Skip to main content

Games to Help Children Learn Musical Notes

Children often learn best when education combines with entertainment. Several games involving music notes are available for children to play to increase their knowledge of music. Most gamed require two or more children. A few games require just one child. Learning music is great for teaching children to develop spatial reasoning.

Note Name Competition 


The note name competition is a game that involves two groups of students. Divide students into two groups; each group will select one student from each group to represent the team during each turn. The teacher will write the names of 12 pitches horizontally below the bottom of the musical staff. The students must not look while she is writing the pitches. When the students turn around, they have to write in the notes as quickly as possible. The first student that writes in all of the pitches correctly will win. The other student continues to write pitches until confirmed that the first student won.

Clef Games 


The clef game will initially teach the students the names of the notes on the staff. For the treble clef, have each student come up with an acronym for the names of the lines and spaces on the staff. One possible acronym is “Each Great Brain Dreams Fine.” Have the students come up with an acronym for both the bass and treble clef. The students may work in groups or by themselves. The group or individual with the most creative acronyms will win. To make this more entertaining, give the students construction paper, glue and markers to create presentations.

Bingo 


In Musical Bingo, the teacher creates enough cards for each student to have their own or share. Each card is a 4-by-4 matrix. The teacher must draw 16 pitches from the 18 available pitches between the bass and treble clef. Each box consists of a staff and a note. The children must place a token on a note whenever called. Four in a row wins and they should call out Bingo to have their answers checked. The teacher should call out pitches in this order: pitch name, clef type and line or space. For instance, “B is in the treble clef and on a line.”

Interval Game 


The interval game is for advanced students. Teach the students about the chromatic scale and instruct them on the difference between major, minor and perfect intervals. Do this by writing a complete chromatic scale on the board and then showing them the difference between a minor second and a major second. Continue to explain each interval. To play the game use two groups of students and ask them to name the note that is an interval above or below a note. For instance, give them the note A and ask for a perfect fifth above A. First student to get the answer right wins.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Why Claude Debussy Never Cared About Music Theory

  Claude Debussy was born on August 22, 1862. So, I felt writing a blog post to celebrate would be appropriate. Debussy was a revolutionary composer who challenged the conventions of Western music. He was influenced by the impressionist painters, the exotic sounds of gamelan music, and the symbolist poets. He created a musical language that was expressive, colorful, and atmospheric. One of the most remarkable aspects of Debussy's music is his use of harmony. He did not follow the rules of tonality and functional harmony that dominated the music of his time. Instead, he used modes, scales, chords, and parallel movements that created a sense of ambiguity and fluidity. He also experimented with timbre, texture, rhythm, and form to create musical images that evoked moods and emotions. Debussy's music can inspire us to think outside the box and explore new possibilities in our own compositions. We can learn from his innovative techniques and his artistic vision. We can also apprecia...

List of Musical Techniques and Their Meanings

Musical techniques are the building blocks of any basic music training. These techniques allow performers to improve their coordination and develop accuracy through repetitive daily exercises. Musical techniques progressively build upon previously learned techniques. Scales Scales form the basis for other musical techniques. Student may study major and minor scales as well as modern scales, such as the whole-tone and octatonic scales. A scale consists of patterns of half steps and whole steps. These whole steps and half-step arrangements will be different for each scale. Scales are musical techniques that can help a performer to play faster and more accurately, and make learning new pieces easier. Chords Chords require knowledge of major and minor scales. Chords come in several different forms that affect the sound. Triads consist of three notes spaced a third apart and classified as major, minor, augmented and diminished chords. Seventh chords build on triads and have an additional no...

Similarities of Classical and Baroque Music

Music has evolved through the centuries and undergone drastic changes. One of the most significant transitions was from the Baroque to the Classical period of music. In this paragraph, I will compare and contrast some of the main features of these two styles, such as ensembles, instrumentation, and counterpoint study. The Baroque and Classical periods of music have many similarities. While the style of music changed drastically, certain key elements remained the same between the two styles. Composers in the Classical period sought to simplify music and create clearly audible musical lines. In contrast, composers from the Baroque period were interested in creating complex and highly ornamented musical lines. The Baroque period occurs from approximately 1600 to 1750, and the Classical period extends from 1750 to 1820. Ensembles Ensembles are groups of musicians that perform together. Both the Baroque and the Classical period had similar types of ensembles, such as operas, orchestras, str...