Music families play music games
When you play a note, you say the note
The race to get rid of your cards
This game includes note cards, rest cards and action cards. Players need to read and name notes and rests, while competing against each other to win!
And shout SOLO! when you're down to one card!
The Music Playing Card Story
About Louis van Coppenhagen
Louis van Coppenhagen was looking for a way to support his 10 year old daughter in learning the piano. Pushing for more practice was already being met with frustration and was not an option. Knowing she was developing a strong ear and could hear and repeat a melody on the piano, Louis wanted to work on her note-reading practice.
So he looked for solutions and found flash cards, which are a useful learning tool, but not a lot of fun for kids unless turned into a game. Louis played a fun but brief game of 'racing the clock' to see how many notes his daughter could name in 30 seconds. She improved her skills with ever round, in just a few minutes!
Then Louis' daughter made the connection: "What other games can we play with these?"
She suggested a game of 'memory', turning the cards over and matching pairs of notes. Louis argued that none of the notes are repeated so there were no pairs, while she pointed out that the note name is repeated 4 times across 4 octaves on the Treble and Bass clef. A fun game of memory followed, and Louis was forming the seed of an idea... 4 octaves... 12 note cards for each octave... rest cards... and the idea of Music Playing Cards came alive!
Louis van Coppenhagen was born into a musical family. His four older brothers and sisters also learned to play instruments, and his father Lin van Coppenhagen has played in bands his whole life. Louis childhood home had a 'music room' full of instruments, drums, PA system and a recording desk setup. Soundproofing was courtesy of carpet hung on the walls and egg cartons glued to the ceiling. Jams and band practice sessions were usually at Louis' house.
Louis learned piano from age 8 and saxophone from age 10, with some early recognition of talent leading to jazz improvisation while still in primary school, and high school featuring several competitions and awards for bands and solo performances.
The path after high school chose itself - studying jazz improvisation at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) was only for the talented and hard-working few who passed the entry auditions. Louis succeeded on the entry and started study, only to have the the joy of music sucked out by the environment. Over 6 months, Louis grew a fear of the jaded musician stereotype where music felt like 'work' and left the course.
For Louis, music means fun and freedom. Fun to enjoy being part of the music, Freedom to be completely absorbed by the present moment. Connecting with the present moment and forgetting everything except the feelings of right now, in the music, and the joy of experiencing something beautiful with the people around me.
Louis van Coppenhagen still plays saxophone around his home town of Melbourne Australia in bands, with DJ's and sometimes even on the slopes on his snowboarding trips.
