Interactive Music Adventures

The organized sounds we call music can be produced by all kinds of instruments from ones that involve striking bits of metal, wood and string, to ones that involve blowing air through all sorts of tubes. We even have an instrument inside us: the windpipe that carries air to the larynx and provides the power for the vocal cords to vibrate and produce the human voice. Explore various kinds of music and musical instruments and develop skills as a musician through these direct links on The Times Launch Point Web site: https://www.latimes.com/launchpoint

LEVEL ONE

Morton Subotnick’s Creating Music: Create music by using the magic sketch pad, the cartoon conductor and the rhythm band. Hear what happens when you adjust the tempo and the dynamics at which music is played.

https://www.creatingmusic.com/

LycosZone: Kool Karaoke for Kids: Music plays and a song’s lyrics display on a screen in karaoke, which means “empty orchestra” in Japanese. Give your reading skills a workout while having fun singing classic fun songs.

https://eatsleepmusic.lycos.com/lycos/indexe.cfm

Dallas Symphony Orchestra: The Beat Goes On: Learn how percussion instruments produce sound by making a drum, chimes and set of maracas. Test your knowledge of musical instruments and terms through a series of puzzles, quizzes and games.

https://www.dsokids.com/1/kids.html

LEVEL TWO

Playmusic.org: Learn about the instruments that make up an orchestra and find out how each instrument’s unique sound is created. Meet musicians, try a variety of musical games and listen to a symphony created by middle school students as part of the Mars Millennium Project.

https://www.playmusic.org/

CyberKids: Music: Listen to music written by young composers, test your knowledge with a game of music match and meet a singing group that performs a capella, which means to sing without instrumental accompaniment.

https://www.cyberkids.com/cw/mus/

The Piano Education Page: Just for Kids: What would it be like to talk with such great composers as Bach, Mozart and Brahms? Find out through a collection of imaginary interviews.

https://www.unm.edu/~loritaf/pnokids.html

LEVEL THREE

EMPLIVE: Experience Music Project: Immerse yourself in music. Learn how to sing two-part harmony from Ann and Nancy Wilson, benefit from daily and weekly lessons from top guitarists and listen to interviews and audio clips of top musicians.

https://www.experience.org/

PBS: River of Song: Take a trip down the Mississippi and listen to music ranging from blues and bluegrass to zydeco and hip-hop. Hear the artists speak about their lives and their music.

https://www.pbs.org/riverofsong/

Fractal Music: The Sound of Chaos: Find out what happens when you combine beautiful fractal pictures and mathematical equations to create unique sounds and melodies.

https://www.discovery.com/stories/technology/fractals/fractals.html

Launch Point is produced by the UC Irvine department of education, which reviews each site for appropriateness and quality. Even so, parents should supervise their children’s use of the Internet. This column was designed by Anna Manring.

EXPLORER’S QUEST

The answer to this Internet quiz can be found in the sites at right.

Why do violins produce the highest sounds of all the string instruments?

CLUE: See Playmusic.org

Find What You Need to Know: Launch Point now covers more than 50 topics for getting your schoolwork done. Go to https://www.latimes.com/launchpoint/ for the full list of subjects and direct links to the best Internet sites.

Answer to last week’s Quest: To find Web site information on the Miami Dolphins--and not dolphins in Miami--you would enter the phrase in quotations: “Miami Dolphins.”