Piano teachers liked that post and activity so much that we decided to expand our dice-rolling composition idea into a full-blown music camp.
Before I dig into this camp for music composing, I want to share 7 reasons why I think hosting a music camp specifically for composition is a great idea.
Music composition is a creative class that encourages students to express what’s inside of them
Music composing provides a focused time for you to teach students music composition
Your students will learn to compose music in 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, AND 5/4!
You can offer more value to your piano studio by hosting 5-day music camps
Music composition strengthens students’ note reading
Music composing strengthens students’ rhythm
This music camp is easy to do! (we provide everything you need, even if you’ve never taught music composition before)
A look inside Creek, Crick, Croak Composing Camp
This is so much more than just a music composition camp!
In this 5-day music camp, your students will…
Learn about a new frog
Get an interactive theory lesson
Compose in different meters
Have listening time that connects with theory lesson
Do improvisation in different meters
Play a different music game
Each day has a two-hour recommended schedule.
You can adapt this schedule to be shorter by omitting parts of the camp or make it longer by adding more game and music time (we include tons of song and dance links).
We have been asked the ideal age range for Creek, Crick, Croak Composing Camp.
It is easier to answer by level than by age.
Since there are two levels of guided composition sheets, it can cover a broader range of ages.
The youngest student needs to be fluent in reading and writing and know the piano keys (simple rhythms are optional). Most often that covers ages 7-8.
The theory concepts covered are college-level (but written in an easy-to-understand way), so the age range can easily extend up to 18 or older.
A class of adult beginner pianists would also be perfect for Creek, Crick, Croak Composing Camp. This camp for music composition can help them get started with music composition.
We wouldn’t recommend it to students who are fluent and playing advanced repertoire, as they may get bored–unless, of course, they have never touched composing and need a structured guide.
Because this music composition camp includes two levels of guided composition worksheets, you can teach a multi-level class.
We make this especially easy for you by providing explanation videos for each level worksheet.
One group of students can watch a video while you tutor the other group.
Or, if you prefer to be more hands-off, both groups can watch their respective videos to learn how to use the guided composition worksheets.
Sample Day 1 of Creek, Crick, Croak Music Composition Camp
Our goal in creating this camp for music composing was to create something that you could easily use–even if you’ve never composed before!
So, to ease your mind and help you know if this is something that would work for you, here is an in-depth look inside Day 1 of the camp.
All 5 days of the camp follow a similar pattern, with Day 5 being more performance-focused.
You get a recommended schedule for the music camp to last two hours.
This schedule would be great to share with your parents so they can get a glimpse of what their child is learning in music camp that day.
Frog Facts
Every day starts with frog facts.
The frog is a super important character in this music composition camp, because we use the syllables of that frog to help establish the meter for the day.
Day 1’s frog is “Green Frog.” And, you probably guessed it, students will be composing music in 2/4.
But we don’t tell the students that until later (the smart ones will start guessing what meter they’ll be composing in as soon as you announce the next day’s frog!).
After you discuss cool frog facts for the day’s frog, you move to the interactive theory lesson.
Theory Lessons
I’m excited about these theory lessons because I wove in a lot of college-level knowledge that is super important for composing unique melodies.
You can make your kids feel super smart if you let them know they’re learning some stuff college kids learn!
The theory lessons are interactive with a lot of questions and answers as well as samples for you to play (once again, everything is written out so you can just read along if you’d like).
Music Composition
Day 1 composing takes the longest time to explain, because you’re helping your students understand how to compose with the guide for the first time.
The good news is that once they understand how to do it for one meter, they will easily be able to do it all the other days with very little extra explanation.
We provide three videos for the guided music composition worksheets.
A video for beginner composition guide (spoken to students)
A video for upper level composition guide (spoken to students)
A video for teachers with tips about the guided composition worksheets
You can either watch the student videos to help you learn how to teach the guides, or you can just play the videos for the students.
The beginner composition guide has two pages: one page that tells them what to roll a die for and a second paper where they write compositions (it is similar to pre-reading pages in lesson books).
The upper level composition guide has four pages plus a page of staff paper. Two pages are the guide that tells them what to roll for. The third page is an example on how the guide is used. The fourth page is a worksheet they can use as a “scratch paper” to jot down each step of their composition before putting it onto staff paper.
Students will take a break from composing for listening time.
Listening Time, Snack Time
We have curated playlists specifically for this class where we encourage the students to listen for theory concepts covered earlier in class.
