It’s Saturday, and time for Music in our Homeschooling class and I would like to ask you to check out the Recommended Websites: Virtual Gametone Instruments and Art Institute of Chicago.
Age Range: All (All grades; children with parental supervision) This website provides the opportunity to play virtual Gamelan-influenced instruments online for free! What is “Gamelan”? It’s a musical genre that originated in Indonesia featuring gong-like drums, chimes, xylophones, plucked string instruments, and more.
This site is sponsored by a group of musicians called the Gametones who improvise music on homemade Gamelan-type instruments. They offer visitors the opportunity to play virtual versions of their instruments.
When you get to the site you’ll see three main options that include:
- Play the GameGongs – Use your mouse of keyboard as a virtual mallet to play the gongs made out of old paint can lids and hubcaps. You can also play loops of recorded songs and improvise as you play along.
- Play the Drone Gambira – Use your mouse to click on tongs and create your own musical composition. This also offers loops of recorded music that you can use to play along.
- Play the Game Chimes – Click on pictures of metal tubes to create short bursts or sustained tones. Play the pre-recorded loops as you experiment with the various sounds and tones.
Note: It may take a few minutes for all of the sounds to completely load. Be patient, turn on your speakers, and then use your mouse to create your own musical “click compositions” with the Gametone instruments.
Please note that there are other links on this site but they led to error messages when we tried them. Parents, as always, should preview and supervise exploration of this website.
Recommended Website: Art Institute of Chicago
Age Range: 9-18 (Grades 4-12, with parental supervision) Develop an understanding of content, style, and historical context of art with this website from the Art Institute of Chicago.
When you get to the site, select from the following to begin your exploration:
- Explore the Collection
- El Greco Online
- Interactive Features
- Videos
- Highlights
- Audio Tours
- And more!
Be sure to check out Educator Resources. Student Activities are also included there. Bookmark this website because it is a fabulous resource for all of your art appreciation studies.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
