Greetings music fans! In celebration of the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s Week of the Young Child™, I thought we’d check out Google’s Chrome Music Lab. This is a collection of extremely fun, visually and aurally appealing applets that the geniuses over at Google created. These little apps are seriously entertaining and have the potential to bring some smiles to the faces of not just little ones, but adults as well. Let’s explore some of the musical experiments…

What is it? For Music in Our Schools Month, the coders at Google got together with some musicians and created these interactive experiences using readily available features of the web. Accessible from any internet-connected device, the current twelve musical experiments explore different aspects of music, from rhythm to melody and pitch to harmony. If accessing through a smartphone or tablet with a touch screen, you can physically interact with sound. It’s pretty addictive and loads of fun.

The Rhythm Animals are a collection of beastly percussionists who play their instruments following your instructions. By selecting cells in the grid below the pair of adorable, furry musicians, you can create a loop of drumming delights. Think Kandinsky is my favorite. Named for artist Wassily Kandinsky, who often compared painting to making music, this little experiment does just that. As you draw, your squiggles and shapes come to life as sounds. Specific shapes make specific sounds – and where you place your drawing impacts the sound it makes. Doodles up high on the page produce higher pitches. Circles turn into cute little faces. Triangles become percussion instruments. You can also change your sound palette by clicking/tapping the bicolored circle next to the play button.

The Spectrogram is probably the coolest  and most science-y (a word I just made up. You’re welcome, Webster) toy. Remember my post on overtone singing? Well, the Spectrogram allows you to see the overtones! If you use the applet from an Android device or your computer, it can access your microphone and show you a visual representation of your voice – or any sound. It’s almost mystical. Here is a video of me playing a bit with the Spectrogram applet. There are several other experiments you and your kids can play with. Try the Melody Maker or the applet that will play Chords for you. The Music Lab makes some complex aspects of music surprisingly accessible. Being able to see and hear and touch the music is incredibly powerful. The Chrome Music Lab can be found here and will work across devices (computers, smartphones, tablets) but the most fun and functionality to be had certainly is with Android touch-enabled devices. But don’t let that stop you if you are an i-device user. When you aren’t making live music with your child at a Kindermusik class and need that interactive fix, check out the Music Lab. Happy music-making!