Music camp wouldn’t be complete without snack time, so midway through, we have time out for snacks and a music theory game (snack ideas are found in the appendix).
Students usually like playing music games more than once, so playing during snack time and also at the end of the class is a great way to help them meet that need.
After snack time, students will have fun with improvisation.
Improvisation
They will improvise in the same meter they are composing in. So Day 1’s improv is in 2/4.
We have included both an “improvisation worksheet” that has five piano parts of varying levels following a chord pattern and backing tracks.
There are so many options for improvisation!
If you need help here, we also provide a video to walk you through improvisation time.
Class wrap-up
The class wraps up with another music composition segment (students are encouraged to write as many songs as they want), performance practice (where students play one composition from the day–even if it’s not yet completed), and game time.
We love celebrating with success posters, so every day includes a success poster your students can pose with–you can send pictures to the parents to brag on their kids’ achievements for the day.
That wraps up Day 1!
Days 2-4 follow a very similar pattern, with…
Black Rain Frog and composing music in 3/4
Spring Peeper Frog and composing music in 4/4
Blue Poison Dart Frog and composing music in 5/4
Day 5 is when students finalize their compositions and celebrate with a performance.
Once all five days of this music camp are completed, your students will each have a nice book of tunes that they’ve composed–plus the knowledge to keep composing on their own!
I have always been excited to teach chords to piano students. If you think chords are intimidating or difficult, I hope this blog post will give you the tools you need to easily teach chords to piano students.
The first step in teaching chords to piano students is to actually teach them the chords. We have a free download for you that will help guide you through four ways to teach chords to piano students.
The second step is to review the chords so students will remember them for life–and Music Game Club has the perfect game for that! Keep reading to see how Chameleon Chords can help you teach chords to piano students.
Free download: 4 Ways to Teach Chords to Piano Students
And by “chords,” I mean major chords, minor chords, diminished chords, and augmented chords.
To help you even further, we have a free “cheat sheet” download that highlights all four ways of teaching chords that you can keep on hand anytime you want to teach chords to piano students.
Included in this download:
4 ways to teach chords
Chord sheets (using both piano keys and staff)
Blank chord sheets (you can create your own!)
The four basic ways to teach chords to piano students are:
Chameleon Chords: a way to review chords with piano students
Once your students understands major, minor, diminished, and augmented chords, it’s a good plan to review them frequently so they remember them for life.
While you can definitely drill chord review on the piano, it’s so much more fun and memorable to play a music chord game.
Your students will have fun and the interactive review will help solidify music chords in their minds much faster.
What is Chameleon Chords Music Theory Game?
Take a trek to the desert to collect bugs as you review chords!
Students will strategically move across the board to try and collect the most bugs as they accurately identify chords.
There are two levels of chord cards so you can play with students of various levels.
Level 1: major, minor, diminished, and augmented chords on the piano keys
Level 2: major, minor, diminished, and augmented chords on the staff (any chords with double sharps or double flats are color-coded so you can play with easier chords if desired)
Here’s what you’ll get with the Chameleon Chords printable download:
Chameleon Chords game in 2 sizes: US letter & A4
Chameleon Chords game board
48 Level 1 cards (major, minor, diminished, and augmented chords on the keyboard)
68 Level 2 cards (major, minor, diminished, and augmented chords on the staff)
Chameleon Chords is a great game for students who love strategy and students who just like to play games.
The basic gameplay is:
Each player chooses a chameleon and starting place
Player draws a chord card
Player identifies chord
Player moves forward, backward, or sideways according to the move chart (on game board)
If player reaches a bug piece, they collect it
Players continue until all bug game pieces have been collected
Once the bugs are all collected from the game board, the players count to see who has the highest number of bugs collected. The winner can take a picture with the success poster that you can share on social media and with parents.
In our Chameleon Chords tutorial video, you’ll see…
A complete breakdown of what you get in the music game download
We know that many of our teachers teach both private and group piano lessons, so we created Chameleon Chords with group lessons in mind.
We provide a bonus poster-sized board option (included with membership) that you can bring to your local print shop and get a larger board for students to crowd around.
Chameleon Chords is created to be versatile with 2 students or 8 playing together.
For more than 8 players, you will need to print multiple sets.
Chameleon Chords 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!).
Chameleon Chords Game activity sheet
Once the student has completed the Chameleon Chords music theory game, you can further help them solidify their music theory knowledge with the activity sheet (included with membership).
For Chameleon Chords, the students get to color 7 chameleons and then draw their own major, minor, diminished, and augmented chords.
