Elementary music · Grades K-5
Music with Wolfgang
Let's listen, play and find out how music is made!
Hello, music friend! I'm Wolfgang, your music teacher.
Music is all around us. You can hear it in a song, a drum, a bird, and even in your own clapping hands!
Pick a lesson below, or play the High or Low game to warm up your ears.
Pick a lesson
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Lesson 1
Meet the Instruments
Meet the five instrument families: strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion and keyboards. Tap the cards, hear pretend sounds, and play the “Which family?” quiz.
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Coming soon
More music lessons
Wolfgang is writing new lessons about rhythm, beats and singing. Check back soon!
Game: high or low?
Some sounds are high, like a tweeting bird. Some sounds are low, like a growly bear. Music has a special word for how high or low a sound is. It is called pitch.
How to play: press Start. Listen to the sound. If it is high, tap the bird. If it is low, tap the bear. There are 8 sounds. You can press “Hear it again” if you need to.
Press Start to hear the first sound.
The game sounds are pretend tones that your computer makes with Web Audio. They are not recordings. Try the game with the volume turned down low at first.
Why is my name Wolfgang?
I'm named after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a famous composer. A composer is a person who writes music.
Mozart started writing little pieces of music when he was only 5 years old! Later, he wrote a set of music about the tune we know as “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” He didn't make up the tune, but he played with it in twelve fun ways.
For grown-ups
Music with Wolfgang is the elementary music section of the Jugami School Arts Department, for children in kindergarten through grade 5. Lessons are short, read-aloud friendly (press “Read it to me”), and each one has a game. Sounds are simple tones generated live in the browser with the Web Audio API, so nothing is downloaded and nothing plays until your child presses a button. Turn the volume down before starting. There are no ads, no accounts needed, and no tracking.
Sources
- The Morgan Library & Museum: Mozart's earliest compositions (pieces from 1761, when Mozart was 5)
- Britannica: Did Mozart write “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”? (12 variations on the French tune, K. 265)
Credits: Words, drawings and games by Wolfgang for the Jugami School Arts Department. All art is original, hand-made SVG, and all sounds are computer-made in your browser with Web Audio, not recordings.