Music Education at DataDragon.com

If you want to be a music superstar, you need to know about clefs, notes, time signatures, and the other words of the "music language." Visit this site, click Learn how to read music, and you're on your way. This site will play the notes for you, too.

		Questions In the language of music, what does "fff" mean? What are the two basic kinds of clefs? What determines which is used? What does the top number in a time signature mean? What does the bottom number mean?

The Sound Site

Here is a great site from the Science Museum of Minnesota. Check out the sound activities, send a "soundcard" to a friend, and join the discussion about sound. Be sure to try the activity on modeling vocal cords at http://www.smm.org/sound/activity/ssl14.htm, which includes a movie of vocal cords in action.

		Questions The "Hangers on a String" activity deals with how sound travels. Would sound travel faster through water or through air? Why? In the "Air and Strings" activity, what material acts like the human vocal cords? In the "Slinky® Soundwaves" activity, the slinky can model sound waves. What is a sound wave?

University of Pittsburgh Voice Center

Take a look at Pictures of Vocal Cord Problemsand compare photographs of healthy vocal cordsto photos of vocal cord problems at Beware, a few of these photos are pretty gross! If you like, explore the rest of the Voice Center site to learn more about voice and speech. However, much of the text is difficult to read.

		Questions When are vocal cords open the widest? What is a node or nodule on a vocal cord? How quickly do vocal cords vibrate during speech or singing?