Here are 8 10 Ideas to get Rhythm Cup Explorations® to Explode!

I don’t know what the criteria is for a “hot seller,” but I’m pretty sure Rhythm Cup Explorations®, Rhythm Cup Explorations® 2 (new!), and the Holiday Rhythm Cup Explorations® fit whatever criteria there is! It’s got a life of its own right now and I’m so happy that it’s producing some amazingly excited students in your studio.

So, you might not need to know 8 Rhythm Cup ideas for your studio, but just in case you really, really, really want to liven up summer or fall lessons, I thought I’d share some of the things you can do with this exciting reproducible resource.

Rhythm Cup Ideas

0. Just use it!

Of course you probably already knew that, so I won’t really count this as the first new way to use it. But really, it’s just a matter of using Rhythm Cup Explorations® and you don’t need much help in making it fun. It just happens automatically.

1. Have a Competition.

Yes, we’re doing a world-wide Rhythm Manipulations® challenge right now, but you can actually just do a Cups challenge in your studio. Assign the same page to a few groups of students, provide a time for them to practice (perhaps in a group lesson, back to back lessons, or suggest they spend some time practicing together by the pool), and then see who can:
A. Play it through perfectly 2x at the fastest speed.
B. Play it through the most times without any mistakes. The winner is the group that can do it the most times without any mistakes.

2. Start a “Community Cup.”

I love it when teachers send me their Rhythm Cup ideas.  This Rhythm Cup idea came from Barbara Stepp. Every time a student passes one of the lines in Cup Explorations they get to put some jelly beans  in a “community cup.”  At the end of a pre-determined timeframe, each student who participated gets to make a guess at the number of jelly beans in the cup…winner gets a prize.  The prize could be one of those colorful cups with the crazy straw built into the side.  Target has them right now for something like $3.99.  Of course one of the dollar stores is always a good place to check also.

You could also take Barbara’s idea and do a real community service project with it. However many jelly beans are in the cup will be multiplied times $.10 (or whatever) which you will donate to a local charity!

You could also have each student have their own cup and just count how many jelly beans are in the cup at the end…winner gets a price.

3. Decorate Your Studio with Student Achievement.

You could do what Sara did and not use jelly beans at all, but use paper flowers and have the students see how many flowers they can put in their cup (and decorate your studio in the process!). In Sara’s incentive program, she has pictures of empty paper cups on her wall which students can fill with a flower every time they get one of the lines performed perfectly.

4. Change a Mood.

Some kids are grumpy when they come into lessons. I’ve been told by those who are using Rhythm Cup Explorations® (ahem, Diane Hidy), that you can’t really stay grumpy if you’re doing this!
Kick the lesson off right by helping your kids loosen up and getting them happy about learning.

5. Dangle it as a Reward.

“I have something really fun to do at the end of lessons today, but we can only do it IF…” Then, be sure to leave time at the end of lesson so that you can reward the student if they have put effort into whatever behavior you talked about. Make SURE you leave time to do this, because if you tell them you’ll do it and then run out of time, you’ll not be anyone’s favorite teacher and you’ll kill the incentive.

6. Challenge Students.

After doing a few of these, older students especially will have lots of rhythmic confidence! So for older students who can do unit 4 of Rhythm Cup Explorations®, show them the rhythm from the popular “When I’m Gone” song and see if they can notate it now. If that seems too hard, then have them come up with their own rhythm based on the rhythms in Rhythm Cup Explorations and see if another group or even you can perform it! Be sure to tell them to just rearrange what’s already there. Sometimes telling them to come up with something new is way to daunting. Tell them to work with what’s already on the page, rearranging things into a new rhythm.

7. Invite the Band.

Why not put some chord symbols over each measure and invite one of your students to vamp on the chords while the others are performing the rhythm. On each repeat, the student at the piano can try their hand at improvising with this RH, playing just the chords, doing both, or just having fun adding rhythm to the chords by vamping. If you have guitar players in your studio, you could make it a real band by doing this!

Be sure you write in some famous chord progressions, like the one from “Let It Go” (Frozen) which is Am, F, G, Dm. You could also do the famous Heart and Soul progression which is: C, Am, F, G.

8. Invite the Rhythm Section. Get the BEATS!

Do you have a clavinova, a keyboard, Garageband, or just an app that can give you a fun beat? This is waaaay more fun than practicing with a metronome! Leila Viss of 88pianokeys recently used Rhythm Cup Explorations® with her teenage students with her clavinova providing an interesting beat. But, since then, we’ve also created a set of beats (at 3 different tempos per page) that you can use with your Rhythm Cup Explorations® book! You can order below. Here is a video:

9. Invite students to make up their own.

They’ll love trying to come up with new cup tapping features. And you can also teach them a bit about the importance of a groovy rhythm that repeats in composition. Have them do it at home or in a group (without your help if they are old enough). Then, they can perform it for you and invite you to perform.

10. Cross Hemispheres.

I have a left handed piano student that insisted she didn’t want to hold the cup in her right hand and tap with her left. So, I let her lead and tried to do it holding the cup with my left and tapping with my right! Wow! I’m pretty sure I made some new neural synapses. Remember, the more ways you have students perform rhythms with different parts of the body, the better and stronger the synapses are. So, definitely try this one for the students and YOUR benefit!

It seems like however teachers are using Rhythm Cup Explorations® and Rhythm Cup Explorations® 2, it’s been a blast for students so far! You can read all the unsolicited reviews here. I hope this gives you even more ways to use Rhythm Cup Explorations®! Here’s a quick way to buy it or go to the Rhythm Cup Explorations® Page to see the video and samples.

What are some rhythm cup ideas that have helped your students have fun? I’d love to hear them.

Read More:

• Add Some Summer Sizzle to Lessons (without all the work)
• Summer Piano Teaching Opportunities
• The Booger Song – Add some music that kids actually LIKE to lessons!