Several months ago, the fine folks at Avid sent a copy of Groovy Music City for us to review. What is Groovy Music City? According to the info they sent me, it’s “a software program that makes it fun for 7 to 12 year-olds to learn how to make music.” Since I just happen to have a “7 to 12 year old” daughter, I installed it on her computer and let her go to town. Her name is Emma; you may remember her from this previous appearance:
Interview With an 11 Year Old: Review of Draw Star Wars
Who better to review the program, right? The following interview just gives you one girl’s perspective on the program, and it probably reveals more about Emma than it does Groovy Music City. So without further adieu, I give you the latest “Interview With an 11 Year Old.”
Me: Do you enjoy using Groovy Music City?
Emma: Kind of.
Me: What do you like about it?
Emma: I like the funky sounds.
Me: What makes you want to use it again?
Emma: Trying to figure out stuff.
Me: What kind of stuff?
Emma: How to use this and how to do that.
Me: What do you do with the program?
Emma: I create songs.
Me: Is there anything that keeps you from using it more?
Emma: It’s kind of complicated, and there’s parts that I really don’t understand.
Me: Tell me more about the “funky sounds.”
Emma: Some of the sounds are like screams, thunder, rain, wind chimes, an out of tune guitar. Some sounds are like effects on our keyboard – dog barks, car squeals, reverse cymbals…
Me: What draws you to those funky sounds?
Emma: They’re funky sounds. They’re awesome. If anything has “funky” in the beginning of it, I don’t care, it’s just cool. Funky and disco are my favorite two words.
Me: Do you call them funky, or is that what the program calls them?
Emma: I call them funky sounds. I don’t know what they call them.
Me: So you like the sounds used in the program well enough to give them the title “funky.”
Emma: Yes.
Me: How often do you use the program?
Emma: Not that much… once or twice a month. I’m not a big fan, but I like it.
Me: Would you give it as a gift?
Emma: Yes, if they were the right age and liked music.
Me: What do you think is the age range for this program?
Emma: Probably 8 and up. When you’re like 16, you’d probably think you’re too old for it. But you never know what 16 year olds like, so…
Me: Anything else you want to say about Groovy Music City?
Emma: Yes. It’s really really cool. You get to pick out your person, but you can’t name it, which is a bummer. And you can also enter Groovy City, there’ll be this thing that pops up where you can pick your user name or make a new one. You can pick a person for every user name.
Me: So you like being able to pick different people and having different profiles?
Emma: Yes.
Me: What makes that something you like?
Emma: I don’t like to be the same as… I like to be individual. If someone picks ketchup, I’ll pick mustard. So I like to pick my own stuff on computers. In real life, if it has to be the same, that’s fine; but on computers, I can pick what I want to be. 
Ben Martin is the CEO of THE FATHER LIFE. He lives with his wife and five children in the Rochester, NY, area.