Remember how you can have the student lay out 5 cards in a row, remove the 2nd and 4th card to create the root-third-fifth?
Well, some of my favorite chords are the “add 2” or “2nd” or “2-sus” chord.
Have your 5 cards (C D E F G) and this time, you’ll want the root and fifth (C G) and then the 2nd (D) instead of the 3rd (C D G) OR with the third (C D E G).
This is a chord that automatically makes a beautiful sound!
There are also the “4-sus” or “sus” chords.
From your 5 cards (C D E F G), you’ll use the root (C), fourth (F), and fifth (G).
Note that this usually leaves the listener “hanging” and is ideally resolved by the fourth going back down to the third.
Bonus: Use a Game to Build Chords with Music Students!
We’ve made it super, duper easy for you to build chords with music students in our game Crow Chords.
You can play this with very beginning students or even up to advanced students (I’d use this on college students).
Level 1 cards equip students to build C major, F major, and G major chords.
But Level 2 has all the cards you need to build pretty much any chord you want (if you want extremely advanced chords with more than one double flat or double sharp, simply print two pages of the flat/sharp cards).
I love how adaptable Level 2 is!
Because it’s all about building chords, you can create your own challenge suitable for the students you’re playing with.
For example, you can play where students must create minor chords in order to move forward.
Or they must create diminished chords.
Or major chords with 2 accidentals.
What’s even better, is that you can play Crow Chords with a mixed level group of students: beginner students can use Level 1 cards and upper level students can use Level 2 cards and have fun together!
While you can drill dynamics with your students, interactive activities will help you teach dynamics in music in a way that will keep your students excited–and often giggling.
Understanding music dynamics can be tricky for some students.
I’ve had students before where I’ll explain music dynamics, they nod along as if they understand, but when I ask them to play soft then loud … I hear absolutely no difference!
For these students, there is a deeper level of understanding that’s needed when teaching dynamics in music.
And while recording your students playing and allowing them to listen to hear that they need more difference in their dynamics is helpful, it’s fun to bring music dynamics away from the instrument and have some activities that will really solidify music dynamics and definitions in students’ minds.
Sometimes, incorporating the full body with dancing, clapping, or charades helps students embody the meanings better.
Other times, drawing pictures will be what clicks in your students’ minds.
Yet other times, storytelling is the key to unlock students’ understanding of music dynamics.
Here are 9 interactive activities to teach dynamics in music.
If you use some of these ideas–or if you have your own list of crazy fun activities–comment and share your experience!
1) Draw Music Dynamic Pictures
Merge art with music as you have your students draw pictures representing different dynamics. They can use different colors, sizes, and animals to show soft and loud sounds.
You can create modernistic artwork where they draw non-representational images or even guide them in creating their own music dynamics graph going from small to large sound waves.
If your student is too shy to draw their own picture, grab a coloring book and encourage them to color parts of it “piano” (soft) or “forte” (hard).
When the students have finished their drawings, you can showcase them in your studio for the month.
2) Do Some Dynamics Dance Moves
Teach dynamics in music by encouraging your students to move with the dynamics. They can create specific movements to correspond with different dynamics.
For example: small, soft movements for pianissimo and big, jumping movements for fortissimo.
As you listen to music, discuss how the music is changing in dynamics and alter your dance moves to go with it.
3) Tell Stories with Music Dynamics
Have your students tell a story based on dynamics. It can be about a little mouse (pianissimo), a sweet bird (piano), dragons (fortissimo), and anything the student imagines.
To make this even more interactive, your student can play the different dynamics as they’re telling the story.
If they have the music knowledge, you can even include minor chords for sad parts, major chords for happy parts, low notes for scary parts, etc.
An alternate idea is to read a story to your student(s) and have students add dynamics using instruments or their voices for different parts of the story.
Teach dynamics in music by clapping with your students.
They can pat very softly for pianissimo, and clap as loudly as they can for fortissimo and anywhere in between for the other dynamics.
