3) We send you a full package with incentives & activity sheets
Not only will you get beautifully designed music games that your students will love, we also include a colorful, themed “success poster.”
Your students will be motivated to beat the game so they can take a picture with the poster!
This also gives you something tangible to text the parents so they can see their child is learning and advancing.
Added to that, members will also receive an activity sheet for each game that will reiterate the music theory concept taught or reviewed in the game.
4) We check in each week with our Music Game Club members
In addition to getting the music game, video tutorial, success poster, and activity chart, you’ll be added to our members-only email list where we’ll share bonus gameplay ideas and more each month.
For a limited time, we’re also opening up our Facebook group for all members (in the future, this will be a separate paid tier), so teachers can mutually benefit from what everyone else shares and suggests.
Our goal is to not just send you music games, but to help you succeed with all the tools you need in your music studio.
5) Games are digital so can be stored easily and used forever
Once you get the music game, it’s yours to keep, download on your computer, and print as often as you need for your private, single-teacher studio (if you have a multi-teacher studio, contact us for a multi-teacher license).
There are some disclaimers here. Like, please don’t email or print the music game to give to a teacher friend (instead, send them to sign up for themselves).
Our artists and designers have worked hard to create beautiful Music Game Club games, and we want to respect that–as well as keep food on their tables (definitely don’t want to add to the “starving artist” cliché!).
6) We create in letter and A4 sizing so anyone in the world can happily print properly
We want to do our part to make music games as accessible as possible worldwide!
So your printer (and you!) will be happy to print-and-go with our music games, regardless of where you live.
7) We keep our music games short – 5 minutes or less – so you can plan for music theory game time every week
We know time is the most precious commodity and that it’s hard to find time to play a long, drawn-out music theory game each week.
So we keep our music games succinct to fit into those 5-minute times in the lesson that need a little filler.
8) Our music games are appropriate for all levels (beginner to intermediate)
In fact, we take it a step further and not only can you play our music games for different level students, a lot of the time, you can play multi-levels together.
9) Our music games can be played solo, opponent-style (2 people), or team style games (perfect for music classes)
We test our music games for all settings because we know that your teaching style is diverse and multi-faceted.
We also know you want to get the most out of your investment.
So we’ve got you covered.
When you get a Music Game Club game, it will fit any of your studio needs.
Whether you’re guiding a student to play alone, you’re doing some student-teacher competition, student-student competition, or you have a handful of students in a group.
10) Our music games help you teach harder concepts – the kind that might trip you up just trying to explain verbally or by a lesson in a workbook
Our music games are thought through from a pedagogical perspective as well as just our plain-ol’ game-loving hearts.
We merge gameplay and pedagogical concepts into each music game and aren’t scared to tackle some of the more tricky music theory concepts.
We believe that by gamifying music theory, it will help students better grasp hard concepts and have a positive experience.
11) We help you bring laughter, more knowledge and retention of music theory concepts, and engagement to your lessons by playing games
We saved the best for last: your students will thrive as they play music games.
They’ll love the colorful designs and will hopefully share tons of laughter as you play together.
What’s even better is that your students will start anticipating the new monthly game.
They might just start begging you to play games each week (what student asks for a theory worksheet each week? We see this as a huge win!).
Remember that a happy student helps with student retention.
Have more questions about Music Game Club membership?
If you still have questions we didn’t cover here, check out our FAQ page for answers.
Ready to join Music Game Club for the easy way to include music games in lessons?
Membership is only open twice a year. Check out our membership page here for more details.
Are you looking for a fun music dynamics game? This quick music game is designed to teach your students about musical dynamics in an engaging and entertaining way!
Music students must test their knowledge of music dynamics by outsmarting the hyenas and getting the lion pack in their den safely.
What is taught in Dynamic Den
Foritssimo
Forte
Mezzo-forte
Mezzo-piano
Piano
Pianissimo
In addition to learning the common dynamic terms (and how to pronounce them!), music students are required to know the order of “softest to loudest” in order to win the game.
And if you’re playing with two or more music students, they have to know them quickly!
