It’s that time of year again… the time when you start rooting around in your basement for your box of Halloween piano teaching fun!
I’ve already sent a truckload of materials off to the printer in preparation for a very exciting October.
But if you’re a little thin on Halloween teaching activities, don’t despair! Today we’re sharing a Halloween Improv Activity for young students that is great for reinforcing rhythm and teaching your kids to be creative on the keys.
But be forewarned… if you pull this out at the beginning of a piano lesson your students are likely to not let you do anything else for the next 30 minutes!
A Halloween Improv Activity For Your Young Piano Students
Our Halloween Improv Activity will have you and your young piano students playing a fantastically fun “improvised duet” with a good dose of “spooky”.
While your students experiment with creative rhythms and a simple melody, you’ll be providing the haunting accompaniment using a simple repeating chord pattern in the key of C Minor ( a suggestion for the music is below).
So here’s how it all goes down:
Step 1:
Print and cut out the Halloween Improv Cards found here.
Step 2:
Practice simultaneously saying the words and clapping the corresponding rhythms with your student. Then, have your student practice simultaneously saying the words and playing the rhythms on a single piano key.
Step 3:
Have your student place her hands in the C Minor 5-finger position. Using only her 1, 2, and 3 Fingers have your student play each of the different rhythms using any combination of these 3 keys (C, D and Eb).
Step 4:
Ready to turn this into a haunting duet? Have your piano student choose two Halloween Improv Cards (either at random, or her favourites) and place them on the piano.
Step 5:
Play the following accompaniment over and over… and over.
Step 6:
With her hands in C Minor position and using only C, D and Eb, have your student find a melodies to match the two rhythms on the Halloween Improv Cards over and over along with you. She’ll be using her “made-up melodies” – any combinations of those 3 notes as you play the duet together.
Step 7:
Once your student can comfortably do Sept 6, then repeat this activity using two different Halloween Improv Cards. Repeat this activity using four different Halloween Improv Cards… embellish, change it up and have fun with improv!
Add This To Your Halloween Collection Too!
Our latest release from PianoBookClub, The Rhythmic Haunting of Ruby Wrigglesworth, is the perfect resource for reinforcing rhythm during the month of October.
But it won’t be around for long! If you sign up for a PianoBookClub subscription before tomorrow night (September 26, 2015) it will be the first monthly book you receive! To learn more check out PianoBookClub.com.
