Sometimes, you just need a handful of music game ideas to keep your students enjoying learning.
Today’s blog post will be slightly different, because I want to dive into the many ways you can use Magpie Melodies to teach scale degrees, composing, sight-reading, and rhythm.
1. Teach Scale Degrees
I don’t know about you, but I graduated before I learned what scale degrees were.
I know there is some debate whether or not it’s important to teach students tonic, super-tonic, mediant, etc. but what we can all agree on is that knowing scale degrees is important (whether you call them by name or numeral).
Magpie Melodies’ original gameplay will help you teach students tonic, mediant, and dominant in C Major.
To reiterate these terms, the students move forward according to the scale degree (tonic = 1 point, mediant = 3 points, dominant = 5 points).
I have one composing student, and we are constantly discussing the importance of choice in music.
When it comes to composing, there aren’t hard-cut “right and wrong” choices.
There are just choices.
And Magpie Melodies gives a solid foundation to fuel this discussion with your students.
As the student is building their melody, start analyzing how the melody is moving and if it would sound better if you swapped two measures.
Play through the eight measures, swap around a few measures and play it again and see which one sounds more tasteful.
If you’re ready for even more discussion, introduce question & answer, sequences, and repeated phrases.
3. Short Sight-Reading Practice Music Game Idea
Sight-reading is a learned skill, and sometimes students really struggle with it.
So using short sight-reading excerpts is a great way to introduce them to sight-reading or to help them if they struggle with pairing accurate notes and rhythms.
When you play Magpie Melodies, have the student sight-read their card before moving forward.
You can even adapt the rules some and have them move forward 1 point per correct note and 1 point per correct rhythm!
4. Melody Mystery Sight-Reading Music Game Idea
Who doesn’t love a good mystery puzzle?
Magpie Melodies has 8 tunes and each tune is color-coded!
This means that you can give a student all of one-color melody cards and they have a complete tune in their hands.
This is a great way to encourage sight-reading as the student pieces together measures 1-8.
Have the student sight-sing or sight-read each card to figure out what goes first, second, etc.
5. Help Students with Rhythm
The cards in Magpie Melodies range from basic rhythm (quarter notes, quarter and half notes) to slightly more complex rhythms (dotted quarter notes, eighth notes).
This provides you ample opportunity to use them to teach rhythm to your students.
You can flip up two cards and clap & count one for the student to guess.
Or, have the student clap & count the card before they move on the game board.
6. Rhythm Matching Music Game Idea
Make a matching game where you match rhythms only by laying out a 3×3 grid of cards.
Match all of the visible identical rhythms (this will help the student observe matching rhythms even if notes differ) and replace the cards with new ones.
Sometimes, there can be 3-5 of the same rhythm flipped up!
Whoever has the most cards at the end wins.
7. Ear Training Music Game Ideas
Help your student with ear training by picking 3 cards from Magpie Melodies.
Play just 1 card and have your student choose which card you played.
If I were playing this version, I would start super easy with different rhythms as well as pitches.
But as the student gains confidence, I would start picking cards that look very similar (same rhythms, pitches vary only slightly).
Bonus: Music Game Ideas for Group Music Lessons
Magpie Melodies makes a great group music game.
Any of the music game ideas I discussed above can be easily adapted to up to 8 players.
You can print our bonus poster-sized game board (included with membership) so students can easily see what’s going on with the game board.
About Magpie Melodies Music Theory Game
The 64 melody cards come from 8 real tunes kids will recognize:
Mary Had a Little Lamb
Ode to Joy
London Bridge
Are You Sleeping?
Bridal Chorus
Hot Cross Buns
Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Rain, Rain Go Away
Each melody card has just one measure from each tune.
Students will draw cards and create their own, unique 8-measure melodies while identifying the tonic, mediant, and dominant pitches.
Upper level students can rearrange their cards to be more strategic with their composition while younger students can put cards in the order they picked them.