This is a great send-home activity after your students have played the game. And you can use it multiple times by assigning different chord roots each time.
Behind the scenes of Chameleon Chords music game
We are proud of the artwork by Kristen McHenry and Emily Darrel.
The bugs are so vibrant and beautiful in contrast to the desert scene.
Want Chameleon Chords music game to teach chords to piano students?
If your students are like mine, they need all the rhythm review help they can get, so a slapping fun music rhythm game is a great addition to the studio!
Often, our students see the exact same rhythms repeated in their music (think about the basic rhythm patterns featured in most lesson books).
I like introducing students to rhythms outside their lesson books and let them see rhythms that they might not always play in a lesson book.
A great way to do this is to play a game that features a variety of rhythm cards (and Rabbit Rhythms has 96).
If my student can identify that three quarter notes is a 3/4 measure, I want them to also be able to easily identify that a quarter rest, quarter note, quarter rest is also a 3/4 measure… and that a dotted quarter note, eighth note, and quarter rest is a 3/4 measure.
Added to that, I love clapping and counting rhythms with my students so they get the feel of the various rhythm patterns.
And playing a game like Rabbit Rhythms gives my students both those experiences.
What is Rabbit Rhythms Slapping Fun Music Rhythm Game?
Yes, we intentionally put “slapping fun” because, well, the main gameplay is slapping! (for teachers who need a gentle-play option, we have an alternative for you)
Rabbit Rhythms will help your students quickly identify how many beats are in a measure for 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, and 5/4 meters.
Students race against each other to slap the correct meter first and hop along the garden row.
One of the best features of Rabbit Rhythms is the rhythm cards. There are 96 different rhythms, so your students will get plenty of practice reading rhythms and figuring out time signatures.
Additionally, the rhythm cards are color coded:
40 black rhythm cards with basic whole, dotted half, half, and quarter notes & rests
56 orange rhythm cards with basic rhythms plus dotted quarter notes, eighth notes and rests
If you are teaching students who don’t know eighth notes yet or if you want to challenge your older students and remove the basic rhythms, you can easily separate the cards by color.
Here’s what you’ll get with the Rabbit Rhythms printable download:
Rabbit Rhythms game in 2 sizes: US letter & A4
Rabbit Rhythms game board
96 rhythm cards (color coded for easier and harder rhythms)
How to Play Rabbit Rhythms Slapping Fun Music Rhythm Game
Students will learn how to play Rabbit Rhythms very quickly, so you can spend more time playing the game than explaining how to play.
Each student picks a rabbit game piece and garden row
Teacher flips up a rhythm card
Students figure out if the rhythm card is a measure in 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, or 5/4 and race to slap the correct meter first
Students can opt to clap & count measure for a bonus move forward
Repeat until the first student has hopped across the vegetable garden!
It’s bound to be a wild and fun ride!
But don’t worry, there are ways you can play the game if you need to even the playing field.
I was one of those fast-slappers as a kid, and I have enough of a competitive streak to where I’d have likely won this game every time I played it, not making it fair for other students.
So If you have a super-fast and confident student who is always slapping first, give your students dice and make them roll for the correct meter (2 = 2/4, 3 = 3/4, 4 = 4/4, 5 = 5/4).
This is also a good option if you need a gentle gameplay variation.
The dice variation also works perfectly if you are playing teacher versus student, so the teacher doesn’t have the unfair advantage.
And you can also add an extra challenge to this game by having your students play the rhythms instead of just clapping & counting them.
There are a lot of options to make this fun music rhythm game suit you and your students’ needs best.
In our Rabbit Rhythms’ tutorial video, you’ll see…
An overview of the entire game
The original gameplay
A gentle gameplay (or teacher vs. student or online)
Group Lesson option for Rabbit Rhythms Slapping Fun Music Rhythm Game
We know that many of our teachers teach both private and group piano lessons, so we created Rabbit Rhythms with group lessons in mind.
First, there is a bonus poster-sized board option (included with membership) that you can bring to your local print shop and get a larger board for students to crowd around.
Secondly, if you have more than six players, instead of having the rabbits hop down the vegetable garden row, you can flip the game board and for each turn, the rabbit can hop into a new row (this will give them six plays before the game is over).
As with general gameplay, you can choose the option of slapping the time signature card or rolling a die for the answer.
Rabbit Rhythms 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!).
Rabbit Rhythms Game activity sheet
Once the student has completed the Rabbit Rhythms fun music rhythm game, you can further help them solidify their music theory knowledge with the activity sheet (included with membership).
