Music with Grandma Teaches the Basics of Music

Music with Grandma is an iPhone app for children to use. This application aims at teaching children the basics of music. This includes: Learning about different types of music, learning about different types of instruments, learning about the different types of musical scales and notes, learning about the types of notes and how long they are held, and they are also taught how to read music and follow patterns.

The interface of the application is very bright and colorful. The first thing you see when you open the app is Grandma. The only options on the main menu screen are settings, and the play button. When you select the settings button, the application prompts you to enter your birthdate (the birthdate of the parent or guardian.) Once your birthdate is confirmed that you are over 18 years of age, you will be allowed to view a list of settings for what subjects you want your child to learn.

You can add or take certain subjects off the list, depending on whether you think your child will be able to understand it or not. These games and activities are: Instrument sounds, Music Stand Match-up, Musical Sorting, Musical Patterns, Memory Match, Musical Mazes, Find the Note for Treble Clef and Bass Clef. Once you are done selecting and deselecting games, you can click the home button in the top right-hand corner of the screen and you will be directed back to the home screen of the app.

Once you click the play button, a series of mini games will begin. The first mini game is identifying certain instruments and their sounds. Once the correct instrument is selected, you move to the next mini game. Another one of these mini games is following patterns of notes and finishing the song. You can also play a mini game where you have to follow a certain path of specific notes or symbols in order to win the game.

The following mini game teaches your child how to find the correct notes on a treble clef and bass clef scale. When your child selects the correct answer the Grandma character begins to dance and says Good Job! The application also allows children to play different instruments on the screen and hear the different notes and tones you can play on a specific instrument, for example, kids can play the piano, drums, or other instruments.

This application also aims to teach the basics of music and reading music to your children. In the matching game, your child must label each note and symbol correctly in order to advance to the next game. This application is very simple and child-friendly. However, you cannot select individual activities and games to play, you can only play all the way through. This is the only issue I had with this application.

This application has a very friendly interface for children to use. The bright and colorful character easily guide children through the activities and help them better understand the basic elements of reading and playing music. Their minds will be expanded by learning about many different types of music and instruments.

Rating: 8.5/ 10
Price: $2.99