Groovy+City

**Groovy City**
• Publisher: Sibelius • Platform: Macintosh and PC • Peripherals: CD Rom • Grade/Age: 9-11 year old • Type of Class: General Music, Band, Orchestra, Choir, Theory

TEACHER SUPPORT I could not find any lesson plans, teacher support materials, reproducible pages or the like. I did find, on groovymusic.com, which is set up by Avid Technology, a spot that kids are able to upload the music they have created for others to hear, and a teacher section where there are lesson plans to use with the software. On the GroovyCity Sibelius website, there is a demo of the software.

INSTRUCTIONAL CONTENT • Specific Musical Content: Rhythms, making melodies, bass lines, arpeggios, chords, tempo, music listening • National Music Standards that could be addressed through this software:
 * 1) 3 Improvising melodies, variations and accompaniments
 * 2) 4 Composing and arranging music
 * 3) 6 Listening to and analyzing music

INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN AND PEDAGOGICAL SOUNDNESS

• This program is appropriate for students at a 5th and 6th grade level. • Presentation on screen contains nothing that misleads or confuses students. • Readability and difficulty is at an appropriate level for students 9-11 years old. • Graphics are not distracting to learners.In fact that is a positive element of the program. There are very clear, colorful graphics and interesting characters to choose from. • The user has control of movement within the program. This is what makes the program fun. • The Program Structure: Instructional Game and Discovery. It is called Create and Explore in the game. (Gaming: Competitive. Individual drill-and-practice in a motivational format.) (Discovery: Inquiry into database. Inductive approach. Trial and error. Tests hypotheses.)

• Sequence of Materials: Good • Pace of Instruction; Good • Quality of Interaction:Good • Motivation for Students: Good

• Hall of Fame: No • Student Records: can be saved on a midi file

This program is the third in a series. It is a very fun and engaging program. Good for the targeted ages of students in grades 5-6. Graphics are colorful and the characters are interesting. There is plenty of musical content. The cost is $295.00 for a lab pack and $39.00 for the home edition.

• Rating: *** good Kathy Wainwright 6/16/10