Ok, since posting my fabulous (haha) idea for a group lesson I’ll never get to teach, I have modified the game for a private lesson. I’m still working on the right name for this game, and would love any suggestions!

The game is like “Mother May I” or “Red Light, Green Light.” You start the student at one end of the room and the object is to get to the other side using the cards you, the teacher, have in your two hands.

The cards have a picture of a quarter note, half note, dotted half note, whole note. (I haven’t tried eighth or sixteenth notes, but I’m sure they would work too.)

You set the metronome to any speed you like and let your student draw one of the note cards from your hand. From your other hand, the student draws a card that says 1, 2, 3, or 4; these cards represent how many steps the student gets to take.

The student then takes that many steps to the beat of the metronome and the note card that has been drawn. For example, if she draws a half note and a 4, she takes 4 half note steps. A half note step is one step for two beats of the metronome.

If the student misses the beat, she must start over. I explained the starting over to one student who hates to lose, but told her how fun it would be if she had to start over, and she totally bought it. She didn’t get mad once!

I played this with 3 students today, and every single one of them LOVED it.  Let me know if you try it!  I’d love to hear any modifications you may make.