Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids: Snare Drum
Use this resource to learn about the percussion family of instruments, especially the snare drum. Find out how it helps the orchestra make music. Use RealAudio or Windows Media Player to listen to the snare drum by itself and with the...
Other
Oddmusic
You will find many creative and imaginative musical instruments on this site. If you are creating your own instrument you'll be inspired by what others have invented.
E-learning for Kids
E Learning for Kids: Science: Egypt: What Is Pitch of Sound?
Ali really loves to make music. Help make Ali's dream come true. Together, answer questions about musical instruments.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Science Snacks: Water Bottle Membranophone
Try making this instrument that incorporates a stretched membrane. As air is blown into the attached bottle, sound vibrations are produced. With the addition of finger holes, different sounds can be made.
OpenStax
Open Stax: Catherine Schmidt Jones: Scoring Music: Write for Specific Instruments
If you are interested in arranging your own music, you should check out the tips offered at this website. Including a history of how music was arranged, this site also gives several good ideas of how to make your arrangements interesting.
Staten Island Children's Museum
Staten Island Children's Museum: Music Camp at Home
Enjoy doing these outdoor activities with your family such as making a Guiro or kazoo, or learning how to play the flute.
Other
Chord Studio
Have fun composing your own music with this easy to use online tool. Select the chords you want your song to have and choose the various instrument styles. You can sign up for a free account so you can save your songs and edit them later.
Other
Yamaha Music Pal: Flute Factory Tour
Take an online tour through the process of designing and manufacturing a flute. Helpful drawings and animations demonstrate the precision engineering that goes into the making of these musical instruments. (To access the Japanese version...
Other
The Mudcat Cafe: Gourd Rattlers
What is a calabash? Use this website and find out what it is but also how to make it. This gourd rattler can be constructed with the easy to follow directions.
Ducksters
Ducksters: Music for Kids: How Woodwind Instruments Work
On this website, students can explore how woodwind musical instruments work. Explore how wind vibrations make sounds.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: Dividing Notes
Students create an altered musical melody by dividing fractions. They compute the value of notes in terms of fractions and make their sum equal to the time signature.
PBS
Pbs: Rough Science
Website companion to PBS show, "Rough Science," in which five scientists use their collective expertise to complete a series of tasks. Follow the scientists as they do things like generate electricity, make soap, make antibacterial...
Ducksters
Ducksters: Music for Kids: How String Instruments Work
Kids learn about how musical string instruments work. Understand what makes the music and notes on this website.
Other
Creative Kids at Home: Rain Sticks
Making homemade instruments is always fun for young kids. Help them make these percussion rain sticks using ordinary materials. Kids will have fun decorating and playing their rain sticks.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Practice Makes Perfect
As we all know, practice makes perfect. This clip highlights several children playing musical instruments and challenges the students to write about a time when they felt proud of themselves for working hard at something.
California State University
Island Maracas
A great multicultural art instructional activity that also connects visual art to music. Pupils create a set of paper mache maracas emphasizing rhythm and expression in the painting details. Upon completion students will have the...
John F. Kennedy Center
The Kennedy Center: Woodwind Instruments and Pitch
In this lesson, students will enjoy making their own woodwind instruments. They will also discover how the instruments change pitch based on the length of the airpipe.
Other
Rhythm Web: Coffee Can Drums
Learn how to make a percussion instrument using a coffee can. This site provides instructions for making the coffee can drum. You can also listen to audio clips of coffee can drums being played in various ways.
Text Project
Text Project: Fyi for Kids: Horns: The Sound of the Wind [Pdf]
This FYI for Kids (Volume 2, Issue 7) article is about horn musical instruments. It explains how they work, materials they have been made from, what they are used for, and even how students can make a simple one for themselves.
PBS
Pbs Kids: Sid the Science Kid: Sandbox Symphony
Make an interesting musical composition by choosing from a menu of traditional and nontraditonal instruments.
Bill Nye
Bill Nye: Tube Kazoo
This tutorial from Bill Nye explains how to make a kazoo out of a cardboard tube.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Science Snacks: Straw Oboe
Try making this straw oboe to explore the resonance characteristics of the sound it makes.
Other
Huayu World: Global Chinese Language and Culture Center
Good resource for exploring Chinese culture and language. Learn about Taiwanese lantern riddles, Chinese folklore, clothing, poetry and fables, papercutting, Chinese New Year, and Chinese festival and every-day cooking. Multimedia makes...
Other
The Mudcat Cafe: Bongos, Banjos, Fiddles and More
Use this site to learn more about how to construct bongos, banjos, fiddles and more.