Back in 2016, I created my first-ever Music Olympics!
I've managed to find a few photos of it, too!
Side note: this was also the first music resource I sold online - some of you reading this might have even bought it back then!
Since then, it's undergone several changes - the latest are "Music Owlympics" and "Oly. M. Pic's Music Games"
(because I've also learned since then that the name 'Olympics' is copyrighted, so I can't use it 🤫)
I thought I'd take a moment to share with you how I've used Music Owlympics and Oly. M. Pic's Music Games in my lessons through the years, in case it inspires you!
how I've used music owlympics
A different event each week in student's one-to-one lessons. I'll tell them a week in advance what the next event will be and what the musical element is so they can brush up on things (this was especially useful before the bass clef reading event - some students went home and practiced their bass clef reading ready to be tested!)
When I was teaching in-person lessons, the scoreboards were displayed on the wall with everyone's scores and timings—students loved coming in and seeing how well everyone was doing!
I'll tweak rules for different students: - For less-confident students, I'll extend the time in timed events. I don't want them to feel unnecessarily pressured and fall to pieces. - For overly confident students, I'll reduce the time to keep them on their toes! - Some students get extra help and nudge toward the right answer (I don't want them to fail miserably and be embarrassed by their score) - Some students are on their own. They can handle the pressure!
The first time I ran it, I invented a fictional student, Charles. Charles never did well in any event. He was at the bottom of every scoreboard. This meant that the students who actually existed and weren't doing well didn't feel too bad- Charles was always lagging behind them!
I've used Oly. M. Pic's Music Games with my online students, and it's worked brilliantly. They have their copy of the sheets in front of them, and I have the timer and any extra information in front of me.
I've used Music Owlympics and Oly. M. Pic's with complete beginners, students at Grade 4 level, and students ages 6 to 16 (and everyone's thoroughly enjoyed them!)
This year, I've added extra ways students can earn points: 10 points for playing me a piece (some students quickly caught on that if they turn up with a few extra pieces that they've practiced they can give me a mini-concert and earn more points) 10 points for continuing to work on a piece (this gives some students that like to procrastinate an extra nudge to focus) Up to 20 bonus points every lesson for being a lovely and positive student (which works wonders on students who like to complain things are too hard - they know they won't get their bonus points if they complain!) Up to 50 more bonus points are available for answering 5 questions correctly. This is a new addition for the last couple of weeks before we finish, to give students another chance to boost their scores. It's also a fun way to keep them on their toes - three questions are musical questions, and two of them are questions about me that they should know the answer to (i.e. What's the name of my cat?)
This year, my students don't seem to be too bothered about how other people are doing - they just want to know their own score each week. So I'm keeping track of their scores in a Google Sheet and telling them their updated score at the end of each lesson. Now we're nearing the end, some students are more interested in other people's scores - mainly "Who's winning? What's their score? What's my score again? How can I earn more points?" I'm also starting to post the scores on our studio's socials because I know a selection of teenage students (and the parents of the younger ones) will keep track and see how everyone's doing!
If you'd like to use Music Owlympics or Oly. M. Pic's Music Games in your studio but want some other ideas, please don't hesitate to reach out!
Over the years, other teachers have told me how they've used them in their studios, so I have lots of ideas I can share with you!
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