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In Making More Music, renowned American composer, Morton Subotnick challenges players to use their inspiration and creativity in this unique music game. Players become the composer, conductor and the audience.

Making More Music focuses on experimenting with different instruments, then putting together the components of a musical score. Players can compose in their own style or in the style of Mozart, Beethoven, Byrd or Chopin.

Making More Music attempts to teach players how to appreciate, listen to, and compose music. Players have an opportunity to learn to recognize the sounds of more than two dozen instruments. The selection of instruments and sounds available is one particularly enjoyable aspect of the program. Tutoring segments instruct players in the basic concepts of tempo and scale.

Although the CD exposes players to pieces of music from famous Western composers, little information is given about Western musical heritage or the composers themselves.

The concept behind the game is valuable: an interactive program that teaches music appreciation through the hands-on creation of music. However, the program is not designed for optimal learning. Most kids require a lot of coaching to learn to use the program, and gain any value from it.

Composing music with the program is difficult for kids with little or no musical knowledge. Many kids quickly tired of trying to compose music because there are no simple instructions to follow. Kids also found the teaching and learning sections “boring.” Instructions on musical notes and pitch are minimal and not at all interactive. Kids did not respond well to the lecture-style instruction from the monotone computer narrator.

Installation of the CD is easy. However, the program is very difficult to learn to use. It takes trial and error to decipher what all of the buttons do. Kids will need guidance from an adult to learn how to use the program. Once the player figures out the toolbar, they may enjoy the many options they have in composing their own music.

Making More Music is best suited for older children (ages 8 and up) who would like to practice mixing a variety of instruments and composing their own music. The program may be too complex at first for kids with little musical background.

See SuperKids' comparisons with other music software titles, and the Buyers Guide for current market prices of the PC and Mac versions.

PC: Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP, 12 MB hard drive space, 8 MB RAM, sound card with speakers or headphones .

Mac: OS8/OS9/OS X, 12 MB hard drive space, 8 MB RAM, external speakers or headphones .

Reviewed on:
-     Pentium III - 750 running Windows 2000, with 196MB RAM and 24x - CD-ROM

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