For Rabbit Rhythms, the students get to color five bunnies and then do some solid rhythm practice with music math.
This is a great send-home activity after your students have played the game.
Behind the scenes of Rabbit Rhythms music game
We are proud of the artwork by Kristen McHenry and Emily Darrel.
This game is full of personal nostalgia for me! Not only did we have massive family gardens, we also raised rabbits (I loved our multi-colored bunnies!).
Granted, as a kid, I wasn’t especially fond of weeding multiple 100-foot garden rows, but now, I have all the nostalgia brought back to me with Rabbit Rhythms.
Even if that wasn’t your childhood, I know you’ll appreciate the beautiful artwork and adorable bunnies!
Want Rabbit Rhythms fun music rhythm game?
Rabbit Rhythms was Music Game Club’s May 2023 membership music theory game. Anyone can now get it in the shop here.
Games like Rabbit Rhythms are 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 for 8.5” x 11” and A4 printing)
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 get so much that will help you boost student morale and make you a favorite music teacher this year.
You won’t lose the momentum and excitement all year!
Your students will start anticipating what new game you will thrill them with each month!
If you’re looking for a fun ear training game that will teach piano students to easily recognize intervals, look no further!
Ear training isn’t always included in piano lessons, but there are many benefits to incorporating a fun ear training game in lessons.
While I was taught music composition as a teen, I wasn’t taught interval recognition until I hit my twenties.
Not only is basic ear training fun (who doesn’t like to be able to hum a tune and identify that it starts with a minor third?), but it is also beneficial in creating well-rounded students.
Ear training does not have to be difficult.
Even if you have never learned to identify intervals yourself, this fun ear training game can guide you in teaching your students basic ear training.
The benefits of using a fun ear training game
When I reached college, we started doing several music theory activities that I hadn’t done as a highschool piano student.
Ear training was one of them.
Not only did I learn solfege for the first time (I was a good vocal sight-reader, but I didn’t know solfege), I was also tested for interval recognition.
I passed, but ear training was probably one of the biggest struggles among the students (which then bled into difficulty with transcription and sight-singing).
Here are just a few benefits of ear training:
It heightens students’ understanding of music versus always relying on sight or needing sheet music
It helps students become better listeners
It allows them to hear incorrect notes when they are practicing
It helps students’ sight-reading
It prepares students for more advanced theory concepts
It makes learning a piece faster as they can associate sound with sight and connect the dots faster
It can help the student feel more centered and more aware of what key they are playing and any changes regarding this – meaning they hear when they are “home/tonic” or moving in a different direction
It helps students be better composers and arrangers
It helps students understand how to collaborate better with other musicians
It helps students play in a band – they can hear the bass line and chord structure changes
It helps students understand how to improvise: they know the distance from one note to the next so can “fill in” using different techniques from chord changes and modulations
If we can get our students engaged in a fun ear training game, their understanding of music will be strengthened without tedious hours of study like I had to do.
Can you think of more benefits of ear training? Comment and share!
What is Listening Lemurs?
Listening Lemurs is an easy and fun ear training game that will help your students learn to listen and identify different intervals.
We have provided plenty of teacher aids so you can easily walk your students through learning to identify different major, minor, and perfect intervals.
Even if you’ve never done ear training before, you’ll be able to guide your students with this fun ear training game.
Listening Lemurs is a great ear training game whether you’re teaching students how to identify intervals for the first time or if they just need a brush-up.
A look inside Listening Lemurs:
Here’s what you’ll get with the Listening Lemurs printable download:
How to play Listening Lemurs in group piano lessons
Listening Lemurs is designed to be played with 2-6 students.
The gameplay is the same, regardless of the number of students you have.
One concern some teachers may have about playing Listening Lemurs in group piano lessons is that the slower students will just wait for the faster students to give the answer and they won’t learn intervallic recognition themselves.
There are a few ways you can work around this.
First, count to five before anyone gives an answer.
Second, ask a different student to give the answer each time.
Personally, I think that even if the student is waiting for a classmate to give the answer, they are still benefiting from hearing the pitches and answers.
Listening Lemurs Fun Ear Training Game Success Poster
We believe that celebrating 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!).
Listening Lemurs Fun Ear Training Game activity sheet
Once the student has completed the Listening Lemurs ear training game, you can further help them solidify their music theory knowledge with the activity sheet.
