Circle of 5th's Clock

I love to create situations where my students "wonder" about something.  I had seen several circle of fifths clocks.  I loved the idea, but didn't want to spend the money.  There are lots of circle of fifths images available on Google, so I printed a copy of my favorite and Mod Podged it onto a circle of wood.  I added a clock mechanism that I bought at a craft store and had my own circle of fifths clock for under $7. 

The circle of fifths I chose, does not have as much information on it as I would like, but the image is interesting and it is a great way to introduce the concept.  I haven't made a big deal about the clock and have loved the shock on the kid's faces when they notice that it is not a "regular clock".

Golden Note Challenge

I am a huge believer in flashcards.  I set weekly personal goals with my beginning students and anyone who seems to be struggling with notes.  Each week we time how fast they can "say and play" their individualized pack of flashcards.  If they achieve their goal they earn a bag of skittles (kids will do anything for candy!  Like many other piano teachers, once a year I hold a studio wide flashcard challenge.  Here is my version.

The challenge lasts for 5 weeks.  There are three mastery levels.  At each mastery level, the student must say and play all the notes in that particular group of flashcards in 1 minute or less.  The mastery levels are as follows:

Blue Level - Bass C to Treble C
Silver Level - Bass F to Treble G
Gold - All of the note cards in the flashcard deck

I keep a chart on the piano, so the students can see each other's progress.  They earn foil stars for the following achievements -

C Position
Bass C to Treble C in 1 1/2 minutes
Bass C to Treble C in 1 minute - BLUE LEVEL
Bass F to Treble G in 1 1/2 minutes
Bass F to Treble G in 1 minute SILVER LEVEL
The Whole Deck 1 1/2 minutes
The Whole Deck 1 1/4 minutes
The Whole Deck 1 minute GOLD LEVEL
I also leave 3 spots for improved times in the Gold Level.  My older students love to try and beat each other's times!

Prizes - I am a big believer in candy as a motivator, but I wanted to offer something a little different with this challenge.  Each year I order wooden note cutouts off of ebay and crust them in glitter.  I simply mix polyurethane with glitter and gob the mixture onto the wooden notes.  Some years I am lucky and find year brads which I attach through a hole that I drilled into the note prior to the glitter crusting.  In addition to the note medals I also offer gift certificates.  There are three types of certificates available.  They are for skipping a song that you don't want to play, playing any song out of order from your book and a one time flashcard boost (to be used anytime through out the year, other than during the Golden Note Challenge).  Students who achieve the gold level get three certificates, silver gets two and blue gets one.  The certificates are very popular and they hoard them like gold. 

Note Recognition Tools

In the fall I run a 5 week flash card challenge in my studio. Each week the kids try to outdo their previous week's performance and are always excited to see how they measure up against the other students. Of course, I always have new students that start in the fall, who are not quite ready for flashcards when the challenge begins. They always look sadly at the chart and wonder why their names do not show up. This year I have created a category just for them.

Several years ago, I copied an idea from a brilliant teacher's blog to use half marbles labeled with a letter from the musical alphabet to aid with note recognition. The students race to see how quickly they can match the letters on the half marbles to the correct keys on the piano. On my previous set I stuck a circle sticker on the bottom of the half marble and hand wrote the letter. Sadly, my writing is not of the school teacher variety and some of my letters (G's) caused confusion. So I decided to borrow the half marble refrigerator magnet idea. I printed letters out on cardstock and using a glue runner, I attached them face up to the marble. The marble has a a cool magnifying glass effect on the letter (hard to see in the photos.) I made enough to cover the whole keyboard and then two octaves worth for each child to take home and practice with.

My beginning students will now race every week to see if they can beat their own time, placing the marbles on the piano.