Music Games : Key Stage 1
Play and listen to an onscreen keyboard with five different voices
Early Learning Music – listening activities.
It is hoped that by providing the facility to set targets at different levels that an individual’s listening skills can be gradually improved in a ‘fun’ way. Although based on Key Stage 1 levels of attainment, the program has uses beyond this age range.
Music games can be operated in several ways. Firstly by clicking on the screen with a mouse. This makes it suitable for those who use touch screens. Secondly, it can be operated entirely through the keyboard. A full list of keyboard shortcuts appears in the documentation. It is intended that these shortcuts be used to prepare overlays for those who use concept keyboards. Thirdly, Music Games has a set of ready-made overlays for the IntelliKeys keyboard. Each activity has a menu option under ‘IntelliTools’ for sending the correct overlay to the board.
Activities are
- Free play
Play the onscreen keyboard. Record and play back a sequence of notes. Choose a new voice to play back the same sequence. Record a sequence for someone else to copy. - Play the same note
A note is played – play the same note. Turn on a visual clue. Hide the keys entirely whilst the note is played. Experiment with different voices. - Play a lower note
A note is played – play a note that sounds lower. Turn on a visual clue. Hide the keys entirely whilst the note is played. Experiment with different voices. Although you can just keep hitting the top or bottom note on the keyboard as appropriate, there is the freedom for the teacher to say ‘play one note higher’, or ‘see how close you can get to the note that is being played’ - Play a higher note
A note is played – play a note that sounds higher. Turn on a visual clue. Hide the keys entirely whilst the note is played. Experiment with different voices. Although you can just keep hitting the top or bottom note on the keyboard as appropriate, there is the freedom for the teacher to say ‘play one note higher’, or ‘see how close you can get to the note that is being played. - How many notes
A random sequence of notes is played. How many are played? Choose sequences between 1 and 3 notes or 4 and 7 notes. Choose whether the notes are spread over the whole keyboard or just the first 5 notes. Choose how long a pause is played between each note. - How does it sound
Open ended. Play one of 15 sounds by clicking on a picture. Use the arrows to go to another sound. Click on the words to describe the sound. Type in your own words and print the screen. How might it represent that sound? What other ways could you represent the sound in a picture?
This program is now available for download for free!
Visit Inclusive Technology Free Downloads to download a copy for your computer!