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. Louis identified his daughter was developing a strong ear, she could hear a melody and repeat it on the piano, and Louis wanted to work on her note-reading practice.
So he looked for solutions and found flash cards, which made it easy to print square cards showing different notes, and 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 had an inspirational question: "What other games can we play with these?"
She suggested a game of 'memory', turning the cards over and matching pairs of notes. While Louis argued that none of the notes were repeated so there were no pairs, Louis' daughter 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.
Louis kept that question going... what other games can we play with these? 4 octaves... 12 notes in each octave... 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 priviledged few who passed the entry auditions. Louis succeeded and commenced study, only to have the the joy of music sucked out by the environment. After 6 months, Louis decided to protect his love of music from becoming a means to an end, fearing the jaded musicians who's music felt like 'work'.
For Louis, music means the freedom to be completely absorbed by the present moment, with the only feelings being the joy of experiencing something beautiful and the connection of experience 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 snow slopes.