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
Some things are easier to demonstrate than type out, so I have put together a tutorial video to help you learn four 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:
- Teach chords by half steps/semitones
- Teach chords by note
- Teach chords theoretically
- Teach chords by skips
Don’t see the video above? Watch 4 ways to teach chords to piano students on YouTube here.
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 download:
- Chameleon Chords game in US Letter size and A4 size
- 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)
- 8 chameleon game pieces
- 20 bug pieces (with 1-5 bugs)
- Chord “cheat sheet” for both keyboard and staff
- How to Teach chords
- Chameleon Chords success poster
- Chameleon Chords activity sheet in US Letter size and A4 size
- Bonus Chameleon Chords group game board (18 x 24”)
- Print release
Get Chameleon Chords music theory game here.
How to Play Chameleon Chords Music Theory Game
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
- 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 Chameleon Chords on YouTube here.
Play Chameleon Chords in Group Lessons
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 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.
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?
Chameleon Chords was Music Game Club’s June 2023 membership music theory game. Anyone can now get Chameleon Chords in the shop here.
Games like Chameleon Chords 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
The membership is only $15/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 the first of every month to see what new game you will thrill them with!
Not to mention, getting Chameleon Chords via the membership is the cheapest it will ever be! Once it goes in Music Game Club’s shop, Chameleon Chords will be priced higher.
>>> Sign up for Music Game Club Membership here
Comment and share!
How do you teach chords to piano students? Have you ever been to the desert? If so, what desert area?
Let us know in the comments below.
Don’t forget to get your free download!
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