“PSSST… Your Piano Teacher Thinks This Is THEORY” book review
They did it again! Andrea and Trevor Dow with TeachPianoToday.com created another AWESOME resource that has me super excited! If you haven’t heard of it yet, PSSST… Your Piano Teacher Thinks This Is THEORY is their latest and greatest resource teachers can use with their students. BUT this is not your ordinary theory book, oh no! This is what I would call a theory activity book. PSSST… Your Piano Teacher Thinks This Is THEORY gets students using their imagination playing games, hands on activities, creating during the lesson, in the car and at home. Creativity is what it is all about!
Watch: PSSST… Your Piano Teacher Thinks This is THEORY promo video
PSSST… Your Piano Teacher Thinks This Is THEORY is chock full of 88 activities divided into 9 chapters. I will go through some samples in those chapters in a bit. The activities are geared for students 6-11 years old, but I found that there are some activities I think even some of my teenagers would enjoy. They are not in any particular order or level. You customize their activity with what they are learning at the lesson. It is a perfect resource for those teaching moments that call for something special!
I wanted to share a sample page from each section so you can get an idea of what fun you can have with your students when you purchase this book (because I know you will want to!)
–DYNAMICS
“Piano Action Star” allows the students to set the tone in their music and create something unique using the dynamics where they think they should go. This can lead up to many creative opportunities!
–ARTICULATION
Here is my student doing “Be Nosey”. Teacher calls out different articulations, the student plays a note matching that articulation mark. Boys in particular like this activity!
–ITALIAN TERMS
“Dinner with Fortissimo and Giocoso” is not only teaching the student what different italian terms mean, but the entire family! I like to suggest when students do this activity at home, that they help their mom make an Italian dinner. 
–HALF STEPS AND WHOLE STEPS
“Whole Step, Half Step Tic Tac Toe” puts a new spin on the game!
–ACCIDENTALS
“Rock, Paper, Scissors… Sharp, Flat, Natural” is a spin off of… you guessed it! Rock, Paper, Scissors ACCIDENTAL style!
–INTERVALS
How about shark action turning major 2nds to minor 2nds with “JAWS!”
–CHORDS
I love sounds stories. They open the possibilities for creativity within our students. “Once Upon a Time” uses a sound story to create major and minor sounds with chords.
–VALUES AND RESTS
“Morse Code Mission” is a fun worksheet style activity decoding a secret message from note values and rests.
–TIME SIGNATURES
“Time Signature Treasure Chest” is a fun activity for figuring out the time signatures. An adaption to make it a little harder is to have the teacher play a piece without the student seeing the score and they figure out the signature.
These were just a small sample of some of the activities you can find in PSSST… Your Piano Teacher Thinks This Is THEORY. This book lends itself to be very adaptable and expandable. You can use these activities during private lessons, group lessons, camps, workshops, pretty much wherever and however you want to.
PSSST… Your Piano Teacher Thinks This Is THEORY is available to purchase here for $39.99. The best part?! It is reproducible! When you purchase this book, it allows you to print the whole book or just a page at a time as needed as many times with as many of your students as you want. How can you lose?
Now for the FUN part! Andrea Dow has graciously offered two lucky readers of this blog to win a copy of PSSST… Your Piano Teacher Thinks This Is THEORY! Be sure to like TeachPianoToday on Facebook!
To enter, leave a comment below describing a fun theory idea or two that you like to do in your studio with your students. Deadline to enter is by Thursday, August 29th at 10:00pm (mountain time).
(*Winner MUST respond within 72 hours of announcement or another winner will be chosen*) The winner will be announced on this blog and on the Facebook page by Friday, August 30th. Be sure you subscribe to the blog and on our Facebook page so you don’t miss out seeing if you are a winner!
Disclaimer: I received this book in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own.
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57 Responses
This looks like a lot of fun! I can’t wait to try it out with my students this Fall. I hope I win one of those 2 free books!
This book sounds great! One fun theory activity I started last year was to have a theory question of the week posted on my whiteboard (three different levels of difficulty). The students were assigned to a level based on their ability and then earned points towards the studio wide incentive for correct answers.
No need to enter me into the drawing- I pre- ordered this as soon as it became available!! I can’t believe how many great ideas are in it- and I haven’t even finished going through it!
