Here are some different games you can use to make practicing fun. Some days it will ONLY be a game. Some days you won’t use a game at all. Keep these in your practice arsenal!
Mr. Chips
In this “chips” game, start with ten chips (pennies, marbles, some kind of token, or even potato chips!). You and your parent each get 5 chips. Set a goal. For example, keeping your thumb bent while playing a song or keeping a good violin posture for an entire piece.
If the child meets a goal, they take a chip from the parent. If they miss the goal, the parent gets a chip from the child. Keep playing until the child has all the chips.
Happy Birthday
Have your parent light a birthday candle, and your practice session lasts as long as the candle burns.
Hidden Treasure: Hot or Cold
With the parent out of the room, have the child hide something they use for music practice – rosin if your a violin player, guitar tuner, theory book, metronome or even a pencil! When the parent returns, the child will tell them what they’ve hid, but not where. The goal is for the parent to find the item. tell them what you hid. (But, don’t tell them where!!) Their goal will be to find the hidden item.
Here comes the hot or cold part: The child will start playing their lesson song (that’s the goal…but any song will do!) They will play loud when you’re close and soft if you’re father away and keep with this pattern until the parent finds the hidden treasure.
(This is a fun way to review pieces and to practice playing different dynamics!)
Five Pairs in a Row
Find five pairs of matching cards, like playing cards for example. The parent takes one set, the students the other. Parents line up each card on a table, or even the floor. Each time the child plays through a song successfully, they will match their card with their parents. Once all pairs are matched, the child wins the game!
If you don’t have as much time, you can always change the matching number to 3 instead of 5!u win the game when all five pairs are matched.
Quarters
(This is a game for piano students – however you may be able to adjust it for other students – example balancing something on a students head to maintain posture…. be creative!)
Quarters is derived from an old piano teacher’s trick, wherein a student must play with a coin balanced on the back of their hand to teach the hand to lay flat. This may sound difficult, but it’s not, and in fact kids find it fascinating! This is not only fun but can be extremely helpful to hand positioning in young players.
During practice time, if you’re child growing restless on their song – challenge them with this game! Say – “OK, you’ve played it once, but can you play it with a quarter on the back on your hand without it falling??
Yes, the quarter will drop on the floor. Yes, it will roll under the piano. Have several ready. Just laugh and continue. It’s worth 75 cents. 🙂
If it’s all right with the parents, give them the quarter for particularly good work. This game can lead to having kids put all kinds of things on their hands! It’s just fun.
***Be aware that some kids will raise their right shoulder to compensate for the coin, so gently push the shoulder down and say quietly, “Relax.”
Harry Potter – (great for siblings!)
Implement a ‘house’ system like the ones in the Harry Potter series.
You can assign each child to one of the Harry Potter houses like Slitheran or Griffindor, music names houses like Steinway or Stradivarius, or have them come up with their own.
Kids will earn points for their house by practicing. Now, your kids should be practicing anyway, this is a way to get them to practice on their own, or more than the “required” time. The rules are as such:
- 1 point per minute of practice from their weekly assignment
- 3 bonus points per session of practice
Parents must keep a chart/log that could be posted up on the wall or fridgerator of all the start/finish times for practice during each week. The goal is not to reach a specific number of points, but to see who gets the most over a certain period of time, a month for example.
The House with the most points at the end of the term will win the House Cup! – this can be a prize/reward you set at the beginning.
It’s important to monitor what you’re child is practicing! Playing their last recital piece 4 times in a row because it’s easy just to get points shouldn’t really count, which is why you want to only count minutes from what they are SUPPOSED to be working on. The goal is to progress! The kids will have fun, but they will also feel amazing from the accomplishments they’ll see in their own playing after all the extra practice
sources: http://pianobynumber.wordpress.com, http://stephanierailsback.com/information-for-students/music-practice-games, http://www.blitzbooks.com.au/Blog/EntryId/20/Harry-Potter-helps-students-practice.aspx