Name: Joy Tunes
URL: http://www.joytunes.com

All the musicians I’m acquainted with tell me the same story: the more their parents sent them to teachers to learn how to write, read and play music when they were kids, the closer they were to disdaining it forever. They also tell me that the moment they became independent and could say “no” to mum and dad was the moment they discovered the deep love they could feel for music.

That only makes too much sense. No matter how wonderful something is, if it is imposed it becomes a source of frustration and it is resisted to the bitter end.

Yet, what can parents who want their children to learn music do? Is there a way to have their little ones learn how to play an instrument without boring them to death?

Enter Joy Tunes. It is a service that lets kids use their computers and their real instruments in order to play interactive music teaching games. The kid plays his instrument, and the notes he plays will be captured using the computer’s microphone. It is as easy as that. He won’t even know he is studying. To him, it will all be a cool game where he has to play notes on cue.

Just keep in mind that only one instrument is supported so far: the recorder. That is obviously going to change, with support for over 20 different instruments being already planned.