Soldiers and Sound Effects: The Way to a Boy's Heart

I love to use games with children because they keep the atmosphere relaxed and fun, and children always learn best when they are relaxed. I always get much more willing focus and effort from a child when I use a game.

Here is a great game for boys. It was invented off-the-cuff as a stroke of inspiration (maybe desperation is a better word) in the middle of a piano lesson with a 6-year-old "Eric". Eric was working on a short, but tricky, 8-measure song: “Black Snake”. (You can download “Black Snake” for free here.) He had learned the song hands together, and was playing it confidently—except he was missing a couple of notes every time. I knew he was capable of being 100% accurate—focus was all he was lacking. Enter the game.

With a playful smile I said, “Eric, I’m placing five coins here on the piano. These five coins are your soldiers. Your job is to save as many as you can from falling into the hot lava. Every time you play a missed note, one soldier is going to fall into the lava! If you can play the whole song from start to finish without missing a single note, then a helicopter will come and rescue your soldiers. Let’s see how many soldiers you can save!”

His interest was captured, and Eric proceeded to play. I was prepared for his first missed note. As soon as a mistake came, I took one of the coins, and using my best little boy sound effects (you’ve all heard it), I made the moaning-and-falling-into-a-deep-pit sound as I floated the coin/soldier down to his fate. Eric got a wonderful kick out of that, and with a smile, happily tried the song again, this time with noticeably increased focus and determination. Another miss! Another soldier fell into the lava with dramatic sound effects accompanied by another smile from Eric. On the third try Eric played the song 100% accurately!

“You saved these 3 soldiers!” I said with excitement. “These soldiers all say ‘thank you’ to you!”

I told Eric to try this game at home every day during piano practice, and to see how many soldiers he could save. He gladly agreed.

This game worked so well, I have used it many times since with other piano students who needed a little motivation to concentrate on a certain aspect of their playing (correct notes, correct rhythms, hand position, wrist position—anything).

If you want your games to succeed, remember to keep them playful, light-hearted and fun. The beauty of using a game is that you don’t have to correct or even encourage—the game takes care of all of that for you. Just have fun doing the game.

I always welcome your comments, feedback and ideas!
Happy practicing!