Blue Ribbon Technology March, 2004
By Linda Lindroth

Everyone will love music class with these innovative software products for the music curriculum. March is Music in Education month; start your celebration with these great titles.

Mozart's Magic Flute
One of the hardest things about listening to an opera is following the story. This program features "Wolfie," the young Mozart, in a colorful animation in which students play music games. The operaπs story progresses while the music from Mozart's opera, The Magic Flute, plays in the background. With the help of a bird named Papageno (a character from the opera), Wolfie uses his music and the Magic Flute to fight the Queen's wicked spell.

Students learn about classical music while playing music games as they travel through the animated story. As games are completed, players earn awards, which are stored in a magic bag with the flute. Also in the magic bag is a Music Encyclopedia with clever animal characters and delightful poetry to introduce all the instruments of the orchestra. As students win games, they move closer and closer to the castle.

After reaching the castle, students use what they've learned about music to continue playing games to save the Prince and Princess from the spell. The games build in sequence, teaching students the instruments and their sounds, then asking them to match the sounds and finally having them listen to excerpts from The Magic Flute to apply what they've learned. They listen to a piece and choose the four instruments that will make the music at the castle gates. There are 16 puzzles in all at the castle, each with two levels of difficulty.

This is truly a terrific music program for everyone! I was very impressed with the sound quality and the ability to combine instrumental sounds so students could identify what instrument(s) made the music. The only thing that would make this product better is if a live production of The Magic Flute was included in the package.

Mozart's Magic Flute is the second program in the "Interactive Classics" series from Music Games International. Additional titles in the series are Tchaikov-sky's Nutcracker and Alice in Vivaldi's Four Seasons. For more information, visit www.kidsmusicstage.com or call 877-877-1369. Win98 and up, $19.95.

ChordWizard Music Theory 3.0
This informative music theory program addresses general music topics in a straightforward and well-organized way. There are eight main topics: Sound and Music, the Major Scale, Chords and Harmony, Scales and Melody, Chord and Scale Relations, Playing Music with Chords, Playing Music with Scales and Writing Songs and Music.

Each chapter allows the learners to move through the instructional screens at their own pace. The music terms are clearly defined and the examples include diagrams and lots of sound clips. For example, the discussion of octaves provides a clip of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in three octaves so you can hear how the pitch changes but the tune doesn't.

The tutorial is very text-heavy, but the abundant use of sound clips and charts breaks up the text and provides examples of the music theory being taught. There are more than 100 topics, 250 diagrams and 600 demonstration sounds. It can even be used as a "whole-class" approach with a projection system that would allow the teacher to use the tutorial as a discussion guide for the whole class. Every topic and tutorial can be printed.

For more information, visit www.chordwizard.com or e-mail sales@chordwizard.com at this Australian company. Online download, $29.95.

Linda K. Lindroth is Technology Editor and Web Coordinator for Teaching Pre K-8. She is also a Technology Resource Teacher in a K-5 computer lab in Lexington, KY.