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GDAE String Game
This giant wall hanging is a great addition to my music studio. I came up with the concept, and as I am not a brilliant sewer, my mother-in-law stepped in to do the sewing for me. It is made of felt, we found stiffer black felt to use as the dots (‘fingers’) and put velcro on […]
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Scales just a throw away…
We all know how tiresome it is to play exam scales over and over again. We also know they’re “good for us” but that’s what my mother told me about eating brussel sprouts! How do we keep our students motivated to keep playing their scales? For the lower level grades, write the scales up on a die. The […]
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Giant Floor Flash Cards – Beginner Violin
How to get those poor confused beginners to learn the symbols for Up bow, Down Bow, Crotchet, Minim, Semibreve, Quaver and Treble Clef. I play this game sometime in the first few lessons with my beginners. It also gives them a chance to put their violin down and shake their tired arms out. The idea is […]
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Violin Flash Cards
Some basic flash cards to print out on coloured cardstock and laminate if you wish. They are all the first position notes on the violin. There are so many games you can play with flash cards. Print out two copies and play Snap or Concentration (Memory), team relevant ones up with the Mad Fingerboard Dash […]
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What a Commotion, Emotion!
If you have young players, I find it best to have a visual to go with an emotion, so they know how to play something. I have no idea where I picked these up from and I’m sure I had more, but this was all I could find on my computer. No doubt you could […]
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Pass The Musical Parcel
I like to hold a group activity for my students at the end of the year. One year we played well known party games with a musical twist. This was one of the games we played and let me tell you, the kids had SO much fun, especially with the group singing part! Pass the […]
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It’s all about the movement…
Ever had a student who is just really stiff? Stands there and looks incredibly uncomfortable whilst holding the violin? This is a good activity to get them to loosen up. After all, we are encouraged to be relaxed when playing the violin to avoid injury so for those ‘stiff’ students, this is fantastic. I also […]
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Mad Fingerboard Dash
In an effort to make sure my students know their notes and not just “that’s first finger A” or “third finger D”, I came up with the Mad Fingerboard Dash. How to play:- Set up the Fingerboard Dash letter names on a table top, blue tack to the wall or lay on the floor. Hold […]
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Violin Skittle Game
After finding a fabulous “Skittles Board Game” from Susan Paradis’ website with a piano game board and playing cards, I realised that it would work very well for violin students. You need:- A violin fingerboard game board for each player A set of playing cards A packet of skittles How to play: Give each player […]
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Musical Adjectives
When you have a scale, exercise or piece that is necessary to play but just so boring, try a few of these to brighten things up. I have my students choose up to three cards if they have an exercise to play, and we will play it three times through to a different adjective each time. Musical […]
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