Google Chrome Music Lab

Yesterday, Google’s Doodle celebrated Clara Rockmore’s 105th birthday. In her childhood, Clara was trained to play the violin, which she finally gave up due to physical strain. But then, Clara discovered what could be considered the coolest adaptive instrument… the theremin! The Theremin allows the performer to manipulate pitch with the free movement of one hand, and control volume with smooth gestures of the other. Google developed this Doodle, which lets you play music similar to the way you would perform on the theremin.

Alright, so this Doodle is a lot of fun, but if you read the description, you will also discover Chrome Music Lab. In recognition of Music In Our Schools Month, Google developed some really bright and engaging programs that allows users of all ages to “create, analyze, and visualize music right in the browser.” Experience and experiment with rhythm, harmony, melody, arpeggios, sound waves, spectrograms, harmonics, and more. Plus, “Check out each experiment to find open-source code you can use to build your own.”