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Flashcards
I was organizing my teaching basket and realized that I had lots of different sizes of flashcards. Which made it hard to keep track of everything and store them. So I redid my music alphabet cards, A scale cards, fingerboard ID, and treble clef first position flash cards. Now they are all the same size and fit my storage containers. Music Alphabet Flashcards or A Scale Flashcards You can do the same activities with either the music alphabet flashcards or the A scale flashcards. You can read more about some group class activities with these cards here. But these cards are great for saying the alphabet forwards and backwards. First,…
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I Spy Rests Notes and Clefs
I Spy is a worksheet to help students identify rests, notes and clefs by their name. How many times have students heard you refer to it in lessons, but then when you ask them what it’s called you get a blank stare? In the lesson I’ve started asking them to repeat the word or read the definition out loud. I’ll often ask a question where they have to answer with the term. Students might understand the concept but not know what it’s called. I find this to be especially true of rests. They often call it a “rest.” I’ll ask what kind of rest…. that’s when the sheepish grin happens….…
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Thanksgiving Violin Note Names
It's November! Here is a thanksgiving note naming worksheet for violin. Do you have students traveling over the holidays and can't take their instrument? Here's a way to keep violin note reading up over the break.
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Spot It!
Here is a new game, Spot It! to help students with terms. My students have struggled recently with knowing what the symbol is actually called. They know what does but the actual term often eludes them. So here’s a game to help them brush up on those terms. Based on the game in the U.S.A. known as Spot It, but in other countries as Dobble. Students have to find the symbol on their card that matches the card in the middle and say the name of the symbol. This version uses basic symbols for all music reading. So this version of Spot It is not string player specific. Download Spot…
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Great Composers Note Reading Worksheet – Florence Price
With February as Black history month, there are more and more resources that are being produced to help teachers and students explore this part of music history . Here is a Great Composers Note Reading Worksheet on the American female composer, Florence Price. While Florence Price’s music is too advanced for the beginner. Here is note reading worksheet to introduce her name and a little bit about her for the student working on identifying note names. The violin worksheet covers notes on the A and E strings. The viola and cello worksheets cover pitches on the D and A strings. For the teacher using this in an orchestra setting, the…
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How To Draw a Bass Clef
Here is a worksheet for kids to learn how to draw a bass clef. I think the bass clef is the easiest of all the clefs to learn to draw. The important part to remember is where the dots go, and that the bottom of the half of the heart doesn’t touch the bottom line. I also like teaching bass clef because it reinforces where bass F is. The large dot is an easy visual reminder and marker to help them remember F! Here are a couple of talking points when you are introducing bass clef to violin students. What does bass mean? How do you pronounce bass? (It’s not like…
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Treble Clef Flashcards for Violin
These treble clef flashcards for violin are the perfect tool to help your students who struggle with note reading. Just download and print. You will need to have printer that prints front and back. Or another option is to print out the odd numbered pages, then put the pages back in the printer and print the even numbered pages. If you are like me, it always takes me a few tries to get the paper direction and feed correct. So you may want to do a couple test pages. I also like to use card stock when printing flashcards for students. The thicker paper prevents them from seeing the answer…
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Quarter Note and Half Note Worksheet
Here is a quarter note and half note worksheet. Students help Farmer McDonald get his pigs into the correct barns. They will need to be able to recognize what a quarter note looks like and that it receives one beat. They also need to know what a half note looks like and that it gets 2 beats. It is a straightforward worksheet and it will probably be pretty quick for them to complete. So, why even take the time? First, it is an activity away from the instrument. Sometimes I like to do these quick worksheets in a lesson. I don’t want to use too much lesson time but I…
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Violin Staff Note Flashcards
Go bowling with these violin staff note flashcards. These notes are all in first position. And they are for the beginning finger pattern taught in Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in Suzuki Book 1. You can print them out by string. Cut the cards out along the dotted lines. Yes! Cut the staff note flashcards in half along the dotted line. Your student will then match the bowling ball with the bowling pin. Find all the pairs by matching the card halves. This means matching the letter with the note on the bowling pin. Each bowling pin shows one note using the treble clef in first position. Print out all the…
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The Story of The Nutcracker in Music Notes
This is the story of The Nutcracker, the most famous ballet of all time, in music notes. Just a few facts about what was happening in Tchaikovsky’s life while he was writing the music for this ballet. Many have a family tradition of going to a performance of the Nutcracker every year. While this year might be a little different, thanks to technology we can still access and enjoy the music we have come to love at Christmas. Tchaikovsky based the story on E.T.A. Hoffman’s fantasy story, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. The BBC has a dramatized recording of this story. There are other audio books and dramatized recordings that you can…
