This review is written by one of our guest bloggers, Rachel, who has just become a stay at home mom while she awaits her second child due in August.
Groovy Music is a series of three exciting software programs for elementary and middle school students. Fun to use, Groovy Music teaches the basics of sound, rhythm, pitch and composition using pictures and animation – progressing to the study of simple notation as well as major and minor scales. With the under-funding of music programs throughout the country, it is more important than ever for schools and parents to have ways to teach music in a simple and fun way.
The three programs start with Groovy Shapes, intended for ages 5 and up and moves to Groovy Jungle for ages 7 and up. The newest program, Groovy City, is intended for children ages 9 and up and builds on knowledge from the previous games. In the third program, children learn more about notation, and complete more complex listening tasks. They are also introduced to question and answer phrases and the blues scale, so that they can begin to build up more sophisticated compositions.
We tried out Groovy City with my 9-year old daughter. When we started, I didn’t realize that it was a continuation of other games, or that it is directed mainly at music teachers and students. This information really helped explain why we couldn’t really figure the game out. It was difficult to begin using and lacked specific directions…unless I did it wrong.
I think that the idea of using simple and fun technology to teach children music is fantastic. It saddens me to know that music instruction in schools is considered just another “extra” that will hit the chopping block as school budgets drop lower and lower, so I hope this helps lots of children become familiar with music. I plan to allow my daughter more time to explore this program and hopefully she’ll learn a thing or two!
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