A look inside Magpie Melodies:
Here’s what you’ll get with the Magpie Melodies printable download:
Magpie Melodies game in 2 sizes: US letter & A4
Magpie Melodies game board
64 melody cards (color-coded per song)
8 magpie game pieces
Guide card for tonic, mediant, and dominant in C major
While you can teach minor scales by rote or handing a written scale to your students, I have found the best way to teach minor scales is by helping students understand them.
If I haven’t mentioned it before, I’m an ear player.
Thanks to my mom (my main childhood teacher) who did not play by ear, I am a very strong note reader.
But there were many ways I slipped into relying on my ear rather than reading.
And minor scales was one of those.
Once I heard a minor scale, I fiddled around until I figured out minor scales in other keys.
And did a LOT of messing up.
You probably have students like me.
It wasn’t until I was in my teens and actually tried to understand minor scales that I was able to more accurately play all three minor scale forms.
Understanding how the natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor scale steps differed worked wonders in my minor scale playing!
Here are three different methods you can use to teach minor scales to your students.
1. Teach Minor Scales Based on Steps/Pattern
As a teen, I was good at memorizing patterns, so I latched onto the minor scale steps.
Here are the patterns in whole steps (W) and half steps (H):
Natural Minor Pattern
The same ascending & descending
Ascending W‑H‑W‑W‑H‑W‑W
Descending W-W-H-W-W-H-W
Harmonic Minor Pattern
The same ascending & descending
Ascending W‑H‑W‑W‑H‑3H‑H
Descending H-3H-H-W-W-H-W
Melodic Minor Pattern
Different ascending & descending (descending is Natural Minor)
Ascending W‑H‑W‑W‑W‑W‑H
Descending W‑W‑H‑W‑W‑H‑W
And here they are if you use tones (T) and semitones (S):
Natural Minor Pattern
The same ascending & descending
Ascending T‑S‑T‑T‑S‑T‑T
Descending T-T-S-T-T-S-T
Harmonic Minor Pattern
The same ascending & descending
Ascending T‑S‑T‑T‑S‑3S‑S
Descending S-3S-S-T-T-S-T
Melodic Minor Pattern
Different ascending & descending (descending is Natural Minor)
Ascending T‑S‑T‑T‑T‑T‑S
Descending T‑T‑S‑T‑T‑S‑T
Once you teach minor scale patterns, your student can start on any pitch and figure out the minor scale by following the pattern.
In addition to the Mythical Minors printable game, we have launched 8 Minor Scales Boom™ Cards (digital music theory games) that you can get to review minor scales in different ways.
See a preview in this video (don’t see the video, watch it here).
If you’ve not played rhythm flashcard games in your piano studio, then you are missing out!
One of the top struggles most music students have is rhythm.
And one of the first steps is to help students thoroughly understand the beats of every single note–plus giving them a randomized rhythm exercise to do.
Making rhythm exercises a game is one easy way to get students to understand and appreciate rhythm.
We’ve compiled a list of 10 rhythm flashcard games your students will love.
While you can use these with any rhythm cards, we are using the cards from Music Game Club’s Beginner Rhythm Flashcards.
1. Beats in order
One of the easiest rhythm flashcard games is timing how quickly a student can order the beats.
You can go from least-to-greatest beats or greatest-to-least.
2. Match notes & rests
Sometimes, students get very confused about rests.
So doing a rhythm flashcard game where students match notes and rests will help clarify any confusion.
You can play this like normal “memory match” games where the cards are laid out and students flip over two at a time until they get a match (e.g. quarter note and quarter rest).
Or, you can have the student flip up the cards and lay them face-up, pairing matches as soon as they flip up the pair (e.g. student may flip up an eighth note, half note, and whole note before getting the eighth rest to match on top of the eighth note).
3. Claim the beat
Lay all of the rhythm flashcards out face-up.
Teacher says “1” and the student grabs a card with the correct value (in this case, a quarter note or rest).
Continue saying other numbers until all the cards are gone.
