San Francisco Symphony - Kids' Site

http://www.sfskids.org/templates/home.asp?pageid=1

Experiment with music and become a composer. Suitable for primary school and early secondary school classes.

What is the site about?

Designed by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, the focus of this site is on learning about music through listening, composing and experimenting.

Why was it chosen as site of the week?

It was chosen because

• The interactive, visual and audio elements make it highly engaging for children of all ages.
• Concepts including rhythm, pitch, and tempo are well explained.
• Each musical instrument is explained clearly and features a sound clip.
• Students can easily compare and contrast sounds produced from different musical instruments.
• The Performalator is excellent for playing a chosen piano tune using your mouse and coloured coded music sheets.
• There is a well organised site map.
• The interactive radio is an excellent feature.

How can it be used as an educational resource?

This site is ideal for a unit of 13 lessons based on the topics covered in the Music Lab section and the Instruments of the Orchestra section.

If you have a data projector and Internet access in your classroom start with The Basics for a 40-50 minute period. This section is suitable for a teacher-led whole-class teaching scenario. As you proceed ask students to air trace the treble clef and the bass clef and other musical symbols that you come across in this section.

Remaining in the Music Lab section spend another 50 minute class exploring tempo. Do the same for the remaining topics in this section and then proceed to the Instruments of the Orchestra section. Allow a few sessions in the computer lab for students to use the site reinforcing their learning.

Consider the following co-curricular extension activities.

• Get students to move/dance to the different rhythms.
• Look at a poem/limerick and ask students to clap to the rhythm.
• Do a project about famous composers.
• Make a musical instrument using art materials.

Curricular Mapping
Primary
Music
Strand: Listening and Responding. Useful for all strand units.
Strand: Performing. Strand unit: Literacy.
Strand: Composing. Useful for all strand units.

Secondary
Junior Certificate Music: Useful for the composing and listening sections of the course.

Have Your Say

Let us know what you think

Site of the Week Archive

Check out reviews of other sites.