Interactive Features
Free resources for the classroom
Games and activities for students and lifetime learners.
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All agesHoliday Music from Around the World
Holiday music traditions such as Christmas, Hannukah, and Kwanzaa feature an incredibly diverse range of musical accompaniment. The Holiday Music Map from Smithsonian Folkways includes 56 songs from 24 nations. Listen to them all in a row, or take a self-guided tour! This project was a collaboration with ESRI.
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Grades 9-12 & Higher EducationThe Look of the Listen
Through a series of galleries, representing the key sections and themes of the Folkways catalogue, the relationship between the cover art and the recorded sound is explored. Through words and images, the history and importance of Folkways cover art emerges. Over 200 album covers are displayed representing a vast range of artistic styles and genres.
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Grades K-12Smithsonian Folkways Jazz Education Website
This feature explores jazz from different perspectives: chronologically with a timeline, geographically with a world map, and musically with a virtual mixer in which you can listen to and observe the musical elements of jazz. We also invite you to be part of a constructive exchange of ideas about jazz in the discussion board.
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Grades K-12Música del Pueblo
A Flash-based virtual exhibition featuring a diverse range of Latin American and Latino musics. It includes twenty four high-quality video features arranged by thematic categories. Content includes Puerto Rican bomba, plena, and jíbaro music, South Texas conjunto, Mexican mariachi music, Mexican huasteco, jarocho, and Michoacán Tierra Caliente son, Afro Cuban sacred music, Colombian vallenato, Dominican merengue típico, Salvadoran chanchona music, corridos, Guatemalan marimba music, Chilean nueva canción, and Latino hip-hop.
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Grades 4-8Meet the Mariachi! Explore Mexico's Musical Gift to the World
This is an introduction to the inviting sounds of mariachi: its instruments and how they are played, its rhythms, and how it is important to people. The activity uses maps, video, and interactive instrument demonstrations to give an "insider's view" that will help students enjoy the music and learn to talk about it with others.