MotifLab

Music is a story, and your little tune is the hero. Grow a three-note motif into a whole piece across the six stages of a story, become a variation detective, and learn how composers build big music from one small idea. Take it at your own pace — everything works with the sound off.

Make music

Your studio and your detective lab. Compose a piece where your motif is the hero, then spot how a tune has been transformed.

🎼 Motif Studio Start from an idea, then grow it across six story stages — Opening, Meet the Motif, Development, Contrast, Homecoming and Resolution. Watch (and hear) your motif stretch, flip, and settle. Save your finished pieces to this device. 🔎 Variation Detective See an original idea and a variation of it, then work out which move a composer used — flip it, reverse it, stretch it, shrink it, move it, repeat it up the steps, or keep just a fragment. Read the shapes, or turn the sound on to hear the difference. 🎵 Notate the Motif Read a motif written in real staff notation — the up-and-down shape and the note lengths — then find the piano-roll that matches it. The bridge from the piano-roll you know to the notes on the page. 🎹 Build the Motif Now build it back: read a motif in staff notation and reconstruct it note by note — set each note's pitch and length until your piano-roll matches. Reading turned into making.

Learn the ideas

Quick question rounds on the tools, the story arc, and the building blocks of music. A hint is always there after a first try. Take them in any order.

The Development Tools The moves a composer makes to develop a motif · grades Gr 5–6 · 15 questions The Story Arc The 6 stages a composition travels through · grades Gr 6–7 · 12 questions The Building Blocks The nine elements every piece is made of · grades Gr 6–7 · 12 questions