Musical Instruments

The KIDS Report is a biweekly publication produced by K-12 students as a resource to other K-12 students. It is an ongoing, cooperative effort of 15 classrooms from around the world. Teachers assist and provide support; however, students select, evaluate and annotate all resources included in every issue of the KIDS Report.

The KIDS Report is published with a generous grant from John and Tashia Morgridge and with the support of the General Library System of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

In This Issue

  Energy in the Air: Sounds From the Orchestra
http://tqjunior.thinkquest.org/5116/

On this site you will find lots of information about how sound is made and what it looks like when it is recorded. There's also a lot of information on the instruments that are played in the orchestra and sound clips from various orchestra music. This site tells you about the percussion, woodwind, strings, and the brass families of instruments. It also gives you information about the conductor. There is an activities section where you can see how to make instruments. If you want to know about a certain instrument, you can look for it with the search engine. You are able to find out how much you know by taking some of the quizzes. This site has a lot of pictures and is very educational. I would recommend it for students in 5th grade and up. The site is part of the ThinkQuest Junior Web Pages and was created by two students, Samuel Beckett & Jason Williams.
Reviewed by: Brian P.

  Staying in Tune
http://susan.chin.gc.ca/Exhibitions/Instruments/Anglais/accueil_en.html

The Staying in Tune: Traditions and Musical Instruments of the Francophonie Web site allows the viewer to discover traditional musical instruments from French-speaking countries. Staying in Tune offers you a chance to find out about traditional instruments and the people who invented them. You can listen to musical excerpts and try out the many learning activities. Young people from French-speaking countries came together to share their memories and knowledge about the instruments they selected from their cities' museums in the Note Book section. The Museums’ section has a more detailed description of each instrument. The site was coordinated by the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) and the Department of Canadian Heritage, Quebec Region. We would recommend this site for middle school ages and up.
Reviewed by: Carly L. and Amy W.

  International Music Archives
http://www.eyeneer.com/World/index.html

The International Music Archives is an educational resource that gives extensive information about the music of our planet. There are several links, including one called “Instruments of the World.” By clicking on a region, you may further explore the music and instruments of that given country or region. Within each section you will find information about the region’s musical styles, plus related sound samples and photographs. The site is informative and easy to navigate. However, there are only a few regions represented and only a handful of instruments for each region. This page was created by Eyeneer Music Archives.
Reviewed by: Justin S.

  The Piano Education Page
http://www.unm.edu/~loritaf/pnoedmn.html

The Piano Education Page is an excellent resource for teachers, students, and fans of the piano. There are over 600 pages of free information that is upgraded biweekly. You can get tips on learning how to play the piano, check out over 600 links to other piano or music-related areas of the net, visit a fun special page for kids where you can meet famous composers, listen to over 600 pieces of solo piano music, quickly search the whole site for answers to specific questions, ask questions, make suggestions or comments, and lots more! The amount of information is a bit overwhelming and it is easy to get lost in the site. This site is appropriate for most school age kids and adults.
Reviewed by: Kelly S.

  Music Magic: Online Musical Encyclopedia
http://library.thinkquest.org/15060/data/reference/

The Online Musical Encyclopedia is part of a larger website called Music Magic which was created by three ThinkQuest '98 Team members: Paul Kim, Tom Warne, Xiaoqin Yan. The main instrument focused on throughout the website is the piano. However, on this Encyclopedia page, you will find a link to many other various instrument families including Brass Instruments, Electronic Instruments, Musical Instruments (Piano-like), Percussive Instruments, Stringed Instruments, and Woodwind Instruments. There are many instruments listed for each family and they include the background, sounds, pictures, and significant facts about each one. This site would be great for anyone interested in music.
Reviewed by: Kacie C. and Bobby S.

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The top graphic was created by Tina Anderson, of the Madison Metropolitan School District.

These Internet resources were evaluated on the basis of Site Selection Guidelines that the students developed. Questions and comments can be sent to the facilitating teacher at Sabish Junior High in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, Renee Nolan, at renee_l._nolan@fonddulac.k12.wi.us.


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