Music, Museums, and More!

If the coronavirus has cancelled that dream concert you’ve been waiting FOREVER to get tickets to, then it’s time to start that family band and get the show on the road (or at least your living room). Check out these great resources to get inspired and groovy at home with music!

Boston Children’s Museum Drum Circle

Make glass xylophones to learn about sound and vibrations, make a guitar using your body and string, or participate in a virtual drum circle with the Boston Children’s Museum.

Listen to professional musicians play from the Museum of Fine Arts’ collection of over 1,300 instruments, including a harpsichord from 1736, a 19th century fiddle from China, and a slide trumpet from 1835.

Learn from the masters with the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Home School, which includes instrument demonstrations, Youth Concert lesson plans for mini Mozarts and tiny Tchaikovskys, virtual lessons with BSO members, and episodes from WBUR’s Circle Round podcast in partnership with the BSO as part of their Concerts for Very Young People series.

And speaking of Circle Round, check out this excellent, award-winning podcast created for children ages 4 to 10. Each episode adapts a folktale from around the world and turns it into a sound- and music-rich radio play. Listen to Episode 21, ‘What Am I Hearing?’ with composer Eric Shimelonis as he goes through all of the instruments he uses to create music for the podcast.

For further exploration into music and the people that create it, take a look at these great titles for children, available through Libby and hoopla:

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On hoopla

Bats in the Band by Brian Lies
Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin by Lloyd Moss (audiobook)

Plus check out the hundreds of albums, from Raffi to Disney, available on hoopla Kids

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On Libby:

Pete the Cat’s World Tour by James Dean
Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreño Played the Piano for President Lincoln by Margarita Engle
Who Was: Popular Musicians by Various (audiobook)
When the Beat was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop by Laban Carrick Hill

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On hoopla & Libby:

Trombone Shorty by Troy ‘Trombone Shorty’ Andrews 
Check out the ebook or audiobook on Overdrive/Libby and the ebook, movie, or Read Along on hoopla. 

Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl’s Courage Changed Music by Margarita Engle
Check out the ebook on Overdrive/Libby or the audiobook, movie, or Read Along on hoopla.

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What’s All The hoopla About?

Have you noticed all the hoopla lately? No, we’re not talking about the hourly coronavirus updates. We here at the virtual APL are celebrating the launch of our brand-new online media service called—you guessed it, hoopla! Browse more than 39,000 audiobooks, 11,000 movies, nearly 30,000 music albums, 11,000 comics, more than 108,000 ebooks, and nearly 2000 seasons of popular TV series now! All absolutely for free!

You’re entitled to up to 5 borrows per month. But with all this exciting content to choose from, you may want more—and you can have more. hoopla is currently offering thousands of Bonus Borrows in various adult and children’s categories. These special borrows do not count towards your monthly total, so you can read/listen/watch with abandon! This special promotion will be active through April 30, 2020.

One of hoopla’s fabulous features is the option to use Kids Mode. When browsing or searching in this mode, you and your kids will find fascinating content appropriate to children 12 and under. Parents, this could save your sanity right now!

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We’re especially excited about hoopla’s music streaming content. You can access brand-new albums for free, anytime, anywhere. Have a look here for music that just hit the virtual shelves within the last week.

Signing on to hoopla is quick and easy. All you’ll need is your email address, any password you choose, and your Marblehead library card. Go here and click on the big blue button in the center of the page to get started! If you need a library card, learn how to register for a card here.