For Listening Lemurs, the students get to color two lemurs perched on branches and then have to draw intervals above given notes.
This will help students realize how intervals are presented not only in listening, but also on paper.
Behind the scenes of Listening Lemurs Fun Ear Training Game
We are proud of the artwork by Kristen McHenry and Emily Darrel.
We fell in love with all the lemurs as soon as we saw them!
And the vines in the rainforest are so inviting!
Here are some “behind the scenes” development pictures!
There are many benefits to teaching piano students music composition.
I personally love using music composition to help students who are struggling with note reading and rhythm.
Composition gives students an opportunity to experience music in a different way that can reinvigorate their interest in music.
And you don’t have to wait until a student reaches a certain point of musical understanding in order to teach music composition.
Benefits of teaching piano students music composition
I was thirteen when the door of music composition and improvisation was opened to me.
My new piano teacher asked me to play “As the Deer.”
I looked at her then at the empty music stand. She told me to start on E and that was it.
I fumbled and made a lot of errors, but I fell in love with the idea of creating my own music.
While I have primarily arranged hymns since that day, composition has been a natural hobby.
For me, composition and improvisation are ways to express feelings that simply playing written music doesn’t reach.
There is something about creating music rather than just reading music.
Not all piano students have the natural ability or desire to compose, and that’s okay.
But many students are like me–they have that natural ability but it needs a key to unlock the potential and open the door to a future of creating music.
Teaching piano students music composition is not only a way to open a door of creativity, but it is also a way to teach music theory in a fun and engaging way.
This year, one of my beginner teen students is primarily focusing on composition.
While she is still learning many theory basics like note values and note names, composing is helping her to understand how music works together and she’s loving it.
We have many discussions about themes, motives, and storytelling while we also nail down the basics of whether a note should be an eighth note or quarter note.
When to start teaching piano students music composition
You can start teaching piano students music composition as early as you’d like.
Though some of these ideas are technically more improvisational than compositional, you can help a student create their own composition from the first year of lessons.
If the student has learned C, D, E, encourage them to come up with their own little melody using those notes.
After introducing the note names, I like to ask my new student to tell me what order to put the notes in and I usually write it down for them then get them to come up with a title.
We usually do about 8 notes.
My favorite story of doing this is when I was teaching a set of twins and they separately composed the exact same melody. 🙂
From that basic beginning, you can start adding a little bit of rhythm to it, even if your student knows nothing about quarter notes, half notes, or whole notes.
Simply discuss which notes should be “faster” or “slower.”
As a student progresses in their musical understanding, you can help them expand their composition experience.
Discuss topics, themes, rhythms, tonalities, and more.
Even if you know very little about teaching piano students music composition, you can help guide them by simply having discussions.
I have found that the students who naturally lean toward composition just need someone to encourage them and be a guide in the right direction.
An easy way of teaching piano students music composition
If you have never taught composition before or you don’t have as much time to dedicate to teaching music composition to your piano students, you don’t have to do it alone.
Even if you know nothing about composition, you can walk your students through this guided composition activity to create their own original composition to play on the piano in the keys of C, G, or F.
Use this easy composition activity to help students create their own composition–whether they are primer, beginner, or intermediate students.
I’ll break down how I’d use this composition activity for each level of students, but if you’re visual, here’s a video where I walk you through exactly what I’d do. I even came up with a delightful composition that surprised me.
If your very beginning student only knows the white notes on the piano, they can still create their own composition.
Some students are timid about making up music on their own, so rolling a die will encourage them to put notes on paper to start their own little melody.
Simply have your student roll the die and then write the corresponding letter name.
From there, you can discuss if all the notes need to be equal value or some shorter and some longer.
In just a few minutes, your student will have their own composition to bring home to their parents and show off.
Teaching beginner students music composition
I like to teach triads as soon as possible.
And, because the key of C has all white notes, it is super easy to teach triads.
Once a student understands triads, they can easily create compositions in the Key of C.
Their compositions can either be chord-based or they can start by writing simple melodies based on the chords the die gave them.
For this level, I would start by having my students roll the die to come up with 8 chords and write them down.
Then, I’d ask them to pick one chord tone for each of the chords.
In their left hand, they’ll play the triad and in the right hand, they’ll play the chosen chord tone.
Teaching intermediate students music composition
Even students who have mastered their chords can use this easy composition activity to learn how to write melodies with passing tones, neighbor tones, and more.
They can start with the basics like the beginner students, but once they have their melody notes established, they can embellish it with different rhythms and notes.
