Chrome Music Lab - FREE
Don’t be deceived by the adorable graphics and the easy-to-navigate, ad-free website. The games and activities in Chrome’s Music Lab hit some major music education learning objectives. Explore rhythm, pitch, and even science just by playing around with the different games!
My favorite is the Song Maker (pictured to the left) - create a whole song by coloring in the grid. Pitches and rhythm are built into the grid, and it’s highly intuitive and fun!
Chordify - FREE (optional paid plan, too)
Chordify is this simple & fun app that takes your favorite popular songs and breaks down the chords for each. You can search for your favorite artist or song and the app will show you what chords to play, where to play them on the piano, and then you can play along with the song! As a bonus? It has guitar & ukulele chords also!
Simple songs recommended for Chordify beginners by the app are listed on their website HERE.
New York Philharmonic’s Kid Composers Videos - FREE
The New York Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers has been helping kids create music since 1995. Musicians work with public school students in grades 4 and 5 to help them compose and write their own short orchestral pieces (2-3 minutes each). The VYC website explains, “Students make every compositional decision and write every note.” Take a listen and let me know which is your favorite!
Activity Idea: Take a piece of white paper and fold it into quarters. Choose 4 different composers and listen to their pieces. For each piece, draw what the music makes you picture in your head as you listen to it. Did your four pictures look the same? What about each piece gave you those images?
PBS Kids Music Games
Geared for musicians ages 3-8, these fun games explore patterns, instrument sounds, and allow kids to be creative thanks to some of their favorite PBS friends.
Freegal - Free streaming music from the Billerica Public Library
From Freegal’s website: Freegal® is a free music service from your library. Freegal offers access to about 15 million songs, including Sony Music’s catalog, and over 40,000 music videos. In total the collection is comprised of music from over 40,000 labels with music that originates in over 100 countries. There is no software to download, and there are no digital rights management (DRM) restrictions. Access to Freegal is limited to patrons of subscribing libraries.