2Simple Music Toolkit
© 2004 2Simple USA Inc.
Music and piano teachers take note: this suite of six activities is especially well-suited to introduce younger children to some powerful musical concepts, such as how rhythm tracks can layer on top of one another. While there are other programs that can do this (like Apple's well known Garage Band, for example), we have yet to find one that approaches the task with elegant simplicity. For example, in 2Explore, children create a simple program by selecting a series of sounds in order. Pressing the Play button starts looping the sounds, helping children understand that they can compose and then go back and alter the sequence for a different effect. 2Sequence has children creating sequences using pitch and harmony by clicking on an icon and then dragging and dropping it onto a sheet of paper broken into squares — preset measures of music. 2Compose offers an introduction to note names and scoring, by presenting six staff lines. Children can drag and drop notes in place and press Play to hear the results. Work can be saved or printed and/or played back, and the CD-ROM includes animated tutorials. One annoyance to note is the installation process, which requires that you both (a) type in a rather nasty registration key and (b) register online to activate the copy. Yikes; rather harsh treatment for a busy teacher. Note that this program is a more open-ended toolkit. If you're looking for structured tutorials, you'll be disappointed. Every music teacher with younger students should know about this title.
$35, Windows
Teaches: music, rhythm, programming, musical notation
CTR Rating: 90%