Musicovery

http://www.musicovery.com
 * Musicovery: interactive webRadio**


 * Authority**
 * Musicovery is a .com site. This means that it is a commercial organization that is trying to provide a service, and make some money.
 * Musicovery was created and is maintained by Frederic Vavrille.
 * Frederic Vavrille has a degree in computer programming. He is based in France. He has worked on other websites such as MusicPlasma.


 * Instructional Content**
 * The musical content is that this is a webRadio that allows the user to explore different musical selections by changing certain parameters.
 * There is really no source in this website. The music is categorized in a specific way and then it is listened to. There is nothing that could be unreliable.
 * National Music Standards Addressed:
 * Standard 6: Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.
 * Standard 7: Evaluating music and music performances
 * Standard 9: Understanding music in relation to history and culture.
 * The web-site is dated 2006, but I think that is when it was created. There is no indication of an update.
 * Purpose, Viewpoint**
 * The site is meant to allow the user to set parameters and listen to the resulting music. It shows connections between certain musical selections, and allows users to explore these connections.
 * There is no evident sponsor except for Amazon.com, which has a bar at the top of the screen.
 * There are no links to any other viewpoints, but that is because there cannot really be any other viewpoints, it is just musical selections.
 * This page has no bias. It is merely a tool that allows the user to explore music.


 * Reputation**
 * There are over 1,000 other sites that link to it.
 * The site is reviewed by a number of sites that think it is a great tool to use for music exploration. This includes VisualComplexity.com, which is a site that reviews sites such as Musicovery.
 * Overall Evaluation**
 * In general, this site is a very interesting way to explore music. The user is given a list of genres and a map that states dark, energetic, positive, and calm. They click in a certain area of that map and it gives them a web of musical selections that fall into that category on the map. It also shows how songs are related to each other. It is a great way to use up a lot of time. There are endless ways to manipulate the search, and it is interesting to see all the different types of music and how they are related. In the classroom I think this has less of a practical purpose. It would be good to have students looking for multi-cultural music, or looking for songs that relate to one another, but I think it would be very difficult to design a lesson around this site.
 * Rating- * * *

Kenneth Stray 04/02/07