I am convinced that my studio is FRESH and VIBRANT because of Andrea and Trevor’s products. These resources are so unpredictable and fun that my students just smile when I bring out the folder of their products (I have Fearless Fortissimo and Curious Case of Muzzart and Ratmaninoff). I love to use the whiteboard to describe theory concepts. A favorite is dynamics. Each progressive dynamic is a “double” of the one before. For example, “pp” is a 1, then “p” is a 2, “mp” is a 4, “mf” is an 8, “f” is 16 and “ff” is 32. I draw it out on the whiteboard, they fill in the numbers. Then we put the number values on their music so they can see the movement of the dynamics. Jeez, though, looking at these sample sheets, alot more fun could be had using this book! Don’t you just love this job!!??
I have really been enjoying the puzzle erasers for showing scale fingerings, and I would love to win a copy of this book!
I would love to win a copy of this book! One of my student’s favorite theory activities is to use a TALKING fly swatter to hit the correct flashcard. It says all kinds of creative things, but the favorite is “Die, sucker!” 🙂
This looks like such a great resource! I have been utilizing the lines and spaces dice from The Practice Shoppe with my students this summer to make notenaming practice more fun.
I help illustrate dynamics with paint chips. Fortunately my local hardware store has the perfect selection with six shades per paint chip! I just use a Sharpie to write in the dynamics markings. I’d love to have more fun ways of making theory “stick”!
My 2 favourite theory activities are: playing leap-frog with letters taped to their backs to learn about triad inversions; & using Mega-blocks bricks (really big Lego) with a single letter name written on them to identify intervals (“how many blocks to build up from C to A?”)
I LOVE Andrea Dow & the creative things she comes up with.
I have the ” Shhhhh. … Your piano teacher thinks this is practice”
Would love to add this one!
I use colorful pencil erasers to help younger students learn about half steps NF whole steps. They love choosing the different colored erasers to place on the keyboard and moving the erasers from one key to another. The erases also work well to demonstrate a Major scale pattern. The students love working with just simple colorful pencil erasers….. And they are cheap!!
I have used a lot of different theory ideas that I find on this website but one in particular stands out — Hot Cars with notes painted on it and a highway (laminated) with notes to match the Hot Cars — half note, whole note, dotted half. . . .
One of my student’s favorite games is guide note slapjack. We use a deck of 36 staff cards from Low C to High C. Each student has a fly swatter with a flower on it (purchased at the dollar store and used only for games, not flies!). I turn the cards over one at a time. If it’s a guide note they slap the note, name it, and play it on the piano. If they are successful they get that card and all the ones under it. If they aren’t successful the game continues, If they slap a note that is not a guide note they lose all their cards. I’d love to discover more fun games in this book!
I love Andrea & Trevor’s resources! Would love to win one of these books!!
When there’s no snow on the ground, I like to draw theory symbols with sidewalk chalk on the sidewalk leading up to my studio. My students have to tell me the definition of the symbols as they come in the door. (I’ve also been known to write out a short music-related joke for them as they come up the walk). Or I draw a staff and they have to fill in the missing notes, or tell me what word I spelled using only notes on the staff. Etc, etc.
I’d love to introduce my students to Trevor & Andrea’s new resource! Thanks for the giveaway!
I love this book! I just bought it this week actually 🙂
Enter me, please!
Would love to win a copy of it! One activity that my students love for discussing scale degrees and chord names (I, IV, V, etc.), as well as intervals, is using a whiteboard marker ON THE KEYS of my keyboard. I let them write numbers on the white keys of a C major scale, and POOF! Perfect interactive visual! (Disclaimer: I don’t think I’d try this on a nice piano! My keyboard has plastic keys which clean quite easily for residue.)
This book would be perfect for my students. We play theory games together often. One of the most popular games is using boomwhackers using teams. I stand in the middle holding up the staff note ( or keyboard note) . They run up to me, call out the note and run behind me to the boomwhackers arranged alphabetically , grab the correct one and play it. All age groups love this one. !
Love how the internet broadens our ability to share ideas! Thank you all for sharing.
My ‘ideas’ are copy cats from all of you! We like to use beads or buttons to spell words on the piano keys.