We practiced notes on the staff this week with this method, but you can use it to drill anything you have a set of flashcards for.
What You Need
- Set of flashcards
- Timer
- Blocks or Legos or any other building toy (optional)
Setup
- None
How to Play
- Set the timer. I chose a 30 second time limit.
- While the timer is running, flip the cards for the student one at a time. When the timer goes off, count the number of cards answered correctly.
- If you are using the blocks, they’ve earned that number of blocks to begin building whatever they want.
- Some of my students are old enough to feel that blocks are beneath them. That’s fine.
- I only give them a short time to build, so I discourage risky building strategies. If it falls, we go on anyway. They’ll have another opportunity later.
- Set the timer again. The point on the second round is to see if you can beat your first score. Whether they do or not, they can add that many blocks to their structure.
- Repeat as many times as you want.
Variations
- To make it easier, limit the flashcards. For example, use only C position notes or only bass clef notes.
- To make it harder, add more flashcards into the stack. If you’re drilling notes, require them to both name the note and play it on the piano.
Lori Davis Studio 