4 Fun, Music History-Themed Activities For Piano Lessons

Make Music History Fun With Interactive Activities

By Rosemarie Penner

Do you regularly include music history in your piano lessons? It’s one of those categories of things we know we “should” include but tends to get missed. And, I understand! One of the ways I was able to add music history a little more was by including fun and engaging interactive activities I could use with my entire studio.

Why Interactive Learning Works

I often joke with my clients that I like to “trick” my students into learning. But, all joking aside it has worked remarkably well as a teaching strategy! Especially on topics they might not be totally into (like music history).

If like me, you plan on staying in this profession for decades to come, you need an approach that keeps things fresh and interesting for students … and you.

Interactive learning is important for any skill or concept. It:

Boosts retention with deep learning: Students use all their senses to create memories.
Keeps learners engaged: Students sometimes need time to realize a topic can be fascinating.
Makes challenging topics, like music history more accessible and enjoyable.

Growing up, music history was equated with worksheets and reading boring biographies. And, even as an adult Baroque music is still not my favourite of the ‘classical music’ eras. (Which I know is a rather unpopular opinion.)

As a piano teacher, I felt I ‘had’ to teach music history to check off one of the boxes of a ‘good’ piano teacher. Can you relate? It wasn’t until I learnt about and began using/creating interactive materials that music history became much more relatable and memorable for both my students and me. No worksheets required!

Music History-Themed Activity #1: Digital Escape Rooms

The easiest and most interactive activity to use during lessons in my studio has been music history-themed digital escape rooms. And, the best part? They last for years and can be used in so many different applications. I’ll tell you about those later.

Step 1: Choose the right escape room

Think back to the last conference you attended and the amazing exhibit hall. Did you buy resources that once you got home seemed to have lost their shiny appeal? It happens to all of us! I still have no clue why I bought a Charlie Brown-themed book for beginners. Once I got home and flipped through I realized the approach was the complete opposite of what I do in my studio. Lesson learnt.

Here are a couple of questions to ask yourself to avoid this mistake:

Which musical era or composer are you interested in?
Do you want a ‘done for you’ resource or create it yourself?

After creating 85 digital escape rooms (at the time of this article), I can confirm there is much more than quickly throwing together an escape room. For the “Travel Through Time” series which was designed to cover a full year in my studio, I spent close to 100 hours getting everything ready. There’s a reason I don’t create these all the time.

If you choose to create an escape room, be ruthless in choosing what is interesting and engaging for your students. Do the factual research, but also listen and look into many different videos or audio clips as well. This is by far the longest part of the process.

Step 2: Pre-lesson or pre-activity setup

I am a huge fan of using self-marking resources. Not only do they reduce my prep time significantly, but they also help my students build independence (a life skill we focus on quite a bit in my studio).

That being said, Looking over the questions and answers beforehand can help you determine whether any questions might need a little help or enrichment for your student.

Step 3: Blend it with piano playing

A big part of the reason I didn’t like music history growing up was because it felt like a separate subject during piano lessons. Usually, it was a separate series of lessons in preparation for an exam!

You may have more luck meeting a unicorn in real life than having a student who rejoices over worksheets. Rather than fight your students’ natural inclinations, incorporate music history into their playing!

Play a piece from that era or composer after you’ve completed the digital escape room. It may be tempting to ensure your student does not play pedal during a Baroque piece. Understand the big picture. Improvisation and experimentation were a huge part of learning during the era. Don’t you think J.S. Bach, Handel, Vivaldi or Telemann wouldn’t have tried out a pedal if they had the option?

Music History-Themed Activity #2: Composer Detective

There are a couple of ways you could do a composer detective.

If you are using a digital escape room as an introduction to a musical era, use facts or clues from the digital escape room to create a fun 20-questions game about the composer.

Or, if you have already looked at a particular composer, genre or instrument, use these as the basis for guessing which composer they will play next!

Make it obvious how the music lab, group activity or theory activities your students do directly relate to the music they are playing. It makes it relatable, accessible and enjoyable.

Music History-Themed Activity #3: Musical timeline challenge

I was never much of an artist. For junior high art class, we had to create a comic. Mine was of a stick family but had a great story. When I taught art (I know, why?), I drew my stick sheep so my students understood I was marking whether they mastered a skill. Not innate artistic talent.

However, over the years I have had some students who truly excel in the arts and love the chance to show it. I also married an engineer which means decades of experience with a fairly linear thinker.

Creating a music history timeline can be a fantastic option for linear thinkers and artistic students!

You could do an escape room as an initial introduction to an era or choose a few that highlight the events or composers you want to focus on. Having students listen to music from the era begins the deep learning process. From there, students can do more research or use what they just learnt to create their timeline.

Plus, your homeschooling families may love that you have added a cross-curricular activity that blends music and history!

Music History-Themed Activity #4: Creative Improvisation

Not only is this an approach I use extensively in my studio it also aligns with how many of our favourite composers from music history were taught. Or, taught their students.

This is a powerful activity for students who are not huge fans of music history or ‘classical’ music! You could try:

Using a song your student is currently working on, try an accompaniment pattern from a particular era.
If you or they have a digital piano, play using the harpsichord or organ setting.
Try improvising using a technique, concept or genre that was covered in the digital escape room.
Using music history as inspiration, explore musical styles creatively to get out of a practice rut or to create something completely new.

If you are looking for examples of patterns from the Baroque and Classical eras of music, click here.

How To Easily Adapt Activities

You can easily adapt these interactive music history activities for different ages and skill levels:

If the question or activity is too hard:

Ask leading questions that guide your student to the answer.
Reduce the options if it is multiple choice.
As you listen to the music, pause and point out things to help them hear or focus on a particular aspect.

If a question or activity is too easy:

Ask for more detail than what is required. For example, go beyond duple or triple meter. What is the actual time signature?
Ask them to explain a concept to you or demonstrate on the piano what it looks or sounds like.