May Music Lesson Resource
For my music fans, hiking fans, and board game fans- I think you’ll like this one. This month, I’m sharing a new game called… Clef Climbers!
What theory concept does Clef Climbers address?
So many! I originally created it to provide an interactive visual of what “up” vs “down” meant on the staff. If you look at the game board, you’ll see the treble and bass clefs are presented as ladders alongside a mountain where our game pieces (quarter and/or whole notes) are moving up and down.
This is also solidly addressing skips and steps. Whenever there is hesitation in a song, the thing I always prompt my students with is, “is it a skip, step, or something else? Does it go up or down?” as this is a key concept for musicians to recognize when sight-reading. Each of the cards in this game give directions made up of different combinations of skips or steps going up or down.
Of course, this can be another opportunity to bring attention to note identification as well. It is not firmly established in the game, but since each “spot” the game pieces land on on the board is a line or space on the staff, you can of course ask your student to name which note they landed on. Perhaps add on an extension and encourage them to go play which note it is on the keyboard as well. I might include this extension for my kiddos that need some movement in their bodies to organize themselves and sustain engagement (advocate for/acknowledge individual sensory needs!!) or my kiddos that are working on matching the correct octave on keyboard to correct octave on staves.
How do we play?
There is an instructions page in the game board packet, as well as a list of what’s included/set up, but the general idea is as follows. The first one to the top of the mountain (high G on the treble clef staff) wins. Everyone starts at the bottom of the board (low F on the bass clef staff). The mountain is presented as “Mr. Middle C’s Cave.” You can faintly see a giant “C” inside the cave to show that middle C is in fact in the middle of treble and bass clef (I think kids can often associate it only with treble clef since that’s where we tend to initially teach it). Draw Map Cards and follow the directions to make your way up the ladders (staves). Once you reach the top of the bass clef ladder, draw a Climber’s Card and answer the questions in order to jump across to the treble clef ladder. Climber Cards are opportunities to name notes on the keyboard and identify which one is higher/lower. Once again, the first one to the top wins! However, there are a couple rocks and ladder rungs with special instructions which may affect your journey to the top. Some are helpful such as “Skip up,” while others may delay your arrival to the top such as, “drop down an octave,” or “fall down to dangling D.” (Side note: I call D4 “Dangling D” when I teach note identification on the staff since it is not part of some of our mnemonics, and it looks as if it is dangling off the bottom of the staff- I’m a sucker for alliteration. I thought it works especially well with this game, as it fits with the climbing theme).
The instructions are presented in the tone of an adventure or mission, so it could be fun to have your students read them outloud. One of mine read it outloud last week, and she laughed very hard at my “bass” camp pun- I greatly appreciated our shared sense of humor :) There’s also a visual of the treble clef ladder with a quarter note included to more clearly show the ladders do in fact look like our staves, and perhaps this is how we can think of them in our music when navigating “up” and “down.”
Set Up:
If you were a hero and a trooper, and you cut out/laminated all of last month’s games, this month will be a breeze. The only things you need to cut out are the game pieces (your choice of quarter notes or whole notes wearing little hiking hats- I like the whole notes better because they fit nicer on the board when playing with multiple people in my opinion), the cards, and the backs of the cards. Pages 4, 5, and 6 of the packet are the backs of the cards on pages 7, 8, and 9. Rather than just printing double sided, I print them out as separate pages so that I can place them back to back in the laminator sheet so they are thicker, like a playing card, and not see-through. The same goes for the backs of the Climber’s Cards, page 10, and the Climber’s Cards instructions, page 11. Cut them out separately, place them back to back, then laminate them. Then all that’s left is laminating the game board/instructions page, and you’re good to go!
*A note with the Map cards: if you feel your game is going too slow, print out another page of the Map cards with the arrow pointing up, and add them to your deck. If you want your game to last longer, print out another page of the Map cards with the arrows pointing down, and add them to your deck. In both cases, print out another page of the card backs to make new cards.
Expansion Ideas:
This game has worked well as is, with a myriad of areas of practice packed in. But if you are looking for a little extra, as suggested above, one expansion idea is to have the kiddos name which note they landed on on their staff ladder, or have them go find the corresponding note on the keyboard.
A “note” on the “latter” idea (apologies for my plethora of word puns in this game/post- I just can’t help myself): movement can be very organizing for our bodies when we feel dysregulated. Sometimes if it’s difficult, or uncomfortable, or overstimulating to sit in one spot, getting up and moving can be so important in regulating our bodies and supporting our general focus. If you work with a kiddo who does not vibe with sitting still, offer the multi-level movements. Start sitting down on the ground with the board game, stand up to find the note on the keyboard, come back down to move your game piece, etc. Find adaptations to explore all sensory needs/desires in learning, play, and life in general!
Happy climbing!
Something about a board game just gets kids excited! We’re also able to transfer the ladder concept to the music we are working on, so “up,” and “down,” is feeling much more natural to my students now. We all know that amazing feeling when a concept finally clicks for a student after working on it for so long. This game was the magic trick for a couple of my kiddos and I’m so proud, and so happy for them! Hoping this game is helpful and fun for your climbers too!
Mikaila Vieyra, LPMT, MT-BC