Comprehensive List
I've added more music dice to The Practice Shoppe and now I can see it can be overwhelming to know the differences between all the dice, so hopefully I can outline all my dice here in a blog or two as well as give you some ideas on how to use them during practicing and teaching.
First of all, there are two sizes, 16 mm - which is a standard size dice. I also have 25 mm - which is larger and can fit more details but is also more expensive.
Here is a list of all the 16 mm. dice I have in stock today (I've colored all the rhythm dice to make them easily distinguishable) in a basic order of simple to more complex:
Light Green Rhythm Dice
Super basic, just beamed eighth notes, quarter notes and quarter rests. Get a bunch of these and have the little beginners start clapping and counting.
Brown Rhythm Dice
The basic rhythms above with added half note, dotted half note, and whole note.
This is a great die for playing games where the kids don't have to know fractions like "Roll 100" and "Rhythm Race" I also play "Shut the Box" and "Rhythm Chemistry" with these dice.
Blue Rhythm Dice
These are the first rhythms I teach my beginners out of the book Rhythm Train. They are also the rhythms learned with Let's Play Music. Great for composing and counting.
Orange Rhythm Dice
Start learning how to count the eighth note and eighth rest. These dice are harder to use for composing with beginners because the eighth note and eighth rest add some half beats. But a "Rhythm Race" game is perfect to start introducing the half beat.
Magenta Rhythm Dice
These dice have everything from the eighth note to the whole note, with the fractional notes (eighth note and dotted quarter note.) This is a great die for identifying different types of notes playing the game "Roll 10." It's also a great "Tic Tac Toe" and "Bingo" die.
Purple One Beat Rhythm Dice
I love using these dice for composing because the rhythms are variable, but each side is only one beat. This way you can easily fill measures and learn the tricky dotted eighth-note rhythms.
Red Rhythm Dice
This is very similar to the magenta dice but it adds a sixteenth note (and eliminates the dotted quarter note.) I love to use these dice to play the game "Musical War." It's also a more complex "Rhythm Race" game dice, dividing the beat into 4ths with the sixteenth note.
Green Rest Dice
This dice mirrors the red rhythm dice but with rests. This would make the game "Musical War" more complex. One person plays with the red, one with the green. You could also play "Musical War" with only the green dice. This is a great die for identifying all the different kinds of rests.
Blue Rest Dice
Here is another super basic dice with only a quarter rest, half rest, and whole rest duplicated.
Light Green Rest Dice
This die is on clearance and won't be around much longer. It is pretty much the same as the green rest die above, but it has a 32nd rest (and no dotted half rest.)
Lavender Dotted Quarter Rhythm Dice
These next few dice are great to use when learning and teaching about the time signatures 3/8, 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8.
Light Pink Dotted Quarter Rhythm Dice
Gray Dotted Quarter Rhythm Dice
Roman Numeral Chord Dice
This has been one of my ideas for a long time and they are brand new so I haven't played with them much. I hope to use these to initiate composing and a discussion on the basic chord progressions.
Accidentals Dice
Pair these dice with the Lines and Spaces dice to learn the names and locations of all the notes on the staff.
CGDAE Dice
I initially got these dice to roll to determine which string to play a finger pattern on with my students. But, I also realized after I've played with these that they are the first five keys on the circle of 5ths and also the notes in the C major pentatonic scale which is really fun to compose with.
Dynamics Dice
Here is another dice to use with the game "Roll 10" to teach students how to identify the different dynamic symbols. It's also fun to roll and play a passage with whatever dynamic that is rolled.
Clefs Dice
Test your knowledge of all these clefs when you pair these dice with the Lines and Spaces dice. Can you roll and name the note?
Intervals Dice
I originally made these dice to help teach intervals on the violin or piano. It's also fun to play and practice whatever measure you roll (4th measure, 6th measure, etc.)
