If you don’t have a tablet nor a conventional laptop and have been lamenting the lack of free music games you can play in a browser then you are in luck. If you don’t know what a browser is, it is the thing you use to search the internet, programs such as Chrome, Firefox or Microsoft Edge are recommended for these music games. So you can no longer feel resentful or silly for having to use a Chromebook, there is fun in the over 35 games described below! Here is an exhaustive, well maybe a bit perspiration causing perhaps, list of free music activities ranging from interactive media to fun music creation or exploration games.
Type drummer
Type in a word or a sentence and hear how this program converts it into a drum beat. What does each letter do? How does each word affect how the beat sounds? Hear if you can figure out the connection. I bet you’re gonna type a rude word aren’t you?
Infinite drum machine
Ever wanted to make beats out of random sounds? Now you can with Infinite Drum Machine. You can mix the sound of a lion roaring with a hotel desk clerk bell, cardboard box and chicken. You can choose any color-coded sound and then arrange it rhythmically on a drum machine graph or use the rhythms already provided
https://experiments.withgoogle.com/ai/drum-machine/view/
Jazz.computer
This is like an interactive music video. You scroll up and down affecting aspects of the music and animations that appear on the screen. The rhythm and tempo changes and instrumental or vocal elements are added or removed. This is the ultimate hipster project, I felt so much cooler just knowing about it. Jokes aside, I want to be friends with the people who made this. If you are reading this cool guys, wanna hang out?
http://jazz.computer/
Unseen Music
Moving crystal shaped objects left, right, up and down on the screen generates different colors and mixes in the music. Filters, rhythms, sound effects and instruments are all affected by manipulating the objects on the screen.
http://www.unseen-music.com/yume/
Solar Beat
Heard of the music of the spheres? Want to hear it without needing to be a mystic or having taken the wrong medications? Solar Beat is an animation of the orbit of each planet of our solar system. Each time a planet passes a full revolution it makes a sound. Surprise surprise Mercury never shuts up. It’s not in an ellipse shape but lets not get all finicky, it’s a cool music thing.
http://www.whitevinyldesign.com/solarbeat/
TextXox
This is a sequencer based on the Park.js web audio composition system. Know what that is? Me neither. I assume it’s something to do with coding and js stands for JavaScript, probably the most versatile coding language around at the moment, see I’m not a total newb. This could be a fun exercise in experimenting with a foreign syntax to translate it into music. Coding + music? I can see all those STEM teacher’s ears pricking up. “Maybe we can make engineering seem like being a rock star?” Now we add A to STEM and it becomes STEAM and now we sound like we’re promoting 19th century technology!
http://rustleworks.com/textxox/
Take your time
Drag your finger around the screen and a circle will follow it. Ambient music will change as you move your finger toward different points. Most of it will make you wish you were getting a massage at the same time, so very, very chill.
https://takeyourtime.surge.sh/
Groove salad
This is a great visual tool for helping learners understand how scales are constructed. The pie chart divided into 12 parts visually depicts half and whole steps. Make sure to read the creator’s notes. This one is not aptly named. It has nothing to do with lettuce nor even really grooves for that matter, so I don’t understand the name.
https://ccorcos.github.io/groove-salad/
Melody JS
Want to make a melody on a graph? Then you’re in Iuck. You tap around this graph and hear how it sounds. This is like the no frills version of melody maker but with more note choices (i.e. a wider range) and less color.
https://melodyjs.surge.sh/studio
Note Kitchen
Want to spell a chord symbol and then find out its notes? This is for you. Type in Cm7b5 and you will see which notes are in that chord. It’s got everything but the kitchen sink. See what I did there? Kitchen, get it? My genius is wasted here obviously. Test your ability to identify chord charts and you could be an awesome jazz musician! There is so little money to be made! Be like me! Am I using too many exclamation marks!!!!!!
http://note.kitchen/
Harmopark
Harmopark lays notes out on a honeycomb graph with notes linked by chord relationships. You can press in the intersection of 3 notes to hear the chord it makes and right-click to build a chord. It lets you drag the chords to a timeline and hear that progression looped. It then lets you share or download your progression. A great web app for exploring chord tones, chord building and chord progressions.