You can time it to see how quickly the student can find all the right notes.
4. Rhythm Four Corners!
Label the four corners of your room 1-4 (you can either label them random with 1 = whole note, 2 = eighth note; or you can be mathematical about it and 1 = quarter note, 2 = half note, 3 = dotted half note, 4 = whole note).
Teacher holds up a note or rest and students rush to that corner.
5. Rhythm War
Play “war” with rhythm flashcards!
Split the rhythm flashcards into two piles; teacher gets one, student gets one.
Teacher and student flip up a card.
Whoever has the highest note value “wins” that round and collects all cards.
If there is a tie (same note or value), flip up another card and the winner of that round wins all cards on the table.
You can also swap this one around and the lowest value wins.
6. Rhythm dictation
Clap a rhythm.
Have the students rush to lay our rhythm flashcards and finish first.
For an extra fun flair, have a bell that the student can ring when they are done!
Keep points to see who can lay out the most rhythms if you need a little competition.
7. Familiar Song Rhythm
Play a portion of a melody that your student is learning or a familiar tune.
Student creates the rhythm with flashcards.
You can play this like #6 (Rhythm Dictation) if you have multiple students; they can race to finish first, ring a bell, and keep score.
8. Guess the Rhythm
Lay out two rhythms.
Clap or play one of them.
Have the student identify which rhythm they heard clapped or played.
9. Clap Back
Lay out a rhythm and have the student clap it back to you.
To make a game of it, assign points if the student claps it perfectly, deduct points if the student holds a note too long or short, etc.
10. Rhythm improvisation
Work with the student to create a rhythm.
Clap and count the rhythm then go to the piano (or another fun instrument) and create an improvisation based on the rhythm.
If your student freezes at the thought of improv, then add some note flashcards to the mix and assign a note flashcard for each rhythm flashcard (it doesn’t have to be set in stone; if the student thinks one of the notes sounds funny, you can go from there to change it and come up with a melody the student loves).
11. Bonus! Four-Four Foxes!
In addition to these 10 rhythm flashcard games students love, here’s one you’ll want to add to your studio!
Last summer, we released a Candyland type of game for note reading, and it quickly became a teacher and student favorite (Keyboard Kittens).
So we decided to create another Candyland game, this time focusing on rhythm.
Use Four-Four Foxes for new beginners
We wanted a rhythm-focus for this game, specifically for teaching young beginners what all the notes are called and how many beats they get.
The cards include eighth notes & rests, quarter notes & rests, dotted quarter notes, half notes & rests, dotted half notes, whole notes & rests, and a few specialty cards.
Even your youngest beginners can play this game!
Use Four-Four Foxes for intermediate students
Of course, we realize you need games for more than just very beginning students, so we brainstormed a gameplay variation for your more intermediate students.
The easy way is to flip a card and move to that spot. But for students too advanced for that, challenge them to build a complete 4/4 measure before they move at all! There is some strategy involved in it!
Four-Four Foxes Gameplay
The gameplay is a simple, Candyland-type gameplay where students draw a card, identify the note, and move forward–unless, of course, they get a specialty card, in which they could move forward or backward!
We know students are going to love it!
See how it’s played in our video…
A complete breakdown of what you get in the music game download
A step-by-step tutorial for how to play the game
A few teaching tips and suggestions
Don’t see the video above? Watch How to Play Four-Four Foxes on YouTube here.
Here’s what you’ll get with the Four-Four Foxes printable download:
In addition to the Four-Four Foxes printable game, we have launched four Boom™ Cards (digital music theory games) that you can get to review rhythm in a different way.
See a preview of all four digital music games in this video (don’t see the video below, watch it here).
If you’ve been looking for easy ways to teach music intervals, we’ve got you.
These ten ideas are not only super simple to incorporate in any lesson, they also cover a variety of levels.
1. Have Students Move with Intervals.
This is a great ear-training exercise that introduces your students to intervals, even if they don’t read music yet.
Play an interval and ask the student to take a step across the room the size of the sound.
