New+York+Philharmonic+Kidzone

=Title and URL of the Web Page= New York Philharmonic Kidzone [|www.nyphilkids.org]

=Authority=
 * The New York Philharmonic Kidzone is a .org site. This means that it was produced by a nonprofit organization that wants to teach about music.
 * This site was created by Symphony Works / MoonRoad LLC and Large Animal Games.
 * These authors are professional companies that make websites for a number of different orchestras. They are also sponsored by the Beatrice Snyder Foundation and MetLife Foundation.

=Instructional Content=
 * This site explores a number of musical topics with children, such as:
 * Composers
 * Performers
 * Conductors
 * Instruments
 * Creation of instruments
 * Composition
 * This site was created by the New York Philharmonic, so their information about composers and musical instruments are very accurate. Also, there are biographys of the musicians who play in the orchestra, which are interviews taken from these players.
 * National Standards:
 * Standard 3: Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments
 * Standard 6: Listening to, analyzing, and describing music
 * This site is very up to date and easy to read. It includes all of the current members or the orchestra as well as famous modern, as well as classic, soloists.

=Purpose, Viewpoint=
 * This page was created to inform children about classical music. It explains aspects of instruments as well as sharing information about composers and performers.
 * This page is sponsored by the Beatrice Snyder Foundation and the MetLife Foundation.
 * The only link on this site is to the New York Philharmonic site.
 * There is no bias evident in this page. The aim is to teach children about classical music and not to persuade them about something.

=Reputation=
 * The New York Philharmonic website links to this page as well as many other educational sites. Many schools use this link so that the students can explore at home. Teacher sites also use this page to give teachers ideas on how to teach topics such as classical music.
 * The New York Philharmonic is a reputable source since it is one of the primire orchestras in the country, if not the world. Also, many of the other sites are created by teachers, and if this site seems to help them teach I would respect their opinion.

=Overall Evaluation=
 * Overall, I think this is a great site for children. I even found myself enjoying it. The graphics are bright and interactive, which makes learning much more enjoyable for the kids. While learning about certain aspects of music, the user is interacting with the environment that their cartoon character is walking around in. This is a very discovery based site. When learning about composers and the eras which they lived, there are sound clips so that the student can better understand how one period is different than another. This page would be a great resource if a teacher would like to teach about classical music but still be able to keep their students' attention. I would highly recomend exploring this page and seeing what one could gain from this experience.
 * ===Rating - * * * *===

John Blasko

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