Spin the Frog

     What would you do if you had a drop-in piano class with a new set of kids every week?   That is what I faced when I started a piano introduction class at a local Boys' and Girls'  Club.  They had not had music classes before me!  Then, some kids were returnees from week to week --they liked the class --but, between lessons, most would  skip at least once and  forget a lot.

     I started bringing lots of spontaneous- action tools ... for instance, a jump rope, meant to illustrate steps, jumps, or skips on the piano.  First, we would use the jump rope, then we would play the same skips and steps on the real piano.  Interesting challenge.  Kept attention!  So, I started adding to my briefcase of surprises.

     I threw in some stuffed animals, mostly to illustrate f -- loud and p -- soft.  Then, I added a few flash cards with  notes to identify, loud and soft symbols, and a few other symbols.  Playing with a few things, as well as trying to learn new piano pieces, kept everyone's attention!  Also, newcomers could join right in; that was important.

     One day, I brought a stuffed frog; cute, but I was puzzled.  Was he loud or soft or a jump or a skip or what?  So, I asked for input from the kids!  Well, we found we could spin him around very well.  Along the way, we added flash cards to the circle where we spun him.  We had a game!

     We decided that, wherever the frog stopped, we had to first, act out that card, then illustrate what it meant on the piano.  On p and first, we had to act them out with some kind of pantomine!  That brought varied creativity.  At least, we could do the loud and soft illustrations on the piano, full or minimal volume!

     The jump rope was handy when the flash card would show 2 or more notes played at once... we could see how many steps or skips apart those notes were.

     There was a blank card that I used for "Wild".  That meant, Show us anything!  THEY LOVED THAT ONE.

     The best reward I got from Spin the Frog was seeing how engaged those kids could be!  Now that I've moved on in my career, I've had the chance to read (in local newspapers) about how Music has found its way into that club.  Several programs are now offered, including many electronics that got invented after I left.  I'm so delighted to hear how modern kids have adopted all kinds of music making.

What do kids today share with my Spin the Frog class?  A spirit of fun and INVENTION.  And, a very non- judgmental teacher who loves whatever they might invent.  Glad  the piano and I and a few tools could move kids forward.