Firstly, my apologies for the lack of posts!! I have been slacking, but I promise not for the sake of my couch and chocolate! Life is busy with two small kids and a travelling husband, classes and all the other little things a messy house brings! I do have some exciting news with the launch of my brand new website coming later this week…so I will try my best to do it justice and begin blogging a bit more often!
Today, I bring to you an app that is FANTASTIC for kids learning rhythm, beats and counting. It isn’t for the young crowd, I would say this game is for kids age at least 6 and up who have already had some instruction in rhythm and counting. (My four year old, who also plays Where’s My Water and Cover Orange better than I do, didn’t have a lot of interest in this app, nor was he able to understand what to do.) The app is called “Rhythm Cat” and can be found in the Apple Store. It incorporates eighth notes right up to whole notes, rests and different time signatures. The levels begin easy and as they progress, things get much more difficult.
Once the green PLAY button is pushed, the app starts playing a basic rhythm and counts you in with one measure. The idea is to push the button each time there is a note, in time with the background rhythm. Each note that is played correctly does in fact have a pitch and the songs that you end up playing are quite pleasing and fun to play. There is no note recognition in this, simply rhythm practice and playing each beat on time. Levels are completed with 1, 2 or 3 stars depending on how accurate the rhythm was played and new levels open accordingly
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I enjoyed playing this right through myself and will use it in the near future as a tool in my private piano lessons when working on rhythm and sight reading. I wonder if it would work on a smart board – having never used one myself, I don’t know – but if it would – it would be fabulous in a later elementary or junior high music classroom. It is a winner in my opinion, being fun, educational and very applicable to actually learning music.
This app is FREE and is put out by LMuse Limited. Enjoy!!
-A
Music For Munchkins 