https://www.harmopark.app/
Chord master
A good app for seeing chord shapes on a keyboard. You can see them by inversion also using extended chords (7th, 9th etc.). You can also arrange chords into progressions. A useful learning tool for pianists.
https://fanzhangg.github.io/chord-master/
Pink Trombone
Ever wanted to look inside someone’s throat while they sing but are afraid to ask in case they think you’re a bit twisted? Now’s your chance. Pink Trombone lays out an anatomical model of the physiological elements that control the sounds of singing. You can manipulate the lips, palate and more to affect the sound a single sung note. It’s more fun than it sounds.
https://dood.al/pinktrombone/
Theremin
Theremin made the first instrument you can play without touching. Everyone seems to make a new type of Theremin every few years using some new forms of technology. This Theremin you have to touch so wash your hands in this post covid world. Experiment with cool sounds by dragging your finger or mouse up, down, left and right across the screen. This is free only for a short time by the way so should I take it out of this list?
https://femurdesign.com/theremin/
Learn music with Ableton
Want to learn how to program a drum beat? What the names of each part of the drum kit are? How parts of the music fit together such as the bass, the chords and the groove? This is a great site with educational material and mini interactions such as a drum machine and loop mixer.
https://learningmusic.ableton.com/make-beats/make-beats.html
History of Hip Hop Google Doodle
This doodle gives introduction to the early innovation in hip hop called “The Break.” You can then use virtual turntables to mix together some of the most famous breaks used in hip hop history. Break is short for breakdown for the part of the music that breaks down to focus on the rhythm section. A great guide to the concept of loops and sampling in modern music. Don’t you always think about these awesomely creative people working for google who probably spent months on this and then it was shared around for a couple of days then forgotten about. Well, I’m keeping it alive for you here. Respect to all those who feel under appreciated at work. Single tear shed.
https://www.google.com/doodles/44th-anniversary-of-the-birth-of-hip-hop
Celebrating Johann Sebastian Bach Google Doodle
Here is one for all you classical snobs. After a short explanation of the concept of harmony in music you can compose your own melody. The press of a button will then harmonize your melody in the style of Bach using an Artificial Intelligence that analyzed over 300 Bach compositions. You can then share your Bach harmonized melody with anyone!
https://www.google.com/doodles/celebrating-johann-sebastian-bach
Celebrating Ludwig Van Beethoven Google Doodle
More for the classical fans! The hits of the 16 & 1700s keep on rolling. This is a fun music puzzle that has you reorganize phrases of famous Beethoven pieces back into the correct order. It’s a great game for learning about phrases, musical fragments and as a listening exercise.
https://www.google.com/doodles/celebrating-ludwig-van-beethovens-245th-year
Clara Clarkmore Google Doodle
This doodle is dedicated to a performer who demonstrated the artistic possibilities of the Theremin. She performed as a soloist with many orchestras. This interactive doodle guides you through a few lessons to demonstrate how the Theremin works and then leaves you to play with a virtual Theremin.
https://www.google.com/doodles/clara-rockmores-105th-birthday
Blob Opera
This is an activity for exploring pitch. By dragging the blob vertically you make the pitch go higher or lower. There are four different blobs representing the four main voices of a choir, usually Bass, Tenor, Alto, Soprano but the Alto is named Mezzo-Soprano in this activity. This division of voices helps you to explore range in pitch also and would be useful in explaining the concept of octaves. As you move from right to left, bass to soprano, each voice is added together. You can mute single voices though if you desire. Dragging left and right on the blob changes the vowel sound they make creating a really pleasing vocal ensemble effect. Great news for music teachers is that you can record your performance with the blobs and share it via social media or copying a link. I see assignments in your students futures…
https://artsandculture.google.com/experiment/blob-opera/AAHWrq360NcGbw?cp=e30.
Is your finger tired from scrolling yet?
This list of activities is getting so long I had to divide it in two so the page wouldn’t take forever to load and so I could save your poor scrolling fingers from exhaustion. Want more?
Click here for Part 2
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