Summer Fun Series! Lesson Plan #4 (No Piano Required!)

Summer is a great time to think outside of the box as you lesson plan! Flexibility with your lesson plans in the summer is also key, since students are often taking more sporadic lessons due to summer vacations, camps, sports, and other activities.

Over the past few weeks, I have been sharing a series of fun lesson plans that are perfect for busy students (and teachers) this summer! Each lesson plan includes links to FREE worksheets and activities that can be completed in the space of a 30 minute lesson.

Lesson Plan #4 is a special one, because it is a lesson plan with no piano required! If you have students traveling this summer who want to keep up their skills, or a super-dedicated student who wants to Zoom in for a lesson while on vacation, this is the lesson plan for you!

​Keep reading to learn more....

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You may be thinking....how can I possibly teach a piano lesson with no piano?

It turns out, there is plenty you can do to review and even build new skills without a piano. I think it can actually be fun to mix things up once in a while and do a lesson away from the piano, even during the school year!

But this lesson plan will really come in handy over the summer, when you may have students traveling and away from their pianos for an extended period of time.

Here are your "no piano required" activities! (Click on any of the images below to download a free PDF copy of the worksheet pictured!)

1. Let's start with some "Mighty Music Vocabulary!" Use 1 (or more) of the worksheets below to have students review their vocabulary terms. 

After completing the worksheet(s), you might:

• Play a game of music pictionary (draw a symbol from the worksheet for your student to guess) or hangman using these vocabulary terms.
• Have your student open their repertoire book and see how many of the symbols or terms from their worksheet they can find in 60 seconds.

2. Next, let's practice some notation! Use 1 (or more) of the worksheets below that review landmark notes, stem direction, and drawing intervals on the staff. 

3. Let's do some active listening! A "no piano" piano lesson is the perfect time to work on building your students' active listening skills. 

This active listening worksheet will help give your student a few specific things to listen for, and can work with any style of music--from classical to pop!

For more ideas on teaching active listening, including a list of some of my favorite classical pieces for active listening, check out my blog post HERE.

4. Finally, let's play an online game or two! Here are a few of my favorite resources for free online music games:

• The fabulous "Classics for Kids" website has several interactive online music games HERE covering concepts such as naming notes, tapping rhythms, reviewing musical terms, and much more!
• Retired music educator Karen Garrett has generously shared dozens of games and quizzes she created for her music classes during her career as a public school music teacher. You can find those on her website, Music Tech Teacher, HERE. 
• MusicTheory.net is an excellent resource for exercises that review a variety of musical concepts, from naming notes, intervals, and key signatures, to ear training activities. These are especially helpful for older students and adults. You can find the whole list of exercises HERE.

What do you think? Have you ever taught a "no piano" piano lesson? I'd love to hear your experiences in the comments!