Does it sound squished together (2nd)? Take a baby step.
Does it sound far apart (8th)? Take a GIANT step!
Once they move, you can tell them, “That’s a 3rd” to help prepare them for learning to identify music intervals.
2. Teach Students to Identify Intervals on the Piano.
All a student needs to know is simple counting!
Give student a starting key and say, “Now, we’ll play a second above!”
Count the starting key and one key above (“1-2”) and you have your second (you could also count the letter names used).
Ask them to find more seconds on the piano. Then, move to other intervals.
For fun, you can use stickers, little animals, erasers, etc. to place on the keyboard at each interval.
add to your Pinterest teaching board
3. Focus on One Music Interval a Week.
Have a studio-wide interval challenge that is appropriate for preschoolers to highschoolers.
For example, if you’re having a “Third Interval Week,” you can teach your preschool students how to find thirds on the keyboard.
Your elementary students can learn thirds on the staff.
Your intermediate students can find thirds in their music.
4. Teach Students How to Count Intervals on the Staff.
There is no reason for intervals to be hard!
All a student has to do is count the bottom note, every line or space in between the notes, and the top note.
It may be helpful to have larger printed intervals so you can use a pencil to point to each line and space.
You can also name the notes and count the letters used (C-F has C, D, E, F which is four letter names, or a fourth).
5. Have Students Write Their Own Intervals.
This makes for fun whiteboard time! (don’t have a whiteboard? Simply slip a sheet of staff paper inside a page protector and use a dry-erase marker. Or, you can just use pencil on regular staff paper)
Give the student a starting bottom note and direct them to write intervals above.
Once the student is confident in this, you can have them write intervals below your given note.
6. Teach the Difference Between Harmonic and Melodic Intervals.
This is one of the easiest interval concepts.
The interval is the exact same (C-E is always a third) but they can be played together (harmonic) or separately (melodic).
I like to tell my students to remember that “melodic” is like a melody where you sing two separate notes.
“Harmonic” is if two people were to sing together (or harmonize).
You can have your students write the same interval in both forms.
7. Teach Music Intervals by Having Students Find Intervals in Music.
Even if a student doesn’t understand melodic and harmonic intervals, they can still find intervals in the music they’re playing.
However, covering melodic and harmonic intervals first will enable them to find even more intervals in their music!
You can either point to an interval and quiz them (“What is this interval?”), ask them to find a specific interval (“Where is a fourth?” or “Where is a melodic fourth?”), or ask them to point to any interval and identify it.
8. Do Intervallic Ear Training.
Give your students the tools to learn to hear basic intervals by linking intervals with different songs.
Give your student just one interval to create some improvisation with.
For example: open fifths played high on the piano sounds like Christmas!
Seconds played low can sound like a giant stomping around.
What other sounds do intervals make?
Remember to encourage your student to use both harmonic and melodic intervals.
10. Use Interval Flashcards.
If you want to strengthen your student’s visual recognition of intervals, flash cards is an easy way to do it! Of course, we prefer a game to flashcards because it’s the same concept, but loads more fun!
Icy Intervals: An Easy Way to Teach Music Intervals
Upgrade from flashcards with this wintery fun music theory game!
Each student gets an intervals card (with 4 intervals) then they roll a die and travel around the board to claim that interval.
The first player to claim all four intervals wins!
You can easily play this with 2-8 students.
In Icy Intervals, students will learn how to identify various intervals in treble and bass clef and race to claim the correct interval on the board.
There are three focal points on the cards, to play with students of various levels:
C position intervals (Cards 1-3)
G position intervals (Cards 4-6)
Various position intervals (Cards 7-15)
Here’s what you’ll get with the Icy Intervals printable download:
Icy Intervals game in 2 sizes: US letter & A4
Icy Intervals game board
15 intervals cards (3 in C position, 3 in G position, 9 in various positions)
There are 8 penguin game pieces, so you can play Icy Intervals with up to 8 players. Plus, members get a bonus poster-sized board so it’s easier for them to crowd around the game board.
