Every time I pull out an improv activity, my piano kids won’t let me do anything else for the rest of the lesson. Their enthusiasm is contagious, as their creativity and confidence bubbles over.
Even my “tough customers” will crack a smile and participate excitedly.
And while my students and I certainly have many other activities and tasks to cover over the course of a lesson, I’m okay with improvising taking centre stage if it means that my kiddos will go racing out my studio door, spilling over with enthusiasm. Because… hey… who wouldn’t want that?!
A Valentine’s Day Improv Activity For Your Piano Kids
‘Tis the season of love, and today’s improv activity will help you instil a love for improvising as you and your students create a beautiful and flowing improvised duet. During this activity your students will experiment with different rhythmic and melodic combinations on the black keys, while you will provide the accompaniment using a simple chord pattern in Gb Major (a suggestion for the music is below). Here’s how it works…
Step 1
Print and cut out the Valentine’s Day Improv Cards found here. They are designed to be printed double-sided (although this is optional).
Step 2
Practice saying each phrase while clapping the rhythms. Then have your students do the same, while playing the rhythms on any one black key.
Step 3
Ask your students to select their two favorite cards and place them on the piano.
Step 4
Begin playing this accompaniment (or one of your own creation if you prefer). You can print the sheet music here.
Step 5
With their fingers on a group of three black keys, have your students find melodies to match the two different rhythms. They can repeat the rhythms and melodies several times, alternating between the two… any combination is fine. They’ll be using their “made up melodies” (any combination of black keys matched to their chosen rhythms) for the duration of the duet.
Step 6
Once your students are comfortable using two cards, repeat this activity using two different cards. Then, repeat using four Valentine’s Improv Cards. Next, encourage them to embellish, explore their own rhythms, include other black keys… and have fun!
Add This To Your Improv Collection Too!
Our latest PianoBookClub.com book “The Unfortunate Appetite of Improv Alister” is the perfect starting point for students who are excited by improvising. Your students will love the hilarious story, the motivating music, and the familiar structure of repertoire paired with the freedom of improv! Grab this book before it’s retired on February 26th by clicking here.
I am SO excited to see this. This was one of my FAVORITE activities during Halloween. I loved seeing my students who are improv “shy” really take off with this activity, it’s just so valuable! Love it and love you guys, you have brought the joy back to teaching for me….and the joy back to learning for my students. Thank you!
Awesome Janelle! We’ll have to do an Easter one too to set you up for all the holidays 😉
You guys are AWESOME, thanks for sharing!
Happy you’ll be using it Tina! I’ve had it in lessons for a few days now and my kiddos loved it – it’s so nice when something is set up so they can’t “make a mistake” – their creativity really flourishes 🙂
All I can say is you guys are geniuses! This looks like so much fun I can hardly wait to try it out!! (I still am having trouble fitting everything into a half hour lesson though!)
Hi Maureen – a good problem to have! Too much learning and too much fun 🙂 Once I learned how to let myself be “okay” with subbing in different learning activities during lesson time instead of the same routine each week then I felt much more free in terms of time (and my students certainly haven’t suffered for it). We did blog about this: https://www.teachpianotoday.com/2013/09/26/who-made-the-piano-method-book-rule/ AND https://www.teachpianotoday.com/2014/08/27/30-minutes-of-shock-and-awe-the-piano-teacher-trap-youll-want-to-avoid/
Christmas one was the first time I tried this and I loved it as much as my kidlets did! Thanks for a Valentine’s themed one! Adding it to the lessons right now 😀
Great to hear Benita! 🙂
only sad thing is that this is posted today and my earlier in the week students missed it! thanks for the great activity! tomorrow this will put smiles on a number of faces! win! win!
Katrina – if you don’t print the card back’s it’s a “love song” that can be created at any point in the year 😉
First Halloween improv, then Christmas, and now Valentine’s. We even got our parents involved at our Christmas class recitals and everyone had a great time! These have been my favorite resources from you so far–thank you!
That’s so fun Marie! Great idea to involve parents 🙂
Hi Andrea and Trevor, I used this yesterday with two afternoon students and it was fantastic. It sparked creativity in one student she had not worked on during lessons with me yet and helped her work on rhythms as she is brand new to piano this term. Fun, and the accompaniment sounds so good! Thanks for this super fun activity! Sincerely, Paula, Vic, BC
Awesome Paula! I love those “aha moments” like she had – it’s my favorite part of teaching.
Thank you so much Andrea and Trevor for your enthusiasm and encouragement to make each my lesson interesting, full of fun and same time full of knowledge!!! love your ideas, games and advises!!!
My students will love this improvisation cards, and previous “Puppy Love” game!!!!
Genius!
I also was thrilled to see this idea. My students LOVED the Halloween improv activity. This is the first time I’ve left a comment, but I so appreciate all of the wonderful ideas you come up with. I feel like I’ve been able to become a much more fun and prepared teacher because of all of the work you do for me. I just bought Fearless Fortissimo and am super excited to have some of my boy students start using it this week. Thanks for making piano fun!
Hi Kristy! Thanks for commenting 🙂 So glad you’ll have fun with this improv activity (and glad to hear you’re excited about Fearless Fortissimo!)
This was so much fun. Also I just printed my piano for boys and the boys are super excited. We played the first song today. My daughter loved it too. She is begging me to order the next one.
Thank you for these quick and easy “bursts of fun” for our lesson planning! Cannot wait to spoil my pupils with a valentines themed week of lessons. Really appreciate it! Love from Toni, Cape Town, South Africa.