Testing times

Yesterday I tried out the games with some of my students for the first time. Watching them play helped me to think of improvements that could be made.

• Some of them got frustrated when they didn't know one of the notes and as the game repeatedly asked them for that note they never found the right answer. Perhaps it would be more helpful if after a wrong answer instead of immediately going on to the next question the right answer came up on the screen. 
• I also felt that the gap between questions was a little too long, especially for those who really know their notes. If the gap was shorter they would be able to get a higher score in the time limit. This was also brought up by one of the students. She said, 'the clapping lasts too long'!

Something else that this exercise helped me to see is that some students have made a strong connection between where a note is on the stave and how they play that note on the violin without making the connection to what the note is called, while others are very sure of what the notes are called but less sure of how to play them on the violin. The student who is the worst sight reader got the highest score with no mistakes at all! Making this three-way connection between note name, where it is on the stave and where it is on the violin is something I will focus on more in lessons and perhaps it can be the basis for a new game!

All of the students said the really enjoyed playing the games. They thought they were 'really cool'! Some were very interested in how I had made them and said they would like to have a go at doing it themselves. 

Ideas for improvement from them were:

• Make games for other scales.
• Change the graphics for the note name game so that there are notes and violins in the background.
• Make a game where the stave is on the screen rather than on the table and you click on the notes with the mouse.

I will be trying the games with all my students and at the end of the week I will listen back to all the interviews and decide what changes to make.