You’re welcome to use this playlist in your own lessons too. These animal pieces are a great place to start as they’re familiar territory to latch onto, and give the kids vivid imagery to associate with the pieces. Many children won’t have been exposed to much classical music when they get to me. Now we come to my favourite aural activities for beginners – using my little animal assistants. Make the ‘sames’ more different by varying the length, articulation and volume.ĭone in this way, it doesn’t need to look like a “test” and it will give you valuable insight into your student’s musical ear.įor another fun way to practice these basic listening concepts (especially with preschoolers) try these free listening paddles.Gradually bring the notes closer together on the piano.Ask your student to hold up one arm if they were different, and two arms if they were the same.Play a note and then a second note on the piano.So make it fun with this interactive aural practice. If your student can’t identify if pitches are the same or different, they’re going to have a very hard time playing anything by ear and noticing patterns. If you haven’t taught as many very young beginners as I have you might think this one is unnecessary – but it isn’t. Now you get the extra bonus of being ahead of the game on those music terms. Just a few will do in the beginning such as: Largo, Andante and Allegro. Once this becomes easy for your student, teach them the Italian tempo terms to use.
![aural music training aural music training](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UDs2ngFIK4E/maxresdefault.jpg)
Tell your student they have to stay in time with you and ask them intermittently about the tempo.Keep the same pattern going but gradually slow it down or speed it up.Play any simple pattern on the piano and ask your student to march in time.You could also try playing different instrument samples (recordings or using digital piano sounds) so your student gets used to the different timbres. To add an extra level add a chair/bench into the mix and start including middle notes. This will help students to really hone in on the concept of high and low specifically.
![aural music training aural music training](https://images.ifun.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/aural-music-player-mac-700x374.jpg)
Play lots of different styles of high and low notes such as staccato, long notes, loud, and soft.
![aural music training aural music training](http://people.vcu.edu/~bhammel/theory/appm165/images/rhythm1_pg2.gif)
They also serve as wonderful brain breaks or off-the-bench time. These aural piano activities are not only great for your new students’ ears. Today we’re talking about aural piano activities you can do right from the word go. Forget about cadences, inversions and singing “here comes the bride” to remind about intervals.