Major and minor leagues
- Sarah Lyngra
- May 27
- 2 min read
It's almost June 2025 and time for the next circle of 5ths. This month it's baseball!
Not all of my students are sports fans, but for the ones who are, we have the major and minor leagues.
For these students, a trip around the circle is going to be called a home run. A daily warm up will be at least one trip around the circle doing something.
With very beginning students, you can start by simply finding the different keys on the piano in the order of the circle. I generally start with F when we go clockwise around the circle, and B when we go counterclockwise. Over time, this helps students remember the order of sharps and flats. I don't make a big deal out of it. Later when we start talking about the order of sharps and flats, it connects more easily.
It wouldn't be too difficult to create a baseball game with the circle of 5ths, a diagram of a baseball diamond, and a 6 sided die.
Possilble rules:
Start at home, roll the die
1 is a single
2 is a double
3 is a triple
4 is a home run
5 is a strike
6 is a ball
Using the circle of 5ths, start on any key, to get from one base to the next you go 3 5ths around. For example, if you started on C, a single would take you to A, a double would get you to F sharp, a triple would get you to E flat and a home run gets you back to C.
The batter plays something on the piano to get from one base to the next. I'll have to come up with some kind of scoring system. But I can see this working well as a group exercise. . . If you think of rules and would like to share, let me know.
Needless to say, this idea could use a little work, but I wonder what rules my students will make up. It could be a fun project for the month.
Keep in mind, that even if you print these things out as a circle, you can also cut them up and have students recreate the circle using the baseballs, in this case.
One of the nice things that's happening with having a different circle of 5ths each month is that my students aren't getting tired of seeing it. They look forward to what the next month is going to be, and they feel good after they have completed going all the way around.
Are you experiencing that too?
Happy Playing!
Sarah
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