ABC Music Games
Beginning music students need to learn several basics, including the various musical notes and how to understand what is on a piece of sheet music. There are several games to make the ABCs of music fun and memorable in a classroom or in individual music lessons. Turning basic music theory into a game will help make it more engaging and assist students in retaining information.
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Note Values
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One of the first things music students learn are specific notes (quarter, whole, half) and how long each note is held.
Work on note values on a chalkboard to combine basic music and math. Write down a number and have students draw a combination of different notes that add up to that number. Whole notes have a value of four. Half notes equal two and quarter notes are one. For instance, if you've written 7, a student can draw a whole note, a quarter note and a half note and be correct. They can also draw a different combination, like 3 half notes and 1 quarter note.
Work on note values as a class or individually by singing them. Play a note on a piano and call out whether you'd like to hear a whole note, half note or quarter note. Have students sing back the note with the correct number of beats.
Notes on a Staff
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Acronyms are a fun way to memorize the notes on a staff. For treble clef, the notes in between the lines are F-A-C-E which is easy to remember because it's a word! The notes on the lines are E-G-B-D-F, which is taught as several different acronyms. One popular phrase is "Every-Good-Boy-Does-Fine." Allow students to try to come up with their own memorable acronym to help them get a handle on the notes on a staff.
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Intervals
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Intervals are the distances between notes. Students should work on getting a sense of what each interval sounds like and how to play or sing them back.
For voice students, call off simple intervals like 1-3-1, or 1-3-5, and have students sing the respective notes.
For piano students, sing an interval and have students recreate it on the piano.
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References
- Photo Credit music notes image by cherie from Fotolia.com
