Like a doctor, it is useful to have a bag that you bring along for your daily teaching needs. You never know when you will need them for music emergencies!

Here’s a bag of tricks that I bring along when I go out teaching:

1. Metronome
2. Ponies toys
3. Lego minifigures
4. Cars/trains toys
5. Animal page clips
6. Dice
7. Mr Bump Roulette
8. Soft toy – penguin, turtle
9. Crayola crayons
10. Stickers

Here’s how I use them:

Metronome

A useful tool to teach a steady pulse. I tell the child that the metronome teaches them to control their finger movement and speed.

I once had a lesson on pulse, spending 10 minutes on this. First I switched on the metronome, and had the 4 year old child clap together with the beats.

If it doesn’t work, I stand up and stamp my feet from side to side with the metronome beats

I say aloud the beats “1 2 3 4” or use words “Watermelon”, “One Big Nerf Gun”, “Transformer” – depending on what the child likes and the beats I want to work on, whether in the time of 2, 3 or 4.

 

Ponies, Lego minifigures, Cars, Trains, Animal page clips

  I use them as counters. If I want a child to practice a section, say 8 times, I take out 8 ponies. Every time the section is correctly played, one pony appears on the piano bookstand.

When the child finds it easy to do the section, challenge and raise the level. I play a game called Hide & Seek. Instead of counting from 1 to 10, I ask the child to start playing from a particular point in the music score and to play from there until the section is completed. While the child is playing, hide the ponies in the room.

Once the child completes the longer passage, ask the child to hunt for the ponies!

 

Dice, Mr Bump Roulette

This tool gives the power of ‘choice’ to the child. The child gets to push the button/roll a dice. The number that appears will indicate the number of times the child needs to play a piece or a section.

Instead of ordering the child to play a certain number of times, I find this way of having a child practice numerous times a lot more diplomatic!

 

 

Soft toys

I sometimes allow the soft toy to be brought home by the child. The child is tasked to take care of the toy for a week and to return back to me at the next lesson. This is a great way to teach the concept of being responsible. I use the penguin and say to the child, “Can you put Mr Penguin on your piano and play for him at home?”

 

Crayola crayons

A colorful way to draw boxes for sectional practice. The boxes drawn on the music score is an effective way for the child to see patterns in music. Patterns make it very easy for a child to read the music score and move their fingers correspondingly to make music.

I also use the crayons to draw ‘Practice Charts’. I once drew 10 boxes in the child’s notebook. Every time he played a tune, I allowed him to choose a Crayola crayon to either color the box or draw inside the box. His task was to complete coloring 10 boxes within the 30 minutes lesson. I used the Crayola to have him win goals such as these:

• Sitting down at the bench without sliding down for 30 seconds
• Finding the C key on the piano
• Playing the tunes assigned
• Playing sections that are boxed

Kids love to color or draw using the crayons!

 

Stickers

Use them generously as rewards!

The Teacher’s Bag contents can be changed anytime. I have a season for different toys. After a couple of weeks, I change the ‘cars’ to ‘trains’. Suffice to say, from my years of teaching, I have collected a huge array of toys that I use for teaching. Best of all, I find it fun to go shopping for toys!

 

You can start building your Teacher’s Toolbag one toy at a time. Start today!