Leveling Up - piano skills cards for group lessons

Last summer I was looking for a creative ways to do group lessons. How could I have multiple students, different levels and abilities work together when I only have one piano? Most of my group lesson ideas involved just that - activities that can be done as a group….Music Vocab Memorization, Classical Music Listening Activities, Rhythm Games. How could I find an easy and efficient way to get students at the piano and have that time be meaningful? The answer came from an unlikely source - my daughters’ gymnastics class!

Gymnastics is very popular in our local home school area so the classes are quite large with a wide range of ages and levels. Their solution - color coded skills cards. Students find their individual card and have to complete every skill on the card before they can “level up”. A bonus reward is getting a colored bracelet the same color of the card they just completed. What a great way to individualize skills while managing a large group!

I decided to implement a color coded skill card system for my summer piano group lessons. All students start on the Red Card of their particular Piano Lesson Book Level. Once they have completed all the skills on the red card, they get their red bracelet and then get to move on to the orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple skills cards. As they “level up” in card color, the skills get progressively more complex but since I created color cards for EACH piano level (i.e. 6 color cards for Primer, 6 for Level 1, and so on), the skills are always achievable for students.

The Leveling Up Note Card system is a wonderful thing to do during summer lessons when you might want a break from planning individual lessons. It is also highly motivating for piano students as well. What kid doesn’t like tangible feedback and physical rewards for their progress?

The Leveling Up Note Card System is not just for piano teachers. PARENTS can use these cards with their children as well, especially with the current disruptions in lessons. Parents - to use this system, check your child’s piano books (pairs very well with Faber and Faber books, but other brands are comparable) and use the card level that matches (i.e. if your child is in level 1 books, select the Level 1 Piano Skills Cards). Have your child complete a skill per card per day - it’s easy enough to add into their daily practice time. Have a prize for each completed color card (if you can’t get to the store, I’m sure there are plenty of creative prizes you can find your home - baked good, extra screen time, etc.)

To check out the Piano Skills Card Bundle, click on the picture below ($4.00 for a bundle of all FIVE levels, available in my TeachersPayTeachers store)

To select your child or student’s particular card level, click on the picture that matches your child’s book level (pictures are in order from most basic to most advanced).

$0.95 for individual levels.