Music in Practice

I recently discovered a great website www.musicinpractice.com.  This is by a teacher who has really put some thought into some of her products and ideas.  She has great motivational articles - some of which I really want to use in some of the SAU publications.

You can receive this free set of practicing games by e-mail if you visit her website.  Here I have printed everything out, laminated it, and cut it.  Now I have a lovely set of practicing cards that I can use in many different ways.  Half of them have different things a child can do or say that just break up practicing and make it fun.

There are some blank cards where you can write in different practicing pieces or points with a dry-erase or wet-erase marker.

Some of the blank ones have stars.  When playing this game at my group lesson the one with a star had to be a solo by the person who picked it.

Some of the blank ones have a treasure chest.  Perhaps there could be some sort of surprise if the child gets a treasure chest.  In my group class, I was giving out Bach Bucks to people who chose a card with a treasure chest.

Sue, the author of the website and creator of these great cards, has six different practice suggestions on how to use these cards.  This is how I used them in group lessons for my Book 1 students, but this could easily be adapted to private practice or lessons as well.  I put the cards in a circle, face down.  We started with the first one and played that piece.

    

The kids then took turns rolling the dice and moving our little Panda around the board and turning over a card.  We did this for half of the group lesson and the kids loved taking turns rolling the die, playing the songs, and doing the activities.  It was a fun group lesson and would be a fun practice idea as well!