Parents' Guide to Mussila

MUSSILA begins simply: A young girl waves at the user and then hides behind some brushes and starts playing an instrument. Two pictures of instruments appear on the bottom of the screen. Is she playing a banjo? A marimba? A flute? Choose well and you'll progress on that level. Answer incorrectly and she'll let you know. You'll need to choose correctly a handful of times before moving to the next level. At the end of five levels, you'll have the chance to jam with the Mussila band. Give each band member an instrument to play. You can even join in by tapping a band member and bringing up an on-screen piano keyboard to play along. The activities continue like this, but with other music education questions and increasing difficulty. A harder level may require kids to choose from three or four possible instruments, or identify two or more instruments that are played at the same time. Other activities include identifying the line of music that matches a percussion beat, identifying the line of music that's being played, and repeating a line of music on the on-screen keyboard (sort of like a musical memory game). There's also an area for dressing up band members in costumes that you can unlock with stars you earn for completing levels. Five adventure games also offer their own musical approaches.