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Music Theory Card Games
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Musicards has been enjoyed by preschoolers to adults. To build familiarity with the cards and improve recognition of the notes and symbols, you can play such basics as Memory, Go Fish, and Old Maid. However, we have also created some unique games that teach and reinforce foundational music theory concepts that are necessary for further development.
If you are a more experienced musician, don't miss our Tools section
The Musical Alphabet is only 7 letters: A-B-C-D-E-F-G. Then it starts over again.
THE CARDS: You may use all 54 cards of the Musicards™ deck, including the four "?"s and two "Chromatic Scale" cards which function as wilds. The octave, color, and suit do not matter.
SET UP: (For 2-5 players)
1. Deal out 7 cards to each player. Players may look at their cards.
2. Place the remaining cards face down in the middle of the table as the stock.
3. Flip the top card of the stock over to start the discard pile beside the stock.
-If the card you flipped over to start the discard pile is a wild (“Chromatic Scale” or “?”), the first player may choose any card to play on top of it.
-If the flipped card has two letters on it, (for example “G#/Ab), the first player can choose which of the two letters it is and play up from that.
OBJECTIVE: The first player to run out of all their cards WINS!
PLAY:
1. Play proceeds clockwise, starting with the player to the left of the dealer.
2. On each turn, you are to put the next letter up above the last card played onto the discard pile.
3. You may choose to put down more than one card, but they must be the same letter (and have the same number on the cards).
-Example: If you’re going up by Seconds* and the last card played is an “F” (an F or F#), the next player must play a “G”. It may be a Gb, G, or G# (but not a mixture of these).
4. A wild card ("?"s and "Chromatic Scale"s) can always be used as a substitute for a needed card. Wilds may be played as part of a group of cards, too.
5. When playing your card or cards, you must ALWAYS say the letter you are playing. If you put down the wrong card OR say the wrong letter, you must take your card(s) back into your hand AND draw two (2) penalty cards from the stock.
6. When you get down to the last card in your hand, you must say, "Musicards™!" to let others know you have one card. If another player says "Musicards™" before you, you must draw two (2) penalty cards from the stock! (But you don't have to take back the card you played.)
PASSING:
1. If you don't have the card you need, you must draw from the stock. If that card works, you may play it. You must draw at least 3 cards in order to be allowed to pass. If you pass, the next player puts down the letter you were supposed to play, (unless they need to draw, etc).
2. If the stock runs out, shuffle and turn over the discard pile (except for the top card) and use it as the stock.
*At the beginning of each game, decide which interval you will be going by. For this game your choices are Seconds, Thirds, Fourths, Fifths, Sixths, or Sevenths. When figuring out the interval, you must count the letter you start on, the letter you end on, and the letters in between.
Example 1: From any F to any G is a Second. F-G. (1-2)
Example 2: From any F to any A is a Third. F-G-A. (1-2-3)
Example 3: From any A up to any D is a Fourth. A-B-C-D. (1-2-3-4)
The Musical Alphabet is only 7 letters: A-B-C-D-E-F-G. Then it starts over again.
THE CARDS: You may use all 54 cards of the Musicards™ deck, including the four "?"s and two "Chromatic Scale" cards which function as wilds. The octave, color, and suit do not matter.
SET UP: (For 2-5 players)
1. Deal out 7 cards to each player. Players may look at their cards.
2. Place the remaining cards face down in the middle of the table as the stock.
3. Flip the top card of the stock over to start the discard pile beside the stock.
-If the card you flipped over to start the discard pile is a wild (“Chromatic Scale” or “?”), the first player may choose any card to play on top of it.
-If the flipped card has two letters on it, (for example “G#/Ab), the first player can choose which of the two letters it is and play up from that.
OBJECTIVE: The first player to run out of all their cards WINS!
PLAY:
1. Play proceeds clockwise, starting with the player to the left of the dealer.
2. On each turn, you are to put the next letter up above the last card played onto the discard pile.
3. You may choose to put down more than one card, but they must be the same letter (and have the same number on the cards).
-Example: If you’re going up by Seconds* and the last card played is an “F” (an F or F#), the next player must play a “G”. It may be a Gb, G, or G# (but not a mixture of these).
4. A wild card ("?"s and "Chromatic Scale"s) can always be used as a substitute for a needed card. Wilds may be played as part of a group of cards, too.
5. When playing your card or cards, you must ALWAYS say the letter you are playing. If you put down the wrong card OR say the wrong letter, you must take your card(s) back into your hand AND draw two (2) penalty cards from the stock.
6. When you get down to the last card in your hand, you must say, "Musicards™!" to let others know you have one card. If another player says "Musicards™" before you, you must draw two (2) penalty cards from the stock! (But you don't have to take back the card you played.)
PASSING:
1. If you don't have the card you need, you must draw from the stock. If that card works, you may play it. You must draw at least 3 cards in order to be allowed to pass. If you pass, the next player puts down the letter you were supposed to play, (unless they need to draw, etc).
