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Visual and audio representation of musical instruments, separated by family. Especially useful for classes age 7+, when first discussing wind and brass; and for classes 11+ when discussing composition and instrument timbre.

Great resource for introducing young students to the instrument families. Provides a picture and sound file for many of the instruments in each family. along with a short description of the family.

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales presents a series of videos introducing the instruments of the orchestras. This is a wonderful resource for any elementary grade learning about the families and instruments of the orchestra.

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales presents a series of videos introducing the instruments of the orchestras. This is a wonderful resource for any elementary grade learning about the families and instruments of the orchestra.

This is a website to use with elementary students for teaching about the components of an opera. Hansel and Gretel is sung in English and students are able to interact and make decisions about the production.

inter-active opera - 3d characters also - Scheherazade and Brahms in 1890's adventures

This is an online interactive game for EVERYONE! Students are presented the chance to design their own opera, embark with interactive chamber music, access music resources, and even engage the entire family with a family listening activity.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra for Kids website features games, listening activities, family programs and teacher lesson plan resources. It is a place where young children can be introduced to the instruments and inner workings of an orchestra. There is an activity called Flat Beethoven, which is like Flat Stanley, where the children send Beethoven in the mail to different places and he has "adventures' with the people where ever he goes. Hosts of Flat Beethoven write the children back and send him to another place. FUN!

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra has a website for kids with great resources for educators. Students can learn in a fun way about the orchestra, instrument families, timbres, and other aspects of the orchestra.

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra has a website for kids with great resources for educators. Students can learn in a fun way about the orchestra, instrument families, timbres, and other aspects of the orchestra.

This website is a game designed to introduce instruments to students (K-5) in a fun and interactive way.  Benjamin Britten's composition "A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" is used as the basis for this adventure.

This is a fun, interactive website that helps students get to know the instruments, the set up of a professional ensemble, different genres, and musical roles.

This website is a game developed by Carnegie Hall that helps younger students learn the instruments of the orchestra. The game uses Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. This interactive game helps students understand the layout of an orchestra, the ranges of the individual instruments, and how they sound individually and together in an ensemble. This is an excellent tool for elementary music!

This is a fun resource for elementary music teachers to introduce instruments of the orchestra in an interactive way. Students are exposed to the four families of the orchestra and their instruments with a fun adventure-themed story to guide the way.

This is a fun and helpful website for young students to learn about instrumentation and get acclimated to the world of orchestra. Students can find recordings, games, and information on instruments and instrument families

Interactive game based on Benjamin Britten's "A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra." Students get to interact with the different instruments of the orchestra while learning different facts about the instrument families and working towards a goal of completing the orchestra at the end of the game.

This is the kids' section of the New York Philharmonic. It has very informative pages about instruments and composers. It also has games for composition, and musical puzzles. You do need to download shockwave to view the content, but it's worth it.

This website is great for elementary students to reinforce the instruments and instrument families found in the orchestra. Students can listen to the sound of each instrument and watch short videos. There are great games and assessments for students to use, I highly recommend the Orchestration Station.

This page has all sorts of wonderful things: games about instrument families, creative exercises, and music history. This website is extremely useful.

Interactive website where students can learn about composers in the gallery, identify the sounds of the instruments in a music match game, organize the instruments by family and even create instruments with recycled materials. Students can also meet the musicians of the New York Philharmonic and hear the instrument they play.

This is another Orchestra-sponsored website with fun activities for kids. It can be used during spare time, or units could be developed around it. The game I found which I liked in particular is called "Beethoven's Baseball". You get to pick your composer team, and then click on Beethoven to throw the "pitches", which are questions. The game keeps your score and is interactive. The website also has a "listen by composer" section, as well as other instructions for activities including making your own instrument.

This site provides insight on instrument timbres, symbol and note recognition, reinforce knowledge on composers, and more! In terms of composers, this site covers composers from as early as the Renaissance era to present.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra's website specifically for kids. Provides games, activities, and several listening examples. Can be used at home or in the classroom.

Great website for puzzles, quizzes, composition activities, instrument families and a great introduction to the NY Philharmonic.  This would be excellent to use before attending a NY Philharmonic concert. 

This is a great website for students to review concepts learned in class. "Instrument Frenzy" is a high speed game that can be used to review instruments and categorize them by family. 

A great website for students to learn about the instruments, and people of the orchestra. They also learn about composers and compositions, and are able to make their own instrument, mingles, and minuets. A great website to use for elementary students who are learning about the orchestra.

This collection of videos is a great resource to use during general music classes when introducing instruments of the orchestra. This is a great way to get students interested in the different instrument families. It offers a great deal of information on the instrument, how it works, and even gives students examples of how to create their own instrument using found objects.

I use this website with my beginning bands when they are first starting to pick what instrument they want to play. It categorizes instruments by family and gives a brief description of each with a sound clip. There are strings, percussion, woodwinds, and brass. The woodwind section is missing tenor and bari sax, and the brass section is missing euphonium but otherwise it is quite complete. I usually show this while having the actual instrument out.

This is an online game that helps students learn about the different instruments and families of the orchestra. Uncle Oly and Violet go on an adventure trying to find the instruments of the orchestra and put them back together in their correct places. Students will learn about the sounds of the instruments, what family they belong to, and where they are placed in the orchestra.

This is a website that goes through the instruments of the orchestra, and has a whole lesson for Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. There are also games and short videos for students to watch.

The Kidzone by the New York Philharmonic is an interactive website for children to use to learn primarily about instruments, composers, and famous musicians. It includes games, videos, audio recordings, and text. Students can interact with games that allow them to match rhythms, sort instruments into families, build an instrument, create a graphic-based composition, and match instruments and composers. There is also information about children's concerts.

This is an awesome resource that's student-friendly and focuses on instruments of the orchestra, as well as composers. It creates a strong connection between concept and real-world scenarios. The website is designed around the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. There are engaging and interactive games and lessons for students to learn about the orchestra and test their knowledge.

Very engaging and visually appealing website from the New York Philharmonic. Unfortunately many of the links would not work; however, one really cool feature is that there are recordings of symphony performances that can be viewed in a classroom. Much better quality of video than many available videos on YouTube.

For those to whom the trombone is not a principal instrument, the question of slide positions can be a challenge when teaching beginner students. This website provides a helpful listing of slide position charts for a wide range of the trombone family.

Instrument family worksheets and activities

Quia has over 200 music games and activities to help students review a variety of topics, including musical instruments, instrument families, note naming, and popular music trivia.

This is a fun listening game in the form of Tetris. This game is designed to enhance the audiation skills in students by helping them identify instruments based on their unique sounds. There are three levels of difficulty for students to play. Each instrument that descends is accompanied by its innate musical sound. In the first level, students must match instruments according to their family. In the second level, students must match instruments with identical instruments. On the third level, the most challenging level, students must match instruments with identical instruments, but the icon of each instrument is blacked out. In other words, students must rely solely on their ears to hear and categorize each instrument's unique sound.

The Cleveland Orchestra's Education & Community website includes learning/teaching opportunities for families, educators, and adults, and has performance opportunities for youth. This is a well-developed webpage that engages youth to adults.