There are so many fun and creative ways to incorporate music flash cards into piano lessons. Whether you teach 1-on-1 lessons, group lessons, or classroom music, here are a few of my favorite activity ideas using flashcards.
Cover the Note
This game can be played with a group or just one student. You will need a set of note flashcards and some coins or bingo chips (really anything works).
- Shuffle the flashcards. Give students each the same amount of flashcards to spread out on the floor.
- Call out a clef, followed by a note name. For example “bass clef F”
- If a student has that note in their pile, they place a marker on it.
- The game ends when one student covers every note in their pile.
Shuffle the cards, and play again!
Flashcard Memory Match
This game helps students recognize a particular note that they are practicing (I have an entire blog post about Note of the Day activities you can find here) and an be played on a table, or on the floor. You will need any set of music flashcards, but they should be single sided with no answers on the back.
To start, choose one specific note that your student is currently practicing to recognize.
- Place several flashcards face down and mix them up
- Teacher and student take turns flipping a card over
- If the card is the Note of the Day, the person who flipped it over gets a point
- Re-shuffle and play again, the first person to get 3 points wins (you can also adjust the round length)
Timed Practice
This game helps students build fluency in notes they know. It should be done with notes the student has already learned, so if necessary, remove any from the set that they don’t know.
Set a 1-minute timer, and have students either name, or name & play the notes of each card on the piano. Write down how many they finished in 1 minute! Repeat each class and see if they can beat their own high score.
Alternatively, you could record how many minutes/seconds it takes for the student to complete the entire deck. Use the “stopwatch” feature and hit stop when they have completed all the cards. Again, write down their time and repeat each class to see if they can beat their high score!
Head Band Game
This game can also be played with notes the student has already learned, so if necessary, remove any from the set that they don’t know.
- The teacher closes their eyes and puts a flashcard on their head with the image of the staff facing the student.
- The teacher must ask yes or no questions to figure out which note is on their head (ex. is it bass clef? is it a line note? is it line number 3?)
- Once the teacher guesses the note, switch and have the student ask the questions
- Repeat and see how many cards you can guess within 5 minutes!
Buzzer Game
This activity is for those who teach group or classroom lessons. You will need some kind of buzzer button like this one.
Split the group into two teams. Have 1 member of each team verse each other in a note naming contest. You flip a flashcard over while they race to buzz in and name the note.
After a team gets 3 points, they switch players (this rule can be adjusted based on your group).
Teams can collect points and earn prizes of your choosing!
Building Game
If students are working on chords or scales, flashcards can be used to build the correct spellings. Call out a chord or scale and have your students quickly build that chord or scale using the correct note flashcards.
This set of flashcards contains sharps and flats meaning you can explore every key!
Ms Emily Music 