I love games. As soon as you land on my blog you'll see tons of free piano teaching games that I share here and use in my studio. Games make learning FUN, which I believe is a very serious business.
In fact, I even have a whole library dedicated to teaching music effectively using games.
I have a lot of games in my studio. All have their merits, but some of them stand out. These are the free piano teaching games that I return to again and again.
These piano teaching games are the ones that save lessons with sleepy or grumpy students. Keep these in your toolkit and you'll have more fun in all your piano lessons.
Especially those lessons which aren't going quite as planned… 😉
Note: This post was originally published in July 2017 and update in July 2019.
Get Lana Del Rey Video Games sheet music notes, chords. Transpose, print or convert, download Pop PDF and learn to play Piano, Vocal & Guitar score in minutes. We collected 10 of the best free online piano games. These games include browser games for both your computer and mobile devices, as well as apps for your Android and iOS phones and tablets. They include new piano games such as Cloud Piano and top piano games such as Multiplayer Piano, Virtual Piano, and Perfect Piano.
1. Symbol Splash
I created Symbol Splash last September and I love it because it can be used so easily with students of different levels.
There are four levels of the game cards – and the best part is that students can play together while using different levels of the cards. Perfect for mixed group lessons or a quick review in a private lesson.
2. Finger Twister
This is my favourite game for the first few lessons with any new student. Even tween and teen beginners have happily played this game.
For preschoolers, we play by just placing the correct finger on the spot, one by one. Older students can play like the full twister game. Every student loves to spin the spinner!
3. Musical Alphabet Blocks
These musical alphabet blocks are the newest of the free piano teaching games that have made it onto this list. But they definitely deserve their spot in this top 9.
These blocks have already earned their keep for sure.
So far, I have used these to review scales, drill the music alphabet with preschoolers and build chords with teens. I think the idea to have the black and white matching the piano keys is just brilliant – shout out to Mrs Miracle's Music Room again for the idea.
4. Piano Puzzle
The piano puzzle cards is one of my most popular posts of all time. No wonder! I think many piano students have trouble relating the notes on the staff directly to the piano keys.
Video Games Piano Sheet Music
These tiny foam backed cards make it so simple. Plus the time log sheet can build a healthy competition within your studio. Flashcards have never been so fun. 🙂
5. Don't Leaf Me!
Don't Leaf Me! is a firm favourite with Vibrant Music Teaching members. It's so handy because, like Symbol Splash above, it can be used with multiple levels of students.
This one is fantastic for group lessons and for overlapping time between siblings. The kids love the 'lucky rake' twist!
6. Relative Rhythms
Play Piano Notes On Computer
The relative rhythm cards come out every day in my studio. They can be adapted for dictation, composition or simply used to demonstrate a new note value.
The direct relationship helps children to understand the relative nature of our note value system. This leads to a deeper and more reliable understanding of rhythms. Plus it's really fun too.
7. Landmark Landmines
If you teach using a landmark and interval note system, those landmark notes really need to be reviewed over and over. Which is why I have several games I use to check in with these notes regularly.
Landmark Landmines is my (and my students') favourite landmark note game. The 'exploding' spots on the game board have lead to many fits of giggles at the Colourful Keys Piano Studio.
8. Staff Clothes Peg Match-up
This grand staff game from Susan Paradis is fantastic for several reasons. First, because it's fun, colourful and young piano beginners love it.
But more fantastic still – is that the clothes pegs also improve finger dexterity. The kids don't even know that they're working on technique while playing a game. 🙂
Now that's what I call a well-planned piano teaching game.
9. Aural Training Paddles
These ear-training paddles are one of the first freebies I ever posted on my site! It's crazy to think how long I've been using them at this stage – but they still come out all the time.
Amazon minecraft java. (Plus they do have a bit of sentimental value to me too now that I'm well over 200 posts into my blogging.)
I especially like that I can make these into a wiggle break by having my student hold their card high up in the air (or jump up towards the sky!) when they have the answer – and sit down when they're still thinking.
Get the wiggles out and do some aural training at the same time. Win, win.
Do you need more high-quality piano teaching games?
