How Can Teachers Use It?
Use the app's audio samples and guided listening to help demystify the complexities of classical music and its many moods. The app particularly shines in its analysis of programmatic music, such as Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf," Saint-Saëns' "Carnival of the Animals," Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker," and Holst's "The Planets." Kids will greatly benefit from a conversation about what defines music as "classical." Is it instrumentation, compositional style, intended audience or performance space, country of origin?
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What's It Like?
My First Classical Music App HD is an interactive reference app showcasing composers, instruments, and audio samples of Western classical music. Kids begin at the Contents page, where they'll find a Welcome page (which describes how the app works) and a list of eight composers, 19 orchestral instruments, and five places where classical music is often heard. More than 40 high-quality music samples are linked to corresponding content in-app. Facts are engaging and easily understood, with content that's often silly and loaded with imagery. The whimsical illustrations, such as an octopus playing the piano, help to instill a sense of wonder. Kids can read text or tap it to hear it read aloud. A recurring character named Music Bird announces musical samples and guides listening prompts to help young ears discern the finer points of classical music.
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Is It Good For Learning?
Kids can learn about Western classical music through great audio snippets, lively illustrations, clever language, and guided listening, such as "The French horn looks like a solid brass lump of spaghetti, it has a smooth sound" and "Imagine an elephant bumbling along, that's the sound of the double bass." Guided listenings are especially useful as they give kids of all learning abilities vivid imagery to help understand the genre. Kids are taught to listen for the elements of music (such as melody, timbre, dynamics, rhythm, form) and to feel the many moods conveyed through music. The one downside of My First Classical Music App HD is that all featured composers are male. Such domination begs for a broader, more diverse, and historically accurate representation of the genre, which includes well-known female and non-European composers who aren't represented here.
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Kids can navigate to a Welcome page and content pages showcasing composers, instruments, and places were classical music is heard.
Kids learn that classical music is found in television and cinemas, at dances and wedding, and in concert halls and theaters.
Kids can explore eight different classical composers whose works span over three centuries.
Kids explore 19 instruments found in an orchestra and hear examples of with guided listening suggestions from Music Bird.
Kids can hear 28 classical compositions examples; some are full-length, others are 3-minute excerpts.
