3 rehearsal games that help students improve

 

Like many of you, I am preparing my students for a December concert.  I need students improving and learning during every rehearsal.  Sometimes I feel we repeat the same few measures over and over and some kids just take forever to get it!  This week, I started doing some rehearsal games and wowie wow...all those tricky measures magically improved.

1.  GOLF

I love this game because it's easy, requires no prep work, and it's super effective.  Choose measures you would like students to master.  Students get 3 attempts to play the measures correctly.  (We played the measures as a class...3 tries in a row).  Students get 1 point if they play correctly on their first try (Like a hole-in-one!), 2 points if it takes 2 tries, 3 points if it takes 3 tries, and 5 points if they still don't play correctly after 3 tries.  At the end of the game, students total up their points and the LOWEST score wins!

2.  THREE STRIKES

This is a  great game for getting students to focus on anything/everything you're doing in class.  Each student gets a worksheet with 3 larges boxes.  As we rehearse, I ask students to focus on one specific skill at a time.  Students who are not focusing/completing the skill get one strike.  They get a small candy/treat at the end of the class period if they don't strike out.  I sometimes let them add a box for completing especially difficult playing/technique.  Examples:  "Play the D scale. I'm going to watch to see if your bows are straight. If they're not straight, you'll get a strike!"    "Play line 73 in your method book.  If you play a wrong note, you get a strike!"   Possibilities are endless.

3. STACK THE SKILLS

To successfully perform in a concert, students have to be performing a lot of skills at once...for example maintaining proper position while playing the right notes while keeping the bow straight and making an even, clear tone.  In class, we practice stacking our skills...just like this kid stacks the dice in this video:

For this game, students choose measures to test their stacking skills.  They play (on their own) and see how many skills they can maintain while playing their music.