Music Dice

In the fall of 2012 I received my first shipment of music dice and have been so excited to use these and sell these at The Practice Shoppe.  I saw a version of them online, but couldn't purchase them and thought they were a fun addition to teaching music.  I had a group of parents and teachers play with these dice for a few weeks and then asked for some ideas on how to use them.  Here are some of these ideas:

Musical Notes Dice:  These dice are notes in the pentatonic scale.  The pentatonic scales is the basis of most of American folk music and combined together can create very musical tunes.  I've used the C pentatonic scale for these dice because they are the easiest to play on the piano (C, D, E, G, A, and C).

• Use these dice to randomly create a melody.  Roll one die several times or use 4, 5 or 6 and see what melody you come up with.  Use this with the rhythm dice, or create your own rhythm to come up with a basic theme.  Then you can elaborate on that theme by repeating it, adding notes, changing the rhythm, creating variations, etc.  This could be the very basic start to composing a piece.  
• Roll the dice and name the notes.  This would be similar to using flashcards, but it would reinforce only these 6 notes.
• Use the die to determine how many places that note can be played on the instrument - and then how many octaves could be found with the same note.
• These dice would be good for deciding which scale to play in a group setting.  Or, it could be the starting note of an easy piece - to help with transposing on the instrument.
• "Play it, don't say it."  Roll the die and play the note on the instrument instead of saying it.  The dice adds a dimension of tactile learning that flashcards don't have.  This is great for the "hands-on" learner.
• For violin students, roll the die and use that note as the starting note using 1st finger (playing in different positions) of a scale or piece.

What are some ideas?  I'd love your comments!

You can purchase these dice exclusively from The Practice Shoppe at this link.