This week’s App Smart column was about simple music apps that are intended to help interest kids in music.
But there’re as many music-centric apps as you can imagine on Android, iOS and Windows Phone platforms, and not all of them are directly about learning to play music, or identify or understand musical instruments.
Moog Music Inc.The Animoog app for the iPad.For example, one way to get an older child interested in music may be to introduce them to the $10 Animoog app on iOS devices. It’s the official app for the celebrated Moog analog synthesizers that kicked off electronic music in the 1960s. It’s very sophisticated, with all sorts of controls over sound envelopes and other obscure-sounding parameters. But there are many presets and the incredible ear-bending sounds it can create, reminiscent of many a sci-fi sound track, will be sure to interest youngsters. A more advanced version for the iPad is $30.
YamahaThe Tenori-On app for the iPad.There are also many apps based on the rhythmic melody-creating powers of the unusual Tenori-On digital instrument. They start with the official $20 Yahama app on iOS. It’s hugely powerful, it links to the Apple Game Center for multiple-user playing, and it’s so easy to produce catchy melodies that kids of all ages will love it. Alternatives like the free Tone Pad iOS app, or the free Android Melody app can be found all over the various app stores with a bit of searching.
Meanwhile if you’re serious about helping your child learn to read music, then there’s a long list of apps that are designed to help, from the free game-based Fun With Notes app on Android to the more serious Musical Notes–Learn To Read app which is $1 on iOS.
All it takes is a little use of your device’s app search powers, some testing with free or ad-supported versions of an app, and there’s a lot of great musical information to be found. Plus one thing’s for sure: Many of these apps are much more fun than fusty old music textbooks you may remember from school.
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