Introduction
Imagine this: Your students enter your classroom. They make their way to their keyboards and take out their piano book. They put their headphones on and spend the period practicing the piece you’ve assigned them that day. Then, at the end of class, they turn their keyboards off and leave the room. You’ll see them again tomorrow when they will do the same thing. On the positive side of things, this sounds like an efficient and potentially productive lesson for your students. However, it also brings to mind a question: How long does it take for a routine to turn into a rut?
In my experience, too many days in a row with the same class structure can have negative learning outcomes for my students. They start to lose interest in the material and their motivation goes down, causing them to be less productive. One way to help break them out of this rut is to plan some activities away from the piano. As counterintuitive as this may seem, doing a quick activity away from the piano can actually make them better pianists. It can sometimes give them a burst of energy. It can also help them focus on a specific skill which they can then take back to the piano for their next practice session.
So in this blog article, I thought I would give you some ideas of activities you can do with your students away from the piano that will make them better pianists! This will certainly not be an exhaustive list, rather a jumping off point for you to explore in your own classroom.
Rhythm
Clapping
Any time you are introducing a piece of music with a tricky rhythm, this is a good time to isolate that rhythm by asking the whole class to clap it together. Or, if the rhythm is different in each hand, you can have students tap on the fall board of the instrument. This is also a good opportunity for a turn and talk. Ask students to work out the rhythm in groups of two or three. Then clap the rhythm as a class as a way for students to check if they were correct.
Classroom Percussion
Borrowing this concept from general music classes, you can ask your students to play rhythm exercises on classroom percussion instruments. Don’t have access to classroom percussion instruments? Use found percussion around your classroom! You can create or use rhythm exercises that are in 3 or 4 parts to make it more challenging for your students. Since pianists are often playing different rhythms in each hand, getting students used to hearing multiple rhythms happening at the same time is a great way to prepare your students for rhythms they will play soon.
Technique
Tension Release Exercises
A common technical problem beginner pianists face is holding too much tension in a part of their hand. Do you have students who curl their pinky and ring finger, or students who play with a locked wrist? Both of these issues occur because they’re holding excess tension in their hands. One way to start to fix this problem is to get students used to the sensation of releasing tension. Here are a few exercises I use to help them experience this. Most of the time, I like to have my students stand in a circle when doing these exercises.
Ask students to shrug their shoulders up tight, then drop them.
Ask students to swing their arms loosely at their sides. Then have them curl their hands into fists (adding tension) then uncurl them (removing tension).
Partner Activity: Ask person A to put their hand out in front of them. Ask person B to place their wrist on top of person A’s arm. Then ask person A to drop their arm suddenly without telling person B before they do so. If person B has a lot of tension in their wrist, their arm won’t fall down. If they are relaxed, their arm will drop when person A takes their arm away. This is a good visualization of tension (or lack of tension).
One-Finger Technique and Fingering Patterns
In The Piano Laboratory students first play by using ‘One-finger Technique’. This motion, and other hand motions or fingering patterns such as scale fingerings can be practiced on a desk, or on the fallboard of the instrument. Asking students to practice these motions away from the piano allows students to focus only on the motion itself. As soon as students attempt a technique or fingering pattern at the keyboard, they have to focus not just on the motion, but also on the pitch, timbre, and dynamics of the instrument. After isolating the motion away from the piano, you may find students return to the piano with stronger technique.
Theory
Flash Cards
What theory concepts do you wish your students knew just a little better? For my beginners it’s recognizing letter names on the staff. For my intermediate students it’s interval and chord names. Create flash cards students can use to quiz each other. You can also create a matching game where some flash cards have a music problem and others have the answer to the problem. Mix them up and lay them out in a grid pattern. Students have to take turns turning over pairs until they find a match.
Whole Group Instruction
Teaching music theory concepts is also a great time for whole group instruction. Teaching these concepts in a large group is more efficient and gives students a sense of classroom community. If your space allows for it, this is also a good opportunity to ask students to move to a desk or music stand.
Listening
Writing and Critical Thinking Questions
As a part of their piano education, ask students to listen to piano music and think critically about what they hear. Take 10 minutes at the start or end of class and play a recording of a piece of piano music (or non piano music). Ask students a critical thinking question about what they hear. Some examples of critical thinking questions I’ve asked students in my classroom are: Describe the dynamics of this piece of music. How many times do you hear this motif? If this song was telling a story, what story do you think it would be telling? This is a great way to include not only responding music standards, but also any writing requirements your district may ask you to do in your class.
Movement and Manipulatives
Alternatively, instead of asking students to answer a written question in response to a piece of music, ask them to show their understanding through movement, or through moving physical objects. For example, instead of asking students to describe the dynamics in writing, ask students to stand at one end of the classroom. As the dynamics get louder, ask them to take a step toward the other side of the room.
Another thing that my students really enjoy is using manipulatives. I find that form listening assignments work best with this. I have laminated squares with letters like A and B on them. As students listen to a piece, they organize the squares in the same order as the form of the music.
Classroom Performances
Depending on the comfort level of your students, asking students to perform for each other is a great way to get students interacting and expand how they think about the music they hear. Students can take turns giving each other compliments, comments, or critique.