The first interactive music game that I found I really like was Whack-A-Note. This game focuses on note-name recognition. Different notes, on staves, pop up on a 3x3 grid. The student is supposed to "whack" the note that the game asks for. Whenever a note is "whacked", that note is sounded. Not only are the students recognizing the note by where it is on the staff, but they are also able to hear it. When the student hits a wrong note, that note is sounded harmonically with the correct note so that the student knows it is wrong. This means that this game isn't just helpful visually, but also aurally.
The next interactive app that I quickly became a huge fan of was Incredibox. I hadn't heard of this site before class on Friday. There are a few reasons that I believe it is a great site. First of all, the loops are all made to fit together, no matter the order. This means that the student can be as creative as they want without ever being wrong. Another reason why this app is great is because it creates a strong feeling of beat and tempo. The only problem that I would say this app has is its limited options for instruments, voices, etc. Once you have played around with the app for a while you run out of options, and it gets a little boring.
Another app that I love is called Ball Droppings. This app is a bit difficult to explain without just trying it. Basically, there are balls that are dropping at a constant rate out of a hole. The user draws lines in the space below where the balls are dropping, and when the balls hit these lines, they sound they make changes pitch. The rate at which the balls drop can be sped up or slowed down. I have seen multiple versions of this for different devices, and for some of them, you are able to record what you have created. I think this app is a great way for kids to hear differences in pitches. The one problem that I do find with this app is that there is no correlation between where the lines are drawn and the pitch. The only consistency seems to be that each line drawn is a different pitch.
I also found a great app that teaches kids facts about composers. This app is called Composer Time Machine on a website called Classics for Kids. This app allows students to pick a specific time period. The student can then choose a composer. When a composer is chosen a list of facts about that composer appears, along with a list of historical events that happened during the period of time that person was composing. There are also selections of music to play from each composer. I think this is a great way to give kids a larger understanding of musical history. It also helps them to associate the different styles of music with their correct time periods.
The final web app that I found useful was a game called Flying Instruments. The game is a bit like Tetris. Different instruments fall and the student is to stack them together based on their family, specific instrument, or by their sound. The student moves instruments that don't match out of the way by clicking the left or right arrows. This game is a great way to familiarize students with the different timbres of instruments. It begins on an easy level by recognizing whether it is string, brass, woodwind, or percussion. The final game is more difficult because the student has to match the instruments up solely by their sound, there is no visual image.
No comments:
Post a Comment