You'll find them in my fabulous Vibrant Music Teaching membership site. This is THE place to be if you want to teach using games in a way that's effective and doesn't require you to put in a ton of planning time.
Perfect if you're looking to reinforce something in particular. Find out more about the membership and everything that's included here.
Tabs and video tutorials only go so far; sometimes you just need to get a hold of that video game's sheet music. We've gone out and found six of the best video game sheet music sites that should give you all the bars, crotchets and quavers you need to play your favourite gaming soundtrack.
1. NinSheetMusic
Price: Free!
Nin(tendo)SheetMusic is the sheet music repository for anything from Pokemon to Super Mario Bros to Banjo-Kazooie. Even better, it's still an active site, the last update (as of writing) having come out at the end of July 2017.
To be honest, I'm surprised this site is still online, considering how protective Nintendo tends to be of their intellectual property. But don't look a gift horse in the mouth: NinSheetMusic is the place to go if you need some Nintendo beats to play.
Strengths
- Free
- Good quality sheet music
- Lots of choice
Weaknesses
- Piano-only
- Nintendo-only
2. Music Notes
Price: A few dollars per song
Music Notes isn't solely dedicated to video game sheet music like some of the other entries, but it does have a well-populated specialised section with a wide range of different songs from a variety of games. Most of them are for piano, but you can also find vocals, woodwind, brass and even some string compositions.
Unfortunately, the good quality of this sheet music does come at a cost—literally. You can expect to pay a few dollars for each set of sheet music you purchase. You can preview them online for free, but if you want to print the whole lot, you'll need to cough up.
Video Game Piano Notes Explode
Strengths
- Wide range of games and instruments
- Excellent quality sheet music
- Printer-friendly.
Weakness
- Costs $$$
- Mostly favours piano music.
3. Ultimate Guitar Tab Pro
Price: ~$45USD
Ah, Ultimate-Guitar.com. Is there any better example of the generosity of the music community? Any song you could ever imagine probably has a tab, or even a full set of sheet music, right here. That includes your favourite video game soundtracks too.
Most of the stuff you'll find are tabs, rather than actual sheet music. But if you get Tab Pro, you can access the premium stuff, which includes sheet music. It can be a little pricey, but if you want access to a lot of stuff (rather than just the single sheet music on Music Notes), this can be a good way to get it.
Strengths
- Lots of choice
- Good quality sheet music
- Get access to a lot of sheet music
Weakness
- Costs $$$
- Heavily guitar and bass-oriented.
4. Video Game Sheet Music and Other Junk
Price: Free!
Most of the time, Tumblr blogs are full of rants or porn or rants about porn. But shadoninja has put together a seriously useful blog that has an incredible amount of really good quality video game sheet music. And better yet, it's all free.
This blogger has put a lot of effort into providing something awesome; they even include a music player in each blog post so you can listen to the song before you download it. He or she has also covered a significant number of games titles, so you're likely to find something you like at the very least.
Strengths
- Free
- Lots of choice
- Music previews
Weaknesses
- Limited in number compared to larger sites
- Mostly piano stuff
5. Final Fantasy Music
Price: Free!
When writing for the web, you've got to find your niche. And that's exactly what Final Fantasy Music has done. If you want sheet music from the never-ending series that ironically has ‘Final' in every single game, this site will have it.
As a bonus, you can also find song lyrics and MIDI tunes as well.
Strengths
- Free
- Specific
- Covers most Final Fantasy games
Weaknesses
- Some sheet music isn't very good quality
- Very niche
6. Ichigo's Sheet Music
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With over 3,000 pieces of sheet music and an additional dozen or more submitted each month, Ichigo's Sheet Music is the granddaddy of video game sheet music sites. It's got a lot of piano sheet music, but also strings, woodwind, brass and even some group compositions.
Most of the music is from Japanese games, but you'll still find a few Western choices here and there. There's also a good amount of anime sheet music too.
Strengths
- Lots of choice
- Totally free
- Wide variety of instruments
- Still very active
Weaknesses
- Mostly Japanese games and anime
- Layout is a little lacklustre
Hope all you video game musicians out there found this useful! Did I miss an important site? Let me know in the comments below!