Icy Intervals Music Game Success Poster
We believe celebrating music theory game wins with a success poster will build student rapport!
The students have a goal to work toward (taking a picture with the success poster) and you can send the picture to the parents as a way to showcase what their child has achieved during lessons.
It’s a win-win!
These also give you great material for social media posts (be sure to tag @musicgameclub so we can celebrate with your kiddos!).
Icy Intervals Music Theory Activity Sheet
Once the student has completed Icy Intervals music theory game, you can further help them solidify their music theory knowledge with the activity sheet (included with membership).
Students are given five intervals in both treble and bass clef and have to draw a line to the correct answer. Then, they can color the cute penguins.
This is a great send-home activity to reinforce the theory concepts after your students have played the game.
Want Icy Intervals music game to help music intervals in piano lessons?
Icy Intervals, our December 2023 music theory game, is just a taste of what you’ll get when you sign up for Music Game Club!
You’ll always receive:
A monthly music game (formatted in 2 sizes: US Letter and A4)
Exclusive Music Game Club membership emails
Video tutorials
Themed success posters to go with the monthly game
Bonus activity review sheet
Bonus tutorial videos with extra gameplay ideas
The membership is only $9.97/month and you did read all of the above correctly.
You’ll receive a wealth of resources that can elevate your teaching experience and keep student morale high all year.
You’ll maintain the energy and enthusiasm throughout the entire year, ensuring a consistent and engaging experience.
Your students will start asking for their new game each month and be excited to learn new music theory concepts!
Christmas piano recitals are my absolute favorite–especially because I treat it more like a Christmas piano party than recital.
Yes, there is a difference!
For me, Christmas piano parties are a time for my piano kids to get together, play games, get to know each other better, and have fun.
There is nothing wrong with having more professional recitals, but if you want to transform your Christmas piano recital into a fun party, here are fifty ideas you can mix and match to create an experience your piano kids will talk about for years.
And before you start putting things on your already full to-do list, remember that you can get your piano students and their families to help you out (or you can hire one of your crafty piano teens).
Repertoire for your Christmas Piano Recital
The very first step in planning for the best Christmas piano recital ever is to consider the repertoire.
Especially if you don’t want ten students playing similar versions of “Jingle Bells!”
Instead of giving you specific sheet music to look up, here are ideas so you can pick the best fit for your students.
1) Duets
2) Ensembles
3) Traditional carols
4) Modern Christmas songs
5) Movie soundtracks (either Christmas or winter)
6) Lead sheets
7) Traditional carols arranged in modern styles
8) Get a set of jingle bells to add to any arrangement
Keep exploring and try out new composers and arrangers each year.
Another way to ensure a variety of Christmas repertoire is to print off a list of Christmas songs and have your students pick random titles from the list.
If they don’t know a song, it can be a great time to teach them a fun, new (or old) Christmas tune!
Don’t forget to consider your piano kids with food allergies & sensitivities.
There are many allergen-friendly options available that will help all your piano students be included (for example, find gluten free cupcakes or cookies to add your musical touch to).
Attire for your Christmas Piano Recital
My students always had fun dressing Christmassy for our Christmas piano recitals, as I’m sure yours do.
You can do either themed Christmas piano recitals or just general “wear something Christmassy” recitals.
Here are some ideas you can discuss with your students:
30) Ugly sweaters
31) Red & green
32) Old fashioned Christmas (think Dickens)
33) Snowmen & snowflakes
34) Lumberjack Christmas (plaid)
35) Christmas trees
36) Casual Christmas (jeans with Christmas sweatshirts)
37) Dressy Christmas (think glittery dresses and bowties)
38) Christmas pajamas
Of course, you’ll want to take a seasonal photograph of your entire studio.
And if you want to add even more fun to the dress-up part, have scoring cards where you or the other students “grade” each other on how Christmassy each student looks (or have an “ugly sweater contest” where the winner gets a $20 gift card).
