Freebie Friday - Musicca - Learn Music Theory for Free
If you have been thinking about teaching your children basic music skills, then you may want to check out the free tools available on this website founded by Lasse Grubbe, Danish Master of Arts in Musicology from the University of Copenhagen. Musicca's purpose is to provide a free platform for anyone to use to learn music theory in a fun and easy manner.
When arriving at the Musicca website and before selecting the "Get Started" button on the home page, it is beneficial to choose the "About" option in the upper menu, then review the information in the "Get Started" section. This page explains how to use the site including the reasons for creating a free user account. You can use the site without creating a user, but progress will not be tracked.
The meat of the website are the interactive "Exercises" which include practice for locating notes on a piano, reading music, ear training, as well as quizzes. All activities are corrected as the student works through them, providing them with instant feedback to try again until they get the answer correct. Students can also learn about musical intervals, chords, scales and key signatures.
But the learning benefits don't stop there! Select the "Tools" option in the upper menu to find virtual online instruments including a piano, guitar, bass guitar and drum machine as well as other music tools such as an online metronome, a music terms glossary, printable musical staff paper and more.
And one more perk of this website is that it is available in multiple languages including English, Spanish, French, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Japanese, German, Danish and Russian.
While the exercises don't have instruction built into them, the student can still use Musicca to learn music skills on their own by applying a "trial and error method" working through the exercises as there is plenty of opportunity to repeat them as many times as needed. Or you could use this site to supplement other music curriculum you are already using in your classroom.
Learning to read music has been shown to have many benefits (as outlined in this article - PBS Kids - The Benefits of Music Education), and with the free Musicca website, students of all ages and skill levels can build their understanding of music. Check it out HERE.