2. If the stock runs out, shuffle and turn over the discard pile (except for the top card) and use it as the stock.
*At the beginning of each game, decide which interval you will be going by. For this game your choices are Seconds, Thirds, Fourths, Fifths, Sixths, or Sevenths. When figuring out the interval, you must count the letter you start on, the letter you end on, and the letters in between.
Example 1: From any F to any G is a Second. F-G. (1-2)
Example 2: From any F to any A is a Third. F-G-A. (1-2-3)
Example 3: From any A up to any D is a Fourth. A-B-C-D. (1-2-3-4)
Key’s Corners is a fun, scale-spelling game that helps you remember what notes are in a key.
DEFINITIONS:
A scale is any set of musical notes ordered by pitch. Scales are built on interval formulas. Diatonic scales use only half steps and whole steps.
An interval is the distance from one musical note (pitch) to another.
A half step (semitone or minor 2nd) is the smallest interval between two adjacent notes in a 12-tone scale (e.g. from C to C#/Db or from E to F). On the Chromatic Scale clock, this would be advancing from one “hour” to the next. (e.g. from 12 to 1 or from 4 to 5).
A whole step (whole tone or Major 2nd) is two half steps. (e.g. from C to D or from E to F#/Gb). On the Chromatic Scale clock, this would be skipping one “hour”. (e.g. from 12 to 2 or 4 to 6).
The first note of a scale is called the keynote (tonic, root, or “Do” in solfege syllables)
One common scale is the Major scale. This is spelled by arranging the notes using the following interval formula:
Keynote - whole step - whole step - half step - whole step - whole step - whole step
NUMBER OF PLAERS: 2-5
SET UP:
Decide which scale you will be using for the current round. If needed, you may write down the scale for reference.
Deal five cards to each player. Put the rest of the cards face down in the center of table to form the stock pile.
Flip four cards face-up from the stock pile, and place them North, East, South, and West around the stock pile, to start four foundation piles.
PLAY:
The player to dealer's left goes first.
Always first, draw until you have 5 cards. (You won’t need to draw on your first hand.)
There are several possible plays:
-Play scale notes in sequence, (starting with the keynote) in the corners.
-Play scale notes in sequence on foundation piles.
-Stack up to four non-scale notes on foundation piles.
-Fill in empty foundation piles.
-Move cards from one pile to another.
-Discard a card that cannot be played on anything else showing.
At the end of your turn, tell the next player that you are done.
PLAYING ON THE CORNERS:
The corner spaces (NW, SW, NE, and SE) always start with the keynote or tonic of the scale. For example, if the scale is D major, (spelled D-E-F#-G-A-B-C#) a D may be played in any of the 4 corners.
Continue playing the notes in order up the scale.
Whoever completes the scale by playing the final note (in this example, a C#) takes the entire scale as a set (book) to be added to their score at the end of the game.
A player may move cards from a foundation pile onto the corner pile as long as the correct sequence of notes is maintained.
Empty corner spaces do not need to be filled.
PLAYING ON THE FOUNDATIONS:
If a foundation pile is part of the scale sequence, you may play on the pile, continuing up the scale up to the last note of the scale (in this example, C#)
If a foundation pile is not part of the scale sequence (non-scale tones), you can stack up to four of the same card. For example, “Ab” is not in the D Major scale, so you can stack up to four Ab’s.
Whoever completes a stack by playing the fourth non-scale note, takes the entire stack as a set (book) to be added to their score at the end of the game.
You may move cards from one foundation pile onto another pile as long as the correct sequence of notes is maintained.
Empty foundation pile spaces MUST be filled first, from any cards in the current player’s hand. Then next, (if no more cards in their hand) from the discard pile (top card first).
If the current player runs out of cards to fill the empty foundation piles, and the discard pile is used up, the next player must fill the spaces with cards from their hand.
THE DISCARD PILE:
Instead of playing on one of the foundation or corner piles, you may choose to play one card onto the discard pile (located off to the side of the main board).
If you play a discard, that must be the only card you play for that turn (you may not play other cards and discard as well)
The discard must not be a possible play anywhere else on the board.
The top card of the discard pile may be used for any play showing on the board. But, empty foundation pile spaces must FIRST be filled with cards from the current player’s hand.
Also, a player is not required to play from the discard pile even though it may be a possible play (except for filling empty spaces).
OTHER RULES:
A wild card (“?” or “Chromatic Scale”) can always be used as a substitute for a needed card (player must say what note they are using the wild as).
You must play at least one card on each turn. A discard counts as a play.
If there is a possible play showing on the board during your turn, you must play it.
You are allowed to hold onto playable cards in your hand, as long as the board doesn’t require them.
When the stock pile runs out, play continues as before (except for needing 5 cards) until every player has run out of cards or possible plays.
SCORING:
Each completed scale is worth 10 points
Each non-scale stack of four is worth 5 points.
Whoever gets the most points wins!