Gifts & goodies for your Christmas Piano Recital
You can do easy & affordable Christmas gifts for your piano students.
48) Paper plate snowmen (Divide students into teams of 3. Assign each team a time signature. Each student must write one measure for their snowman part, put the three snowmen parts together, then clap the snowman.)
If you want to get really into the Christmas spirit, have a Christmas music craft station for your piano kids.
49) Make musical Christmas ornaments (cut printed sheet music into stars, Christmas trees, stockings, and ornaments then add a ribbon)
If you’ve been intimidated when you go to teach sharps in music, I hope this blog post will help you gain confidence.
There seems to be an unwritten pianist rule that sharps are harder than flats.
And sometimes, we as teachers can pass that fear of sharps on to our students.
So my first tip is to introduce sharps in music as if they’re just as easy as white piano keys.
In fact, that’s where I like to start my sharp introduction: as soon as my students have a solid grasp of white piano keys.
As the student continues to progress in their musical understanding, I transition from teaching sharps on the piano keys to teaching sharps in music and key signatures.
I like introducing my piano students to the black keys as early as possible.
After the students learn that each white key has a name, I like to tell them that the black notes are special and must “borrow” their name from a friend.
What’s even more special about the black keys is that each black key has two names!
If my student has already learned flats, then this is when I explain the second black key name: the sharps. Sometimes, however, I decide to introduce sharps first, in which case, I explain that we’ll learn the black key’s second name later.
An easy (and funny) way to remember what direction sharps go is to think, “What would you do if you sat on something sharp? Go UP!”
Once a student understands the direction of sharps, I start teaching them to identify sharp notes on the piano.
They start with the white note then “make it sharp” and go up a half-step (semitone) to the next note (e.g. “Find an F. Now where is F#?”).
Usually for the first week or two, I have students find the white key and then the sharp key.
Once they understand the association between those notes, then I remove the first step (white key) and have them find just the sharp key (e.g. “Find F#, C#, etc.”).
Bonus tip: I like to introduce the sharps in the order they’re presented in key signatures. So I will usually teach my young students F#, C#, G#, D#, A#. I don’t necessarily explain why I have them review in that order, but it gives them a subtle introduction to key signatures.
2. Teach sharps in music
Once a student understands how sharps work on the piano, it’s usually pretty easy to teach them sharps in music.
I like to give my students a good head-start of understanding sharps on the piano keys, so usually when they see it in music for the first time, they have been finding sharps on the piano keys for weeks.
This means I only have to explain, “You know the sharps we’ve been talking about? This is the sharp symbol!”
If you have a student who can’t seem to be getting their sharps correct, make sure they’re identifying the correct part of the symbol (looking at the loop, not the stick).
3. How to teach the order of sharps
There are several ways to teach the order of sharps to students–and a lot of it depends on how their mind works.
Some students (like me) do well at simply memorizing the order of sharps (F-C-G-D-A-E-B), which they can then reverse it for flats (B-E-A-D-G-C-F).
Others find mnemonics to be helpful.
Here are a few:
Fat Cat Goes Down And Eats Bacon
Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle
Fast Cars Go Dangerously Around Every Bend
Fat Cat Goes Downtown After Eating Breakfast
Frank Can Get Dollars At Every Bank
Or, you can ask your student to come up with their own mnemonics for the order of sharps.
4) How to teach sharp key signatures
If you don’t understand the “trick” for teaching key signatures, it can seem hard.
All you have to do is remember: last sharp, go up (or go up from last sharp).
Find the last sharp in the key signature and go up just one key (half-step or semitone) and you’ve got your key signature.
For example:
F# C# G# D# = E major
F# = G major
It can be helpful to remind your students that it goes up one letter name so that when they reach more complicated key signatures, they will understand the correct name (e.g. F# C# G# D# A# E# will go up a half step from E# to F#, not G-flat).
Not only do these create a nice visual set, they can be paired together to create a full review of both sharps and flats!
