Where should I begin?!

Hello, Music Mind Games fanatics and newbies! I'm Emily Lowe, Teachers' Committee Chair. That's fancy music-teacher talk for "person who keeps track of all of our teachers." There's lots of you out there, and I love hearing your stories, so please e-mail me anytime!

Recently, another local piano teacher contacted me, wanting to know how I teach music theory. It's always exciting to be the one to introduce someone to Music Mind Games, so I pulled out my Puppy Packet and started showing her materials and demonstrating games. At the end of an hour, my floor was littered with Magic Notes and cards, and this poor teacher was completely overwhelmed. She stared at me for a minute and then said, "Okay . . . but where should I begin?"

Immediately, I realized my mistake. In my enthusiasm, I'd assumed she could absorb concepts as quickly as I could fling them at her, but I've been playing Music Mind Games since I was a student 20 years ago, and this was her first afternoon! Not smart.

Students who join my piano studio purchase their own Puppy Packets as part of their initial materials, and often I'll hear a similar question from overwhelmed parents. Sometimes it comes out more like, "Are we actually going to USE all of this stuff?" but the questions are really the same: they want to know what to do first. So, here are the first three things I would introduce to a Music Mind Games novice:

1. Alphabet Cards. These are a great place to begin because they are so simple: students already (hopefully!) know the alphabet. Young students enjoy making snakes and playing Fine! Older students like Scrabble, and don't forget that you can make an easy game harder by changing the interval, e.g., Fine! with thirds instead of seconds.
2. Blue Jello Cards. By contrast, this is something most students have never seen: abstracted music notes. The appeal here is that it's something totally new and different. However, the words are fun to say and very intuitive, so that after just a few repetitions, even the youngest will be signing and speaking the words right along with you.
3. Staff Slates and Grand Staff Cards. I introduce dictation right away, since I want to know how well students can match pitch (which helps with musical accuracy in the study of any instrument, not just voice.) The Grand Staff Song is a favorite with little ones, and Slap the C's appeals to more competitive students. If you've never taught the notes on the staff this way, you'll be shocked at how much faster your students will remember the notes, minus the confusing acronyms.

In case you're wondering, this teacher was resilient (teachers tend to be that way) and began coming back for weekly "lessons," where we play games and review concepts together. She has been careful, since that first afternoon, to limit me to one or two per session -- and she's said that her students just love this new facet of piano lessons. But I have to say, I wasn't surprised to hear that. I have yet to find a student who doesn't love Music Mind Games!