An alternative is to tap a different part of the body for each dynamic (e.g. tap your shoe for pianissimo, your knee for piano, your tummy for mezzo-piano, your shoulders for mezzo-forte, your ears for forte, and your head for fortissimo).
Make this fun by flipping flashcards up at random and having them switch from one dynamic to another immediately.
5) Play Some Dynamic Charades (for groups)
Give each student a different dynamic card and show no one.
They must decide how to act out the dynamic so others can guess it (whispering or tip-toeing for pianissimo, shouting or jumping for fortissimo).
6) Build a Simple Dynamic Obstacle Course
Create a simple obstacle course where students move around the room and respond to dynamic markings at each station.
You can have two tags per section: music dynamic and action.
When a student reaches a new station, they must switch their volume and action immediately!
7) Teach Dynamics in Music with Composition
Guide your students through creating a composition featuring at least 3 different dynamic markings.
Then, be creative and ask “What will this sound like if you do opposite dynamics?”
Explore music dynamics while encouraging students to make musically creative decisions in composition.
If you’re teaching 1:1 lessons, use a set of dynamic and definition cards (1 of each).
Mix all dynamic and definition cards together then lay them face down.
Play it Memory Match style. The student must match the dynamic to the definition.
If you’re teaching group lessons, hand half of the students symbols and the other half definitions.
See who can be the first to team up and match their symbol to another student’s definition.
9) Play a Music Dynamic Tug-of-War Game!
Your students will have a blast learning their dynamics with this doggy-themed dynamics game.
One side of the doggies are pianissimo (small dogs) and the other side is fortissimo (large dogs), giving the students a visual guide to softest and loudest.
Your students will put the doggy toy in the center then start drawing and identifying dynamics to see who can get the toy to their doggy first.
Have you ever played a music dynamic game? Or do you teach dynamics in music only in repertoire? What ideas have worked well for you? What do your students love? Hit “comment” and share with us!
Rhythm was my weak point as a student, so as a teacher I am always looking for quick and easy music rhythm games to help my students get a better understanding of timing.
All you need for our 3 easy music rhythm game ideas today is a set of rhythm flashcards.
Then, you can keep these ideas in your back pocket to pull out in just seconds anytime your students need a little extra rhythm help.
Now, for our 3 quick and easy music rhythm games!
1. Rhythm Slap Jack
Who didn’t love Slap Jack as a kid? It is a very easy game for children of all ages to play, and you can make it into an easy music rhythm game by using rhythm flashcards.
Play with the whole deck of rhythm flashcards BUT assign 1 special card to be “Jack” (the card you slap)
You might start with the whole note (semibreve) as “Jack.” Every time a whole note is laid, the players race to slap it. Then, change it to the dotted half note (dotted minim), where players slap only the dotted half note.
You can work your way through ALL the different notes to help your students learn the names of all of the notes.
Bonus: remember, you can also slap doubles for extra cards!
2. Note Slap
What can I say? I like slapping games.
Here are the instructions to use this game with Rhythm Reef, but you can also play it without a gameboard.
Lay four cards face-up so students can see notes and rests.
Say one note or rest (e.g. eighth note/quaver)
The student to slap the correct card first gets to keep the card.
When a student has collected 3 cards, they get to move forward on the Rhythm Reef board and the cards get reshuffled and you start over.
First player to “Finish” wins.
You can also adapt this game to be played with beats instead of note values (e.g. “one beat” or “one beat of silence” instead of “quarter note/crotchet”)
3. Rhythm Speed
If you want to help your students gain speed with note recognition, then this is the game for you!
Flip up a card, if the student identifies it correctly, then flip up another.
Give the student 3 seconds to answer correctly before their turn is forfeited so they don’t take forever.
Keep going until the student either runs out of time or says a note incorrectly.
Then it’s the next student’s turn.
The student with the most cards at the end wins.
You can also adapt this game for students to review note rhythm names and then how many beats each note gets.
Bonus Easy Rhythm Games: Rhythm Reef!
I have mentioned Rhythm Reef a few times in this blog post already.
Rhythm is tricky and it seems like students need constant review.
