Music in the Mouse Hole

Music in the Mouse Hole is an activity in JumpStart 1st Grade. It is accessed by clicking on the mouse hole in the classroom. It is designed to teach music appreciation, and basic concepts of musical scale and musical instruments for first graders.

Premise
The activity takes place at the Hole in the Wall Club, which is a club where mouse musicians perform. The player can make music with them.

Description
The Hole in the Wall Club has ten mouse musicians. Each mouse corresponds to a note on a musical scale. The mice are arranged from the mouse with the highest sounds to the mouse with the lowest sounds. The player can click on each mouse to hear a sound.

There is a bar at the side of the screen with several features. The first is the play/record buttons. The player can click 'record' to record a song of their own. They can click on the mice to make a song, and then click 'play' when they are finished to hear it. Next, there is a selection of musical instruments: guitars, flutes, violins, trumpets, and vocals. Then there is a jukebox, which can play five different songs: Hickory Dickory Dock, Old MacDonald, The Itsy-Bitsy Spider, The Wheels on the Bus, and It's Raining, It's Pouring.

This activity doesn't include difficulty levels.

Digital manual description
Click on the mouse hole to enter the Hole-in-the-Wall Club. Performing today is the All-Star Mouse Band. To hear a song, select the instrument you want the mice to play by clicking on the drawings on the left side of the screen. The instruments available are guitar, flute, violin, trumpet and voice. Then, request one of five songs by clicking on the song numbers on the Jukebox at the bottom, left corner of the screen. The five songs available are "Hickory Dickory Dock," "Old MacDonald," "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider," "The Wheels on the Bus" and "It's Raining; It's Pouring."

To make your own tunes, click the red RECORD button. Then, select the instrument you want the mice to play. You make the mice play the notes you want to hear by clicking on them individually in any sequence you prefer. Pressing the green PLAY button plays your own new tune.

To return to the classroom, click on the big Red Arrow in the upper, left corner of the screen.

Trivia

 * During the activity, the "Milky Way" can be seen, which is where the Milk Cap Mouse resides and keeps his milk caps. If you click on him, he will tell you to come back and get a cap when you have 100 points in one of the skill categories.