Six Ideas for Fall Piano Lessons - Ashley Danyew

Do your students love Halloween as much as mine do?

Every week they come to lessons so excited to tell me about their costume plans and the decorations in their classroom or at home.

Several years ago, I decided to introduce lots of Halloween and fall-themed music and lesson activities during the months of October and November to celebrate the season and it has been a big hit.

I choose games and activities for my beginning and elementary students to do throughout the month and I often choose a special piece of sheet music (or a piece to teach by rote) that ties in with the season.

Here are some of my favorite fall and Halloween teaching ideas:

Six Ideas for Fall Piano Lessons

*Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

1. "Trick-or-Treat" Warm-Ups

A great way to review scales and warm-up patterns! Have students draw a few technic patterns from a bowl (or perhaps a festive jack-o-lantern!). Will they stumble (trick) or master the pattern on the first try (treat)? Of course, some sort of treat will make this challenge all the more fun!

2. Creativity Challenge

My younger students LOVE making up their own pieces each week. This month, I've been assigning Halloween "creativity challenges" and I love hearing the things they come up with during the week! Here are a few examples of "creativity challenges" for Preparatory B/Level 1 students:

Make a piece about Halloween using your new warm-up (5-finger scale in A minor).
Make up a song about Halloween using four rhythm patterns (notated on their assignment sheet). Don't forget to write words for your song!

Free Printable

Studio Assignment Sheet

A printable assignment sheet for beginning and elementary-age students. Includes: practice log, technic, new and review pieces, musicianship (rhythmic review, aural skills, theory, sight-reading, etc.), and creativity (e.g. make a piece that is ___ measures long and uses ___).

Download

3. Rhythmic Speech Match-Up

I saw this idea on Pinterest and knew it would be a great activity for lessons leading up to Halloween. Create a list of seasonal phrases (i.e. "acorns falling from the trees" or "pumpkins are round, orange, and brown") or use this list of Halloween phrases that match a series of set rhythm patterns. Have students read the phrases out loud and choose the rhythm pattern that matches.

4. Seasonal Pieces

There are so many great pieces out there for fall and my students love having a "special piece" (usually something not from one of their books) to work on in addition to their other assignments! Here are a few of my favorite pieces for fall for elementary students:

The Haunted Mouse (Faber & Faber, Level 1, Lesson Book)
Song for a Scarecrow (Faber & Faber, Level 1, Lesson Book)
Curious Cat (Teresa Richert, Celebration Piano Repertoire, Preparatory A)
Owl in the Night (Catherine Rollin, Celebration Piano Repertoire, Preparatory A)
The Haunted Harp (Christine Donkin, Celebration Piano Repertoire, Preparatory A)
What’s That Noise? (Martha Mier, Celebration Piano Repertoire, Preparatory A)
Shadow March (Chee-Hwa Tan, Through the Windowpane)
Far Away (Teresa Richert, Celebration Piano Etudes, Level 1)
Pumpkin Boogie (Faber & Faber, Level 2B Lesson Book)
Whirling Leaves (Faber & Faber, Level 2B Lesson Book)
The Wind (Chee-Hwa Tan, Celebration Piano Etudes, Level 2)
Autumn Leaves (Linda Niamath, Celebration Piano Etudes, Level 2)

5. Candy Corn Dictation

Such a cute idea from Emily at The Sweetest Melody! This is another fun rhythm activity for fall lessons, appropriate for all ages, as the rhythms you choose for dictation can be tailored to the individual student. For example, I might choose duple rhythms with triplets for one student (to reinforce her understanding of triplets), duple rhythms with quarters and eighths for a first-year student, and patterns with more subdivisions for an intermediate-level student.

6. Duet Improvisation

I love playing duets with my students during lessons, especially ones that we create together in the moment. The Haunted House improvisation in The Music Tree, Part 2B has the perfect programmatic title for Halloween-themed lessons! (Note: Since this is an improvisation activity, it's really suitable for a range of levels, since the musical material provided is just a starting place.)