Here’s a game that I use with my piano students that is always fun to play! All you need are two tokens of some sort (I use game pieces) and letter cards (A-G, including sharps and flats if you wish). Well… and a keyboard of some sort 😉
This game is ideal for teaching note identification on the keyboard, but can be used to teach sharps/flats as well as reading notes on the staff.
The Rules:
1. Each player (usually myself and the student) places their game piece at opposite ends of the keyboard.
2. Each player takes turns drawing a card and moving their piece to the letter/note drawn. (i.e. If the card chosen is A#, the player moves their piece to the nearest A#)
3. The first person to middle C wins!
Pretty simple! And very effective at practicing note identification on the keyboard. But wait there’s more! There are adaptations you can use as well!
– Use notated flash cards with the notes on the staff rather than letter cards for more advanced students
– Instead of racing to middle C, race from one end of the keyboard to the next to make the game longer
– Sometimes I will change the direction the game piece moves depending on if a sharp or flat is drawn (sharps move up to the nearest note, flats move down to the nearest note). This also drills in the concept of raising sharps and lowering flats.
So have fun with it! Games are a great way to get students motivated and learning. I use this game quite often with my newer piano students and they all have a great time and often ask to play again at their next lesson 🙂
