Back to School and Beyond: Best Websites for Music for All Ages

Music can be fun for anyone of all ages. Music can soothe the soul. There are many things to learn about music from singing songs to creating your own music, to learning how to play the guitar. Here are some great resources for parents and teachers to teach from and students to learn from all about music.

DSO Kids

Website: http://www.dsokids.com/default.aspx?

DSO Kids is the Dallas Symphony Orchestra who created a doorway to a world of musical fun and learning for students, parents and teachers. The DSO Kids website's mission is to provide attractive, accessible and child-friendly resources that introduce symphonic music, the orchestra and its instruments, and to encourage both adults and young people to explore the world of the symphony orchestra. They do this by providing games, classroom activities, home activities, description of how hearing works, information and audio clips. I've tested some of these games, and they are quite fun!

New York Philharmonic Kidzone

Website: http://www.nyphilkids.org/main.phtml

The New York Philharmonic Kidzone website is a Flash-based site that incorporates various sections, including the Musician's Lounge, Composers' Gallery, Instrument Storage Room, Instrument Laboratory, Conductor/Soloist Dressing Rooms, Newsstand, Games, and Composer's Workshop. You and your students get to experiment with interactive instruments, compose music, create instruments, as well as find out about composers and musicians. This is a great website with lots of activity to do.

The Symphony: An Interactive Guide

Website: http://library.thinkquest.org/22673/index.html

You can enjoy the music and learn from the listener's guide. Parents, Teachers and Students can browse alphabetically, by country, or by composer biographies to hear the most famous works of each. At this website you can take a "crash course" in symphonic forms as well as take quizzes to test yourself to see what you remember. The RealAudio is for you to listen to the music, which was performed by The Queensland Youth Symphony Orchestra, conducted by John Curro.

San Francisco Symphony Kids' Site

Website: http://www.sfskids.org/templates/splash.asp

Visit this website for a refresher course on The Instruments of the Orchestra and or an introduction to reading music in Meet the Notes. This website, in conjunction with their live performances, provides a great way for people of all ages to hear, learn, and have fun with music.

Science of Music: Exploratorium's Accidental Science

Website: http://www.exploratorium.edu/music/

What is music? Is bird singing a song of music? How about the tap-tap-tap of a hammer, or the wail of a creaking door? Is playing a garbage different than playing a drum? On the Science of Music: Exploratorium's Accidental Science website you can explore the science of music through these online exhibits, movies, and questions. As you are exploring you can compose, mix, dance, drum, experiment, and listen. You can even try to create your own "step routine" using the interactive tools. Stepping is rhythmic movement that uses the hands and feet as an instrument and is known best among African American fraternities and sororities. There are a lot of other fun activities and information on the Science of Music website. This website requires Flash.

Mojo's Musical Mouseum

Website: http://www.kididdles.com/lyrics/index.html

Parents keep the music alive at home and teachers keep the music alive in the classroom. At the Mojo's Musical Mouseum site, you can find the lyrics to many of those kid songs you thought you had forgotten and many more fun activities for your students. There are so many songs here, I'm sure you'll find the one you ar looking for.

WholeNote - The On-Line Guitar Community

Website:http://www.wholenote.com/

The WholeNote website not only offers guitar lessons with notation and customizable music playback for all skill levels and styles, it also offers tools to help you build your own lessons. You can also explore links, reviews, news, member homepages, forums, ear training, and more.