What’s included in this music dynamics game download:
Here’s what you’ll get with the Dynamic Den printable download:
You will get the digital file to print and laminate (optional) for your music studio in both letter size (US) and A4 size (international)
Music Game Club members will also get:
Dynamic Den activity sheets in 2 sizes: US Letter & A4
Tutorial videos with bonus gameplay ideas
Membership is only open twice a year. Check out our membership page here for more details.
Set-up is super simple.
Print the game board
Print the cards (front & back)
Cut the cards
Laminate (optional)
How this music dynamics game is played
This music dynamics game can be played individually or in a group for roaring fun!
We’ll tell you how it’s played, but if you’re a visual learner, here is a video of Rebekah and her daughter, Ava, playing Dynamic Den.
Individual game play directions
Place the Dynamic Den game board on the playing zone (table, floor, piano bench, or other flat surface).
Shuffle all Dynamic Den cards (lions and hyenas) and place the draw pile face-down.
Student draws one card at a time and places it on the correct dynamic volume on the game board (e.g. mp goes on moderately soft).
But there’s a twist!
If a hyena is picked and there is no Lion King (fortissimo) on the board, the hyena scares the pride away!
All cards go back in the draw pile and are reshuffled.
Only when a Lion King (fortissimo) is on the game board is the pack safe from the hyenas.
When all the dynamics are on the board, the player wins.
2-Player music game play instructions
Dynamic Den can be played with either teacher-student or student-student in this 2-player game variation.
Print multiple copies of the game board so each student has their own board and cards.
Each player shuffles their deck of cards and places them face-down.
Players flip the top card at the same time. Whoever’s dynamic is the loudest wins and places their dynamic on the board. The losing card is placed in the player’s discard pile.
If a hyena is drawn by either player, no one places anything on the board (both cards go in their respective discard piles).
If a match is drawn, both players get to place their dynamics on the board.
If the winning card is already on the player’s board, just stack the extra cards.
When draw pile is used up, reshuffle the discard pile & keep going/
First player to fill their board with accurate music dynamics wins!
Want to shake it up even more?
Instead of multiple students taking turns and “battling” each other, it’s a race!
All the students pick cards at the same time and race to see who can fill their board first.
Students can only pick one card at a time and must place it on their board or discard it before picking another card.
Hyenas and Lion Kings (fortissimo) have the same rules as individual game instructions.
First player to fill their board with accurate music dynamics wins!
Online game play options
If you’re like me and you have online piano students, you can easily adapt this music dynamics game so your long-distance piano students can join the fun.
Place your camera where the student can see the game board.
Shuffle the cards and pick one for your student.
Show the card to your student and have the student tell you what you drew and where to put it.
You can play both single-player and two-player games this way.
Boardless music dynamics game option
Print two sets of the Dynamic Den game cards. This will give you an even amount of all the cards.
Shuffle all the cards and play “Go Fish” style (this will really help students learn how to pronounce the dynamics!).
Lay the cards face down and play “Memory Match” style.
Gameplay without hyenas
If your student needs to learn the order of dynamics without the stress of hyena attack, challenge them to fill the board from pianissimo to fortissimo in order (or fortissimo down to pianissimo).
The student draws cards one at a time.
If it’s the next on the list, they can use it.
If not, they have to discard it, mix up the cards, and pick again.
When they have placed all the cards in order on the board, they win.
Simplified game play
If you have young students who get easily discouraged with the hyenas attacking, change the rules to where a “mommy or daddy” lion (Lioness and King; forte and fortissimo) are both able to protect the board from hyenas.
Have more gameplay ideas?
Comment and let us know how you played this game in your music studio!
Behind the scenes of developing Dynamic Den
I love behind the scenes so I’ve got to share them for all the other nerds out there.
Dynamic Den went through various stages of development.
Being our first music game, we learned a lot about how to best develop and test a game.
First, I sketched out a super rough idea (trust me, I leave all the design up to our artist, Kristen McHenry!) and wrote out the game details.
Kristen took the idea and transformed it into this beautiful, timeless artistic game.
And then we tested it (first big lesson: we are going to test game play before designing in the future!).
My four-year-old niece (whose only exposure to dynamics is from Little Einsteins) and her mom tested it first.
And while my niece definitely learned her dynamics, they found some flaws.
Our original rules had that a “daddy or mommy” lion could protect the board (that is an option if you need easy play for young students who like to win).