But I’ll explain more about that later.
Shrimp Sharps is the perfect game to help you teach sharps in music, whether your students are learning sharps on the piano keys, the music staff, or starting to learn key signatures.
Set in a delightful ocean with a hint of beach, Shrimp Sharps plays on a checker-board style layout to help students with both strategy and music.
Shrimps go against flamingos to see who can get to the other side with the most pieces first.
What is Shrimp Sharps Music Theory Game?
In Shrimp Sharps, students will learn how to identify sharp in music as they study the musical excerpts in order to move forward on the board.
Shrimp Sharps can be played by any age student who needs to brush up on their flat identification.
This music theory game can be played in two different ways:
Easy: students count the sharps in the key signature
Hard: students identify which notes in the musical excerpt are affected by the sharp key signature
Here’s what you’ll get with the Shrimp Sharps 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:
Shrimp Sharps activity sheets in 2 sizes: US Letter & A4
A3 & Poster-sized game boards
Tutorial videos with bonus gameplay ideas
Membership is only open twice a year. Check out our membership page here for more details.
Shrimp Sharps was Music Game Club’s November 2023 music theory game. Get Shrimp Sharps in the shop here.
How to Play Shrimp Sharps Music Theory Game
While this looks like a checkers game, the movement is slightly different but just as easy.
Students identify how many notes should be sharp on the sight-reading cards and move forward accordingly (e.g. 2 notes sharp = 2 moves, 4 notes sharp = 4 moves).
The flamingo and shrimp game pieces can move forward, sideways, and backwards.
And, of course, can jump the opponent if desired.
Whoever can get all their game pieces to the other side first wins!
See how it’s played in the video!
A complete breakdown of what you get in the music game download
There are 8 total game pieces (4 flamingos, 4 shrimp), so you can play Shrimp Sharps with up to 8 players–it will just require a lot of teamwork!
Each team works together to move their game pieces across the board–and what’s fun and strategic is that they can move any of their team’s pieces!
We provide a bonus poster-sized game board option (included with membership) that you can bring to your local print shop and get a larger board for students to crowd around.
Shrimp Sharps is easily played with 2 students or 8.
Shrimp Sharps Music Game Success Poster
We believe celebrating music theory game wins with a success poster will build student rapport!
The students have a goal to work toward (taking a picture with the success poster) and you can send the picture to the parents as a way to showcase what their child has achieved during lessons.
It’s a win-win!
These also give you great material for social media posts (be sure to tag @musicgameclub so we can celebrate with your kiddos!).
Shrimp Sharps Music Theory Activity Sheet
Once the student has completed Shrimp Sharps music theory game, you can further help them solidify their music theory knowledge with the activity sheet (included with membership).
Students will trace then draw their own sharps for three key signatures: G major, D major, and A major.
This is a great send-home activity to reinforce the theory concepts after your students have played the game.
Want Shrimp Sharps music game to help teach sharps in music?
Shrimp Sharps was our November 2023 music theory game and is just a taste of what you’ll get when you sign up for Music Game Club!
You’ll always receive:
A monthly music game (formatted in 2 sizes: US Letter and A4)
Exclusive Music Game Club membership emails
Video tutorials
Themed success posters to go with the monthly game
Bonus activity review sheet
Bonus video tutorials with extra gameplay ideas
The membership is only $9.97/month and you did read all of the above correctly.
You’ll receive a wealth of resources that can elevate your teaching experience and keep student morale high all year.
You’ll maintain the energy and enthusiasm throughout the entire year, ensuring a consistent and engaging experience.
Your students will start asking for their new game each month and be excited to learn new music theory concepts!
What are your favorite methods to teach sharps to music students?
Let us know in the comments below.
Need another game that goes above and beyond Shrimp Sharps?
If your students have already mastered their sharps and are ready for more, check out Froggy Fifths, our Circle of Fifths game that teaches all the sharps and flats in the Circle of Fifths.
