Most teachers will agree that a teen’s piano education isn’t complete without a thorough exploration of music history. But inspiring teen students to look into Liszt or mull over Mozart when they would rather be checking out videos of Drake or Cardi B can be an uphill battle.
But as you know… Trevor and I love a good challenge.
So, today we’re sharing some cool music history playing cards that will have your students researching the piano pieces you wish they’d recognize and appreciate.
Make Music Meaningful With Music History Trading Cards
In the past we’ve shared composer trading cards for younger kids. They were a major hit and inspired us to create something that would be just as popular for teen piano students!
The first set of Music History Trading Cards are inspired by the music of Mozart. While the set will work well as a standalone resource, it works even better when paired with our piano book, The Amadeus Anthems: Classical Pop Piano Solos.
The Amadeus Anthems, available on Amazon, is a pop-infused tribute to the music of Mozart. Whether you use the repertoire to ignite a passion for piano or as a jumping-off point for exploring the classics, The Amadeus Anthems will inspire the next generation of piano students.
How To Use Our Music History Trading Cards
The printable set we’re sharing today contains seven cards for seven famous pieces composed by Mozart. We have also included two blank cards for additional pieces you may want your students to explore.
To get started with the cards, download and print the set found here (or click on the image below) and then give your teen piano students plastic, hole-punched trading card page protectors to put in their binders. Next, when it’s time to explore a new work or piece, send your students home with the corresponding card and have them complete the statistics information on the back.
Completing Card Backs:
To complete the backs of the cards your students must use the internet to find the relevant information. Specifically, they will need to find the date when the piece (or work) was composed and one interesting fact about the piece. They will also need to watch a performance of the piece (on a site like YouTube) and record the performer’s name in their chosen video (this encourages them to make good choices about which performances they choose to view – you can even fill in the name yourself if you have a specific video performance you’d like them to watch).
When your students return the following week, read their completed “homework” on the back of their music history playing cards and discuss what they discovered about their assigned pieces. And, if you have The Amadeus Anthems you can then delve into learning the pop rendition of their researched piece!
Looking For More Teen Music?
The Amadeus Anthems is part of our teen music collection. You can listen to samples from our teen collections below. If it sounds like music your teens will love, visit Amazon to get The Amadeus Anthems, The Chopin Sessions and The Beethoven Sessions! *Great news for Australian teachers… our books are now available on Amazon.com.au with free international prime shipping!
Michele says
Brilliant! Thanks so much for helping to capture excitement surrounding good music.
Linda H. says
This will be great! I’m so glad you are creating all these things for teens! Thank you!
Susan Thornton says
Thanks for these motivating ideas! When you plan the next book in the series, may I suggest Clara Schumann?
Again, thanks for the resources!
Jennifer Thompson says
Will you be making more sets like this? My students love these, and I have started giving my teens the wunderkeys composers in the meantime, but I’d love to see more composers with this art style!
Andrea says
Hi Jennifer! Yes, we’ll definitely have a Beethoven and a Chopin set to go along with the books we have. We’re having more artwork created as we produce these books (it’s quite expensive to commission custom artwork) but we do hope to expand the collections!