A Teen Piano Game To Improve Knowledge of Relative Major And Minor Keys

We teach theory concepts (like relative major and minor keys) to our piano students so they can master repertoire quickly, gain a deeper understanding of their pieces, and improve fluency.

These three goals become more apparent as your students move from elementary repertoire into intermediate repertoire.

With this transition comes key signatures and the need to understand relative major and minor keys.

Knowledge of these closely-related keys will assist your teens as they venture into improvisation and composition and explore the structure of the music they play. Often pieces will change key to the relative major or minor key or will use substituted chords from each.

If a teen piano student can instantly name the key of a piece and identify its relative major or minor, they will have a deeper understanding of the overall structure of their piece and will have improved fluency as they recall the fingering patterns and hand shapes inherent to the key.

A fun way to commit relative keys to memory is through game-based learning.

Today we’re sharing a printable game for your teens that will help them memorize the relative minor keys of six major keys.

Reinforcing Relative Keys With Game Play

Today’s game is easy to set up and fun to play. It exercises those “memorization muscles” and provides enough repetition for your piano students to drill their knowledge of relative keys without being the slightest bit boring.

During lessons, your teen piano students do not have many opportunities to take a break from the piano bench. However, for their brains to function and stay focused, they need regular activity changes which function similarly to breaks.

For this reason, you should seize every opportunity to play piano games with your teens. Games are not just for little kids. Teens love games. And when those games reinforce something as important as relative major and minor keys, it doesn’t get any better than that.

Before You Download Today’s Teen Piano Game

Today’s teen piano resource can be used as a standalone activity or in coordination with our WunderKeys Intermediate Pop Studies series (available on Amazon).

This series is jam-packed with scale practice piano solos, lead sheet triad training, chord-focused sight reading, lap tap clap rhythm training, and left-hand pattern improv practice.

Click here to learn about WunderKeys Intermediate Pop Studies For Piano 1.

Click here to learn about An Intermediate Performance Companion For Pop Studies 1.

Game Instructions And Printable Download

Today’s printable pack includes a game board and a set of playing cards. To begin, print and cut out the game board and the playing cards. Next, follow along with the included instructions to reinforce relative major and minor keys with your teen piano players.

Click here or on the image below to download the printable game pack.