It is super easy to get excited about new music games, print & laminate away, then never use them because we don’t have a good system to organize music games.
I’m sure you’ve been there before.
You have a student frustrated with a music theory concept, and you know a music game will help … but you can’t find it easily?
Or maybe you know you have the perfect rhythm game … but you don’t remember what it’s called, who created it, or where you bought it.
Or you have spent hundreds of dollars on music games and never get around to printing and using them?
Organizing music games isn’t the most savvy of jobs, but it will save you time, frustration, and energy and will help you get back to making your music lessons unforgettably fun.
My goal today is to give you some solid ideas for organizing your digital and physical music game library so you will never be frustrated trying to find the perfect game for your teaching week–and so you will ultimately save money in the long run by using the games you have rather than purchasing and never using them.
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Inspiration to Get You Started Organizing Music Games
In case you need some motivation to get you started with music game organization, here are some great quotes!
Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up. – A. A. Milne
A good system shortens the road to the goal. – Orison Swett Marden
Organization isn’t about perfection; it’s about efficiency, reducing stress and clutter, saving time and money and improving your overall quality of life. – Christina Scalise
Doesn’t that inspire you to get started with taking that hard step?
I hope so, because I’ve got some great tips for you!
1) Don’t organize music games retroactively
Yes, the first tip is negative: don’t.
The organization bug can bite the best of us.
We decide to get organized, roll up our sleeves, spend hours in one folder… and give up because there are dozens of games or folders left that are even more cluttered than this one.
So when you start thinking about organizing your games, do not think backward.
Just move forward from today.
Today, you will start organizing your music games and will keep your games organized.
And once you get a good organizational system in place, then you can start retroactively organizing.
But only then.
And remember: that is completely optional.
2) Create one place for music games on your computer & in your studio
Let’s start with your computer, because that’s usually where music games begin.
If you do just one thing, this is it.
Go to your computer (after you’re finished reading this blog post, of course ;)), create a new folder, label it “Music Games.”
And only have one game folder.
I promise, it will make your life easier.
You can even stop here if you’d like and if you dump every music game you get into this one folder, you are at least this organized.
But if you still think that’s too cluttered, you’ll want to do step #3 too.
For your studio, you can apply this same principle.
Have one shelf, cubby, or location where you will store all your printable games.
If you have music games in more than one location, then what steps do you need to take to consolidate them today? (yes, today!)
3) Organize Music Games with Sub-Folders in your Computer
Again, I will start with computer files.
Once you have your initial music game folder, create sub-folders with the general theme or educational purpose of the game.
Some of the sub-folders we have for our teaching games are:
If you have various types of games from the broad categories, you can then create sub-sub folders, like this:
- Rhythm games
- Simple rhythm games
- Compound rhythm games
Or, you can choose to organize them by levels
- Rhythm Games
- Beginning rhythm games
- Elementary rhythm games
- Intermediate rhythm games
- Advanced rhythm games
This type of organization will help you nail down exactly what you are looking for when you need it.
It also is extremely helpful to let you know what gaps you need to fill (don’t have any chord games? Now you know to be on the lookout for those specific games).
You can do this similarly with printed games, which takes me to my next tip.
4) Organize Music Games Once they’re Printed
Organizing your games digitally is only half the battle.
What if you’ve printed dozens of games?
Where do you keep those so that you don’t lose important parts?
Here are a few tips:
- Get a binder with page protectors
- Each flat-lay, card- or board-based game gets its own sleeve
- You can have a binder for each type of game (rhythm, note reading, etc.)
- Get a file folder system
- Each game goes in its own snap closure folder
- You can easily color coordinate so you can grab what you need at a glance by using colored folders or washi tape
- Use colors for levels
- Use colors for music theory concepts
- Get plastic storage containers
- For your larger games that have a lot of pieces (or maybe paper dice you don’t want smashed), get a cheap plastic storage container to store them in
- If you just have a few pieces that don’t need to get smashed (like our game tokens), you can put them in a small plastic container that will slip inside the sleeve of a page protector in your binder
Where to store these games once you have your system in place?
- Designate a game shelf or get a small bookshelf just for games
- Get a cute, square ottoman storage cube
- Get a plastic drawer stack just for games
- Use a rolling storage cart you can hide away in a closet when not in use
See how Rebekah stores her Music Game Club games at her personal studio here:
What’s mentioned in the video:
- Small plastic containers for game pieces
- Colored snap folders
- Rolling storage cart with drawers
- Large poster storage bags
5) Create a Game Challenge and use your Music Games!
Now that you have taken the steps to organize music games, have some fun!
Music games will only benefit your students if you actually play them.
So if you’ve been collecting games and haven’t found the time to play them, start a game challenge this month.
Print one game and play it every day this week.
Get your students’ feedback. Do they love it? Think it’s lame? Want to play it every week?
Keep notes of their impression of the music games and you can start rating your games (your computer files and game binders can start having folders with “5-star games” or “2-star games” if you’d like).
How do you Organize Music Games? Share your thoughts!
Are you a natural at organization or does it suck the life out of you? Will you be trying one of our tips? If so, which one?
Comment and share!
It is proven that those who actually write down something will be far more likely to see it through.
So, if you comment that you’re going to create a general game folder on your computer, you’ll be one of the few who actually read this article and do it!
Now, go create those music game folders!
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