I’ve got the music in me, thanks to ToneMatrix and Virtual Keyboard!

By Kevin Jarrett, on October 2nd, 2009

Good morning all,

Yesterday, my elementary music teacher colleague said, “I am wondering how I can bring technology into my music class.” I immediately Tweeted the question and got several outstanding ideas. Among them:

Janis Yokley: “Our music t. has students compose music in smart n.b., uses flip cameras for assessment, getting ready to experiment with animoto.”
MrMartinsClass: “my 70 yr old mom had students composing simple melodies with Encore (light). Save and share tunes.. early elementary”
Coachburk: “There is plenty of sites that do Music Appreciation or teach you the music.Tech Now on NBC showed a program that taught kids notes”
ladyvolhoops: use jamstudio to have the kids create their own music

Great suggestions (there are more)! I wanted today to share a couple “hands-on” tools that music teachers can think about using right away.

The first is ToneMatrix, a visual tool for creating music. I would include a screenshot but honestly this is so easy to use I don’t have to. You just click on boxes and music starts to play. A hack like me just does it randomly. Someone with actual musical ability (e.g., my music teacher colleague, or you) could use it much more intelligently, like this:

It’s a Flash application, loads ridiculously fast, takes nanoseconds to figure out, and is usable by the earliest learner.

The next is a site I happened across outside of my quest above, thanks to a Tweet from Tom Barrett. It’s called Virtual Keyboard:

ZOMG! This is TOO MUCH FUN! Choose your instrument, a drum beat, and, start playing! There’s no ‘record’ function, unfortunately, but, the variety of instruments is VERY cool and it’s super simple to use. I found myself rocking the guitar in a feeble attempt to put together a rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s Star Spangled Banner. Hahahahaha … riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!

So, what techno tools are you using in music class? Let us know in the comments!

Hope this helps!

-kj-

p.s. I had a follow-up conversation with my music teacher colleague today and she specifically asked me for websites that would teach the kids about the instruments in the orchestra. In under 2o minutes I had a slew of recommendations and these were the absolute best!