Classics for Kids

Classics for Kids contains a wealth of music, musical games, lessons, and activities on composers and musicians from Baroque composers of the 1600s, such as Purcell, to Modern composers, such as Copeland and Bernstein.

There are brief biographies of composers, that include links to other composers who influenced them and who they influenced and links to excerpts from their music and the “Classics for Kids” radio show on Cincinnati Public Radio.  Biographies can be viewed by composer name, country, musical period, or by an interactive timeline.

Other activities include games for kids to compose their own music, a dictionary of musical terms and instruments, information about careers in music, and downloadable podcasts of the radio shows.  For teachers, there are elementary-based music lesson plans.

Theta Music Trainer

From site: Ear training develops and ties together all the skills that allow musicians to play, improvise and compose music by ear. It is the key to becoming not just good, but great. The ear training games on Theta Music Trainer will give you the practice you need without becoming monotonous or academic. Games inject an element of variety and fun into your practice routine and help boost your motivation. Basic musicianship skills are often best developed by working away from your instrument initially, in short bursts of concentrated practice. The games on this site are perfect for developing these skills, and are designed to provide a total workout of your musical ear and mind with as little as 10-15 minutes per day of regular playing.

Each game in the Theta Music Trainer is meant to train you in a specific area of musicianship. None of the games require that you read music or have prior training in music theory, but you will need to understand musical notation and also be ready to learn the fundamentals of music theory. All of the games start at the beginner level and progress gradually to more difficult levels.

Free Registration is required.

National Jukebox

From site: The Library of Congress presents the National Jukebox, which makes historical sound recordings available to the public free of charge. The Jukebox includes recordings from the extraordinary collections of the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation and other contributing libraries and archives.

At launch, the Jukebox includes more than 10,000 recordings made by the Victor Talking Machine Company between 1901 and 1925. Jukebox content will be increased regularly, with additional Victor recordings and acoustically recorded titles made by other Sony-owned U.S. labels, including Columbia, OKeh, and others.

Teoria Music Theory Web

Teoria provides tutorials and exercises on music theory that help to train your ear. Major concepts include the clef, intervals, chords, harmonic functions, key signatures, scales, rhythm and jazz. In addition, there are articles on music analysis and a reference glossary of the terms used in music theory. Teoria.com has received the Merlot Classic Award for Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching. Additional resources are available with a paid membership.

Music and the Brain

Learn how music affects our neurosystems, physical and mental health from these podcasts posted on the Library of Congress website.  These podcasts include conversations with physicians, scientists, scholars, composers, performers, psychologists and other professionals into their ground-breaking work. They include research into the use of music to treat depression and grief, retain memories, treat physical illnesses, and prevent crimes.

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