We also had just one card of each dynamic marking and only two hyenas.
Well, apparently my niece is slightly blood-thirsty, because her board was always protected too soon and she really, really loved it when the hyenas scared off the baby lions.
So we added more dynamic cards, more hyenas, changed the rules, and my niece is happily scaring off the baby lions with hyenas as she learns her music dynamics.
Our next step was to test group-game play.
I talked my sister into playing a few rounds with me (this time, we had the extra cards and only the Lion King as safety).
We did the “race” version where we madly picked up cards (one at a time) to fill our boards first.
I learned a few things.
Just because you pick the Lion King (fortissimo) first, doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll win
We needed to still work on our hyena-lion cub ratio
It was fun!
The last part actually surprised me.
I’ve known my dynamics for over twenty years. However, I found the game fun.
Maybe I’m just that competitive (and yes, I did win all the rounds we played).
Needless to say, I’m excited to get this game out in the world and I can’t wait to hear all YOUR stories about playing it with your music students!
Did you enjoy this music dynamics game?
If you and your students love this game, please share on social media and tag us @musicgameclub.
Also, tell your music teacher friends about this game so they can enjoy it too!
The excitement of a new year of piano lessons sometimes fades quickly and as a teacher, I usually find myself needing some low-prep music games & activities to keep students engaged in piano lessons.
I don’t know about you, but the first piano lessons after summer break are an interesting dynamic.
Students are excited to be back to piano lessons…
or they’re overwhelmed with readjusting to school, music lessons, and other extracurricular activities…
or they’ve seemingly forgotten almost everything they knew before summer break and are frustrated with “going backward.”
Which category does your students fall into? Probably all three, like ours.
The first piano student–those who are excited about lessons–are the easy ones.
It’s the overwhelmed and frustrated students that present problems.
I like to solve these problems by making piano lessons fun with low-prep music games & activities.
Why Music Games & Activities?
Play-based learning isn’t how I learned piano. I dug in, did the work, and, even if I hated it, I practiced.
However, many researchers are discovering that play-based learning is beneficial to child development. Additionally, many piano teachers are discovering that adding music games & activities to piano lessons helps their students be more engaged and cheerful in lessons.
Today, I will share with you five solid ideas for low-prep music games and activities you can apply to almost any piano lesson.
All you need to have on hand is at least one of the following:
Pencil & paper
Whiteboard & marker
Flashcards
Staff paper
And, for some of these activities, you don’t need anything!
Let’s get you some fun, low-prep music games to use in your piano studio!
Low-Prep Music Theory Review Games
It’s common for piano students to forget theory concepts over summer vacation–especially if some of those concepts were freshly taught in April or May.
Sometimes I’ve accidentally made a student initiate self-criticism because of what they’ve forgotten. Our goal as teachers should be to never make a student feel bad about music theory concepts they’ve forgotten.
There are many ways you can help remind your piano students of theory concepts with low-prep music games where they feel excited and productive rather than shamed and confused.
If you come across some vital music theory concepts students are rusty on, create a game.
The winning rule is that you walk them through the review and then “play the game” with them so it boosts their confidence as they relearn concepts.
1) Make a Match Music Game
Materials needed:
Whiteboard & marker
OR
Pencil/pen & paper
Step 1
Determine the symbols or terms your student needs to review (maybe it’s dynamics, tempo markings, note values, rests).
Step 2
On one side of the paper or whiteboard, draw the music symbols or terms your student needs to review. Do this during lesson while they are watching you and discuss what you’re drawing as you draw (e.g. “This is the half note… do you remember if it gets two beats or twenty? Now the quarter note. It gets… yes, one count!”).
Step 3
Mix up the definitions/answers on the other side of the paper/board.
Step 4
Have your student draw connecting lines between the two.
This low-prep music game is great for two reasons.
First, you are reviewing the answers with your students instead of asking them to rely on their memory.
Second, when it’s their turn to play, the answers are right there.
This gives the student confidence in reviewing music terms and prevents them from feeling shame, embarrassment, or frustration.
2) Fill in the Blank Music Rhythm Game
Review rhythms and music math for any level music student with this game. You can help beginning students with basic rhythm patterns or more advanced students with complex rhythms.
