Your Online Lessons Are Missing Music Minis™!

Music Minis™ are the newest resource that Wendy has created to make teaching even more fun and effective, and they provide so many possibilities – especially for online lessons! Music Minis™ contain the main motives from each Short Sheets® piece. The Minis are an 8.5×11″ sized PDF, so they’re easy for online students to see when held up to the computer. This may not seem like it would make a huge difference, but studies are showing that there’s a reason we’re so exhausted after teaching on Zoom. Using something that’s easy on the eyes and the brain can be so helpful!

The idea behind Music Minis™ is to make teaching any piece, but especially Short Sheets® pieces easier and more effective. When students can see the motive in an isolated measure or two, it makes learning the overall piece more straightforward. Students can focus on and learn just the main motive of the piece instead of being distracted by anything else on the page which is especially helpful for younger students who are easily distracted.

Music Minis™ makes it possible to focus on the actual elements of the music (like steps, skips, articulation, dynamics) instead of just trying to get the right notes in the main motive. I’m going to be printing mine out and laminating them so I can reuse the same card every time a student learns a piece! I already have some brightly colored dry erase markers that I can use with both online and in-person students to talk about what’s happening in these measures. I think the simplicity of only a measure or two is going to make teaching easier, and will provide me with an opportunity to really dive into theory and technique without students feeling overwhelmed.

What’s the Original Music Minis™ Game that Wendy Introduced?

Wendy unveiled these in our recent Lighten Your Load webinar and invited Diane Hidy to play a simple game with her as you might with your students. Here is her simple game that can easily be used for online or in person lessons:

How Else Can I Use Music Minis™ for Online Lessons?

While these are fantastic for online teaching because of the large size, I can already see the potential for so many games and activities in regular lessons! For example:

• Take turns going back and forth with your student naming things about the Music Minis™. The person who can’t think of any more facts loses, and the other player is the winner!
• Have your student name 3-5 things they see on the piece of music first, and then play.
• Use these with beginning students who feel overwhelmed by looking at sheet music. Having only one or two measures makes it much less intimidating!
• Students with attention deficit disorders or learning disabilities can really benefit from having a singular focus that’s easy to see. I’m planning on using these in my studio in this way!
• Tell students the name of the piece, and have come up with a story that goes along with the motive.
• Play the MP3 recordings of the Short Sheets® pieces. Have your student raise their hands, yell or clap every time they hear the motive played in the piece.
• Since Music Minis™ are a high quality PDF, you don’t even have to print these. You can simply “screen share” if you are using online lessons or show them on your iPad.

How Can I Use Them for In Person Lessons?

All of the above games and activities can be used for in-person lessons as well as online, but there are some fun games I’m going to playing exclusively with in person lessons:

• If you have sibling sets in lessons, tape the Music Minis around your studio in not-so-obvious places. Let students look for them, and require them to play the piece – correctly – when they find it. Whoever has the most once they’re all found is the winner!
• Have students use crayons or highlighters to point out terms or symbols on the Music Minis (ties, dynamics, etc.). Isolating these ideas can really help once the rest of the music is placed in front of them!
• Do a giant card matching game! Print out two of each Music Minis™ from the bundle, and have them all face down on the floor. Students have to flip the pieces of paper over, and try to “match” the correct motives together.
• See how quickly students can identify where the Music Minis™ are in the actual Short Sheets® pieces. For an added challenge, have them ring a bell every time they hear you play the Music Minis™ motive!

How Do I Get Music Minis™?

Music Minis™ are a special bonus given to you automatically when you purchase the latest Short Sheets® Bundle. The bundle contains 5 new sets of Short Sheets®, for a total of 15 pieces. That means you get 15 Music Minis™, ranging from Early to Late Elementary. Having a range of difficulty with these Minis can also make for great review for more advanced students, or for challenging beginning or Early Elementary students. The Music Minis™ are under the Studio License, which means you can use them for any students you directly teach!

Our latest Short Sheets® are about Birds and Bugs, Space Adventures, Dinosaurs, and Whither the Weather. These motives are all unique in their sound, and provide an opportunity to work on a wide range of musical concepts including dynamics, articulation, new rhythms, and phrasing. They’re great for main repertoire pieces, or for quick pieces between lengthier, more difficult pieces.

Do you have any ideas for using Music Minis™ in your studio? Let us know in the comments! Do you already have them? Tell us how you are using them in the comments!

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