Even more options for this easy composition activity
If your student is fluent in the keys of C, G, and F, you can expand this composition activity to cover all three keys with key changes to transition from one to the next.
Staff paper is also included so your students can transcribe their composition if they’d like.
Give each student a die and have them all work at the same time to fill out their composition page.
Play through each student’s composition and see how beautiful they all are.
Use this easy composition activity to work on different rhythms.
You can begin with chording in quarter notes, but as the student gets confident in their chords, assign them different rhythms to apply to their composition.
The options are endless… and all you need is a die.
Are you intimidated by the circle of fifths and wish there was a way to easily teach the circle of fifths?
Do you break out in hives just thinking about the circle with sharps and flats?
For most of my teen years, I was aware of the circle of fifths, but to me it was something complex and hard to wrap my mind around.
I assumed it was hard to understand.
It wasn’t until I intentionally began studying music theory that the circle of fifths made sense.
And once I understood the circle of fifths, I loved it.
That’s what I want for my students. I want them to understand and love the circle of fifths.
Because of this, I helped design a way to easily teach the circle of fifths to your students: Froggy Fifths.
What is Froggy Fifths Circle of Fifths Music Theory Game?
Froggy Fifths will familiarize your students with the entire circle of fifths so they are comfortable with it and not intimidated by it.
Each student will choose a frog and hop their way to collect different key signatures with the roll of a die.
But there can be some stiff competition–because if your opponent lands on a log, they just might steal one of the tokens you’ve worked hard to collect!
Froggy Fifths is currently Music Game Club’s largest game. It also spans the most levels. There are four levels of cards that you can use from very beginning students all the way to college students.
Here’s a look inside Froggy Fifths:
Here’s what you’ll get with the Froggy Fifths printable download:
Froggy Fifths game in 2 sizes: US letter & A4
Froggy Fifths game board
4 levels of key signature cards (NOTE: the backs of the cards are updated to be more printer-friendly)
One of the best features about Froggy Fifths is the four level cards.
Level 1 – Accidentals on Piano Keys
Beginning students can count how many sharps or flats they see on the piano keys and match it to the number of sharps or flats they need to find on the board.
Level 2 – Accidentals on the Staff
Teach the student how to count sharps or flats on the grand staff (be sure they count the staves together; e.g. F#-C# in both the bass and treble clefs are just two sharps, not four).
Students can match the number of accidentals they see on the staff to the number of accidentals on the board.
Level 3 – Major Key Signatures
Students must know how many accidentals are in the given key signatures.
Level 4 – Minor Key Signatures
Students must know how many accidentals are in the given key signatures.
These four levels of cards mean two things.
1) Your students can easily “level up” as they learn more music theory. Each level has the same key signatures per card (e.g. Card One has G, G-flat, E, C or E minor, E-flat minor, C-sharp minor, and A minor). So if your student needs to graduate from one level to the next, you can give them Cards 1 of Levels 1 and 2 (or 2 and 3, 3 and 4) so they can compare.
2) You can easily play with multi-level students. Just assign each student the appropriate level card and they can play together.
Froggy Fifths SOLFÈGE Circle of Fifths Music Game
Our international friends can enjoy playing Froggy Fifths in their music studios with our updated Solfège keys (Do major, do minor, etc.).
How to Play Froggy Fifths Circle of Fifths Music Theory Game for Group Music Lessons
Froggy Fifths is easy to play with two students or eight.
Members will get a bonus 18 x 24” formatted page to bring to a printshop and print a large game board so your students can easily crowd around and play together.
As mentioned earlier, you can play Froggy Fifths with either the same level students or multi-level students.
Because each student is hopping to collect their individual tokens, you can assign them the card suitable for their level.
If you have limited playing time, each student only has to find half of their card.
Froggy Fifths Music Theory Game Success Poster
We believe that celebrating 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!).
Froggy Fifths Circle of Fifths Music Theory Game Activity Sheet
Once the student has completed the Froggy Fifths music theory game, you can further help them solidify their music theory knowledge with the activity sheet.
For Froggy Fifths, the students will create their own mnemonic phrase for the order of sharps and flats and then copy accidentals onto blank staves.
This will help familiarize students with both the order of sharps and flats and give them practice writing them neatly.
Behind the Scenes of Froggy Fifths Circle of Fifths Music Theory Game
We are proud of the artwork by Kristen McHenry and Emily Darrel.
We fell in love with all the little froggies as soon as we saw them!
So here are some “behind the scenes” development pictures!
