It is important to have ear training and development for piano students in addition to teaching each new skill on the piano. Some students have a natural bent towards learning by ear, and other students may not naturally learn by ear. Here are some ear training games to play with your piano students.
Memory Game for the Piano
Play a memory game with your young student. Start simple: play three notes and have the student play back the same three notes. Continue playing three note patterns for your student to play back, then increase it to four note patterns, then five note patterns and so on. You may have the more visual student watch you play before playing the pattern back, and the more auditory learner can just listen, and then play the pattern back.
Another variation of this exercise is to add one note at a time until the student makes a mistake. For example, play three notes to start and have the student repeat. Then play the same three notes and add a fourth note to the pattern and have the student repeat all 4 notes. Then play those four notes and add a fifth note for the student to repeat and so on.
Name That Song on the Piano
This exercise can help to train the student's ear to listen for a melody and can be done a couple different ways. First is to simply play a few notes of a familiar song and see how quickly the student can guess the song. You can then have the student attempt to finish playing the song.
A variation of this exercise is to have a few notes to a familiar song written on staff paper, and have the student play the notes until he knows what song he is playing. This will help reinforce note reading as well as ear training. You can have the beginning of the song written out, a piece in the middle or the end of the song.
As students become better with this, make it harder by picking a less recognizable part of the song or limiting the number of notes you give the student. Once they know what song it is, have them play the whole song by ear.
In order to motivate and focus younger students, turn all your ear training activities into a game. Allow your students to earn points that can be redeemed for simple prizes, or towards some other reward that motivates your students.
Ear training is important for all piano students and these games are a good starting point.
Read more tips for music teachers.
