Student Activity: Spelling Bee!

Parallel to letters which form words and finally to sentences for comprehension in a language, notes congregate to become phrases, which subsequently string together to create music for our enjoyment. This game is a great opportunity for students to understand the modus operandi of music. Through productive fun, they develop a more robust process between recognising letter names and applying them to both note positions on the staff and white keys on the piano. Plus, it purveys a useful platform to teach and revise intervals.

You can visit here to download the call cards. While it was suggested to uphold a huge staff board with bingo chips to represent notes, I am inclined to incorporate the simpler, fuss-free route of using manuscript paper (since students will typically and should own a manuscript book) or the piano. This saves me from having to lug more materials than small cards in my travel.

What better to put the manuscript book to a meaningful purpose than to introduce a game for students to remember? It makes me smile to see them taking the challenge very seriously and getting all excited to complete spelling as many words possible within a set time.

The Note-Spelling Bee Game

Objective:

• Strengthen note recognition on staffs

• Enhance students' competency in identifying the white keys

• Introduce or revise the topic of intervals

Directions:

For Note Recognition

1. Prepare manuscript paper and decide on the clefs for context. It can be treble or bass, or both for those who are peckish for a challenge. I usually only give younger students single clefs and both to nudge those in a higher grade.

2. Shuffle the word cards and place them face down on the table. You may wish to create different piles, grouping words that are shorter and longer separately.

3. Student picks out a card from the pile, sees the word and begins drawing the notes on the manuscript paper in semibreves, which are the easiest to draw if he/she races against the clock.

4. Once the word is completed, the student repeats step 3.

5. Repeated note letters should be reflected by different note locations on the staff, i.e. two "E"s in F-E-E-D will be drawn an octave apart.

6. Teacher can either allow a few moments for the student to spell the word, or challenge the student in spelling the most number of words correctly within a set chronological frame.

Additional notes:

• Students will be allowed a shorter time frame if the words are more compact (i.e. 3 - 4 letters) and longer for bombastic words (i.e. 5 letters and above).

• Teacher can take advantage of this opportunity to inculcate the concept of intervals after student has written his/her answers.

For White Piano Keys

1. Shuffle the word cards and place them face down on the table. You may wish to create different piles, grouping words that are shorter and longer separately.

2. Student picks out a card from the pile, sees the word and begins playing the white keys on the piano.

3. Once the word is completed, the student repeats step 3.

4. Repeated note letters should be reflected by different keys on the piano, i.e. two "E"s in F-E-E-D will be played an octave apart.

5. Teacher can either allow a few moments for the student to spell the word, or challenge the student in spelling the most number of words correctly within a set chronological frame.

Additional notes:

• Students will be allowed a shorter time frame if the words are more compact (i.e. 3 - 4 letters) and longer for bombastic words (i.e. 5 letters and above).