Whether you and your students are seasoned pros with using MakeMusic Cloud or are learning to use a new-to-you tool, trying out one of these “quick win” assignment ideas is sure to boost engagement and musical skills.
1. “Layup” Review
This activity is called “layup” review because when a student sees it on their assignment list, they should think “EASY!”
Choose an exercise, line, or section of something that you have already worked on in class time or in the recent past that you know your students will feel confident playing. Assign it to them with the instruction to submit the take that they feel the most proud of. Take it a step further and assign it as an ungraded assignment to further take pressure off. Encourage students to use the comments box in the submission process to tell you, in a few words, why they are most proud of what they submitted. This quick activity checks all the boxes of review, self-reflection, and focused practice!
2. Play Your Best Tone
Especially great for new users, this assignment can build MakeMusic Cloud confidence instantly with students of all ability levels. From your method book of choice (we have over 200!) or even a Foundations series exercise, select a line that is just one or two long-tone pitches that they should be able to confidently perform. Create an assignment for your students with the instructions to use their best tone. The content of the assignment should be easy so students can focus on learning how Practice in MakeMusic Cloud works, how the assignment submission process works, and even how the microphone calibration process works on their specific device. Just like anything, learning a new tool takes a little practice, and assignments like this are quick ways to guide students to success!
3. Reinforce Skills with Sight Reading Exercises
Sight Reading Studio within MakeMusic Cloud provides powerful customization options that allow teachers to create specific review exercises for students to support learning both in and out of class time. Need to review a new pitch that your students are working on? Adjust the pitch options to focus on just the new pitch and its neighboring pitches. Reviewing a new rhythm? Focus on that pattern in the options and deselect most others. Working on a specific interval? Sight Reading Studio can isolate intervals too! Once you have prepared your template, you can assign it, practice it in class time in Ensemble mode, or even share a specific generated exercise with your students. There are so many options here—spend some time experimenting with it yourself and you’ll come up with some great use cases for your specific students and situation!
4. Catalog Exploration
Invite students to explore the ever-growing Music Catalog and choose a title (or titles) they would like to play at an upcoming concert or as a solo. Giving students some parameters can make an exercise like this feel less overwhelming—consider parameters such as specific composer names, title themes, genres, or difficulty ratings from the Music Catalog. Students can create their own repertoire Playlists or simply share single title links with you. You and your students will be sure to discover some new favorites from this exploration activity!
What other creative assignment ideas using MakeMusic Cloud have you come up with? Share your ideas here!