Music theory mazes are a simple way to get newer or younger students to memorize elements of music theory. You start by posing a question or a fill-in-the-blank related to music theory, such as "The two music clefs are the treble clef and the ____clef." You then create a maze where the answer to the question is spelled out by tracing the maze route from start to finish. Students can color in the solution to highlight the answer. Add more wrong paths in the maze or longer answers to increase difficulty.
Concentration-like games can be applied to almost all elements of music theory. Present pairs of pictures or words on cards and place them face down on a table. Mix up the pairs, and then allow the students to reveal two cards, one by one. If the revealed cards are not a match, the students must return them to the face down position. If they do match, they can remove the pair. Time each student on how long it takes to find all the matches. Consider using concentration to help students learn various notes on a scale, time signatures and note length. Increase difficulty by increasing the number of pairs.
Matching music theory games test the student's application skill. Many matching games can be found as online Flash games. Examples include rhythm matching, where students tap certain keys on a keyboard in time with rhythm indicators scrolling across the screen.
Making use of live instruments or tools can bring music theory to life. Play a note and ask students to identify the note and its duration. Use a metronome and have students identify time signatures, and then ask them to identify a popular song that uses the same time signature.
For advanced theory, play a chord of notes and ask the students to identify all the notes in the cord or how many steps up or down the additional notes are from the key note. This is more effective with guitars or pianos, where separate notes can be clearly heard.