Gaming or playing computer games is often blamed for preventing children from pursuing more productive activities. The challenge here is that gaming appeals to children because it’s fun.
That’s the reason why learning has today been taken to the gaming platform so that kids have their fun and get to learn something new while they’re at it. The great news is that this also applies to music education.
There are so many online resources available today that combine interactive gaming with instrumental lessons and music teaching. This would be very useful if your child is having a hard time staying engaged during practice sessions, for instance, because the gaming element holds her attention for longer.
Kathy Gossen provides a great resource that you can use to identify good music education games available online in her ultimate list:
Having a background as a music teacher, I often get the asked what resources are available for homeschoolers to grow in their music studies. As such, today I’d like to share with you an Ultimate List of Online Music Education Games available for FREE to public and homeschoolers alike to have fun while learning more about music. Whether playing via iPad, SmartBoard, or laptop, each resource provides supportive games and activities to reinforce music concepts at home. Via Cornerstone Confessions
She even organizes them for you into six categories: aural training, composers, composition, instruments, notation, symbols/vocabulary and variety:
- Aural training
These are meant to enhance your child’s ability to recall musical patterns, distinguish them from others, identify instruments based on the sounds they produce and imitate rhythms among others.
Creating Music Block Game with Rhythm–list the block game above only with an 8-note melodic and rhythmic pattern
- 12 Steps–Select the sound heard to help Alice (in Wonderland) up the stairs
- Orchestra Game–listen and identify the instrument played
- BBC Seaside Activity—match sounds with descriptions
- Composers
Any proper music education comes with its fair share of history classes. These games will help your child enjoy learning about composers, taking the boredom out of memorization.
- Quia Composer Fun Matching–match composers with a famous work
- Fun Brain Word Scramble–given a clue, unscramble the word to name the composer
- Fun Brain Composers Stay Afloat–play hangman to name the composer
- DSO Kids Beethoven’s Baseball–multiple choice questions about composers
- Composition
These give your little genius the chance to get her juices flowing
- Global Groovin’–create a world-music mix with drag and drop instruments, beats, and sounds
- BBC Cave Sounds—create a cave-sound mix with drag and drop sounds
- Classics for Kids Compose Your Very Own Music—compose 4 measures of music in 4/4 time
- Arts Alive Compose Music—compose a 9 note melody
- PBS Martha Speaks Make the Band—choose the instruments, vocalists, rhythm and tempo for the band to play
- Musical instruments
Practicing an instrument is a rewarding process, but it can also become frustrating. Adding a gaming element makes the learning process more fun and interactive, building your child’s confidence.
- Flying Instruments—a Tetris-like game with three levels–matching by instrument family, by instrument, and by sound
- Orchestra Game–listen and identify the instrument played
- Fun Brain Instruments Stay Afloat–play hangman to name the instrument
- Quia Instrument Quiz–a 21 question quiz on the orchestra instrument families
- Notation
These are designed to help your child identify notes on the staff (treble clef or bass clef) or on instruments (particularly piano keys).
Funbrain The Piano Player–staff and piano keys recognition
- SFS Kids Performalator—play simple melodies via color coded music
- Musicards Note Names—treble clef flash cards
- Musicards Intervals—treble and bass clef interval flash cards
- Symbols and Vocabulary
These help children match musical elements with their proper definitions, and how different symbols affect what’s done during a performance.
- Quia Vocabulary Word Search–find vocabulary in a word search
- SFS Kids What’s Tempo?–select a tempo marking and listen to how it changes the speed of the music
- Musicards Key Signatures—key signature flash cards
- DSO Kids Music Match–match the music symbols
- Music Darts 1–recognize music symbols
- Leo’s Barnyard Baton–understand tempo and dynamics while pretending to conduct
- Variety
These are websites that are not limited to any particular aspect of music education, but instead one or more elements and instruments.
Quia Shared Music Games—full list of over 200 Quia shared music games
- Creative Kids Education Foundation Projects–learn about opera, composers, musical styles and more
- PBS Jazz Kids–learn about jazz music, musical elements and improvisation
- eMusic Theory Practice–exercises to practice note names, piano keys, string instrument fingerings, rhythms, intervals, chords, scales, and more
- Music Tech Teacher–over 130 elementary quizzes, puzzles, and games on music notes, rhythms, instruments, composers, and more
Featured Image: Image Credit
An Ultimate List of Free Online Music Education Games! https://t.co/aqTIkIkX0G #ihsnet
— Kyle McVay (@aspiredliving) November 6, 2015
Related Articles:
12 Educational Music Games and Apps for Kids
Study after study shows that playing music is extraordinarily beneficial to children. In one recent report, researchers found that playing music had significant behavioral effects, from improved executive function and working memory, to increased focus, to increased ability to cope with emotions and anxiety. Yet, more and more students aren’t taking part, whether due to cuts to arts education in schools, the high cost of lessons, lack of interest, or other factors.
Luckily, there are a number of great music education websites and apps which can engage kids of all ages in learning everything from playing an instrument, to composition and music theory, to music history and appreciation. Via Learning Liftoff
Video Game Music: The Great Teaching Experiment
From the first beeps and bleeps of Pong in 1972 to the world’s most-subscribed massively-multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), World of Warcraft, video games are part of our everyday lives and culture. My upcoming 2015 NAfME National In-Service Conference session will highlight the successes and failures of teaching an online video game music course to the student-at-large. It will also address how to use video games to empower and expand your creative pedagogical prowess. Via National Association for Music Education
Dynamics In Education – Interview With Michael Sweet, Professor of Game Audio at Berklee College of Music
As the Artistic Director of Video Game Scoring at Berklee College of Music, Michael Sweet leads the development of the game scoring curriculum. Michael is an accomplished video game composer and has been the audio director of more than 100 award winning video games. His work can be heard on the X-Box 360 logo and on award winning games from Cartoon Network, Sesame Workshop, PlayFirst, iWin, Gamelab, Shockwave, RealArcade, Pogo, Microsoft, Lego, AOL, and MTV, among others. He has won the Best Audio Award at the Independent Games Festival, the BDA Promax Gold Award for Best Sound Design, and has been nominated for four Game Audio Network Guild (GANG) awards. In 2014, Michael authored the book “Writing Interactive Music for Video Games” which is now available from Pearson Publishing. Via Designing Sound