Materials needed
Whiteboard & marker
OR
Pen/pencil & paper
OR
Staff paper
Step 1:
Draw a time signature.
Step 2:
Draw a measure with either note or rest patterns and leave the last note out (e.g. “4/4: quarter note, half note, ________”).
Step 3:
Student has to “fill in the blank” with the correct answer.
Each time the student is correct, chalk one up on the game board. When the student reaches five accurate answers, they win.
Take the game further by having the student clap & count after they have filled in the blank.
Turn the game around and have your student create a rhythm puzzle for you to solve (though, I recommend only doing this if you’re fairly confident your student won’t be embarrassed if they get the measure wrong).
3) Music Flashcard Note Review Games
Most students forget at least a few note names over the summer. Get a deck of note flash cards and make it into a game.
Materials needed
Music note flashcards
Music Flashcard Game 1: Review
Start with just 2-3 flashcards and name the notes with your student. Shuffle the cards, lay them out, and ask the student to point to a specific note (e.g. “C” or “E”). Gradually add one or two new notes to the stack as you go.
Music Flashcard Game 2: Match
Play a match game where you have the treble clef notes and the student has the bass clef notes. You lay down one of your cards and the student has to find the same letter name in their clef (“I have treble clef F. Where is your bass clef F?”).
Change this game up by switching who has which clef. And if your student is feeling confident, you can let them call out the note to match.
Music Flashcard Game 3: Compose
This is my personal favorite music flashcard game. Guide your student to compose a short melody with flashcards.
Give them 5-10 flashcards of notes they need to review. Have the student line up the notes on the piano music stand and then play as they name the notes.
Do they like the melody? If not, see what happens when they switch up a few notes. This is a great, interactive music flashcard activity that combines review with practice.
4) Low-Prep Music Studio Challenges
Try out some studio-wide music challenges for your students. What is one theory concept all your students need a refresher on?
The Circle of Fifths? Note values? Note names? Tempo markings?
At the beginning of each lesson, spend 5 minutes reviewing the concepts. For your younger students, have them repeat after you (bonus if they can beat you to saying something because they learned it!).
To build studio connection, create a chart where you put a sticker on each students’ name when they’ve done the review.
Note: it doesn’t mean they’ve mastered it; keep the stakes low–they’re just reviewing here, so the act of going through it, even if they’re repeating it after you, counts.
Alternatively, you can decide on other studio-wide challenges. Here are some ideas:
Practice challenge (aim for 4 practice days each week and see who can keep up)
Sight-reading challenge (push your students to sight-read 100 pieces in a year)
Music memory challenge (challenge your students to memorize a certain number of pieces in a semester–make it attainable)
Mastery challenge (have each student set a goal for how many pieces they want to learn in a semester and see who can reach their goal)
5) Use Ear-Training Music Games
There are a lot of ear-training games you can do that require no special materials and maybe just a little mental prep. Strengthen your students’ ear-training by having their back turned to the piano while you play a quiz.
Here are some ear-training concepts you can use:
High versus low notes
Major versus minor chords
Intervals
Harmonic or melodic
Major, minor, diminished, augmented
“Guess that tune”
Throw in some fun pop tunes or movie themes to get students really engaged!
Play pieces from their lesson book that they learned months ago
Even more low-prep music activity ideas:
Maybe a game isn’t what your student needs. You can make piano review fun even without games.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
Pick a piece the student loved last semester. If they are struggling to remember it, re-teach parts of it by rote.
Find a random piece of music that your student has never played before but is slightly under their level
Find a YouTube video play-along
Compose a song together (this will review rhythm and note reading)
Play a duet with your student (it can even be a solo piece where they play one hand and you play the other)
Don’t stop there!
There are hundreds of ways you can reinvigorate piano lessons with games & activities. These don’t even scratch the surface, but are just a few ideas to get your wheels turning.
What are your best low-prep games or activities to use in piano lessons? Comment & share! I’d love to hear your students’ favorites!
If you try one of these ideas in your piano studio, let us know by tagging us on social media @musicgameclub (Instagram &Facebook).
And if you want to up your music lesson experience even more, try including some of our music theory games into your lessons. We know your students will love them!