Well, Rhythm Reef is a fast-paced and FUN rhythm game that will get your students learning note values quickly (especially rest values!).
Based on my childhood favorite game, Egyptian War (also called Egyptian Rat Screw, Slap, Snot, or War), Rhythm Reef focuses on rest values and agility.
You can play it with 2-8 players in just one round or several rounds with the gameboard.
Here is the gist of Rhythm Reef easy music rhythm game:
Deal the cards evenly between all players
Discard in the center like “Slap Jack”
When a rest card is discarded, the next player has to “pay” as many cards as the rest is worth (e.g. a whole rest = 4 cards, half rest = 2 cards)
You can slap doubles!
Whoever ends up with all the cards at the end wins!
After a few years of teaching, you might start looking for ideas to use music note flashcards for more than note drills.
While note drills have their place (and I have done many 1-minute challenges in my studio!), there are so many fun things you can do with one-note music note flashcards.
Here are four fun ideas to shake up your music note flashcards in the studio!
1. Teach Lines & Spaces with Music Note Flashcards
Let’s start with your beginning students.
It’s tempting to wait and use music note flashcards for when students know their note names, but you can use them way before then!
Start by introducing your students to lines and spaces.
Here are 2 fun games to teach lines & spaces with music note flashcards
First, be sure to only use notes that are on the lines and spaces (e.g. no Middle C).
It’s war! Give each student a die. Flip up a card and students race to roll the correct number on the die (e.g. Line 1 = 1; Space 3 = 3). The first student with the correct number collects the card. Student with the most cards at the end wins.
Each student has a die. The cards are at the center. Each student picks a card and has to roll their die to match the number. As soon as they do, they can pick another card from the center. Student with the most cards at the end wins.
2. Use Music Note Flashcards for Sight Reading
This is going beyond note drills with flashcards.
Bring the music note flashcards to the piano and have students actually read the cards they’re reviewing.
Here are four sight-reading ideas you can use:
Lay out 5 cards. Teacher says a note name (“treble clef G”) and the student has to find it. If you’re playing in a group, the first student to slap the correct note gets to keep the card. The student with the most cards at the end wins.
Lay 3 cards on the piano and play 1 of them. The student has to identify the exact note played (this is a great idea for having all 3 Cs on the piano and they have to decide if you played low, middle, or high).
Lay 5 cards on the keyboard and have the student sightread through them. For fun, put the Neighborhood Notes buildings in a cup and have them draw 1 building when they’ve correctly sight-read 5 notes. After 3 rounds, how many points do they have?
For a group: show students 1 card. They must race to play the exact pitch on the piano!
3. Ear Training with Music Note Flashcards
While our students need a lot of help with recognizing notes on the staff, it’s also important to train their ear (in my opinion, ear training helps sight reading!).
Here are 3 easy ways you can use music note flashcards for ear training.
Line up 3 cards on the piano (I’d just do 1 clef). Play the C scale and then play 1 of the cards you have flipped up. The student has to guess which note it is without looking.
Flip 3 cards up (both clefs). Play all 3 notes while the student calls out their name. Ask the student to turn around. Play just 1 of the notes. What note is it? (to make this easier, do notes that are really spread apart)
Line up all 8 cards for the C scale. Play the scale then play just 1 note. The student has to guess which note it is. For added fun, have the student collect Neighborhood Notes buildings when they guess a note correctly (A = Academy, etc.)
4. Play Neighborhood Notes!
You may have been wondering what Neighborhood Notes is that I’ve been mentioning.
Well, it’s our newest music notes flashcard game!
Neighborhood Notes takes a twist on the card game “Spoons” and is a speed note reading game.
You can play it with 2-8 players and keep track of points (which are tricky–there are some negative points on the board!)
Watch how to play it in our tutorial video.
Here’s what you’ll get with the Neighborhood Notes printable download:
Neighborhood Notes game in 2 sizes: US letter & A4
Comment and share YOUR best tips, games, or even just fun memories about using music note flashcards in your studio! We love hearing from other teachers!
