When Agape Gilo strummed his fingers against the harp’s strings, there wasn’t a lot of music that was heard — but his smile sang anyway.

“There you go,” said harpist Madeline Strobel, who helped guide his fingers. Strobel was helping MacPhail Center for Music staff in the Music Exploration Day last week at Woodson Kindergarten Center. Her mom, Lorene, a MacPhail teacher, was next door with another group.

Surprise, excitement and laughter often accompanied the musical discoveries.

And that was just fine with the MacPhail teachers who showed the children a variety of instruments as they rotated to different stations.

They saw and played the glockenspiel and “talking drum”; they were also shown a violin, viola, clarinet and the djembe drum. Mixed in were a baritone horn and small hand-held instruments.

The exploration gave the children “a hands-on experience with instruments we usually don’t bring into the classroom,” said MacPhail instructor SarahLynn Zavoral.

Not that the students are strangers to MacPhail. The music center provides a 30-minute, on-site music lesson each week to all kindergartners at Woodson. In the past, that instruction was done in combination between on-site instruction and instruction over the internet. This year, thanks to support from the Hormel Foundation, all the visits are on-site.

To date, said Zavoral, more than 650 early childhood or kindergarten students are receiving some type of music instruction through MacPhail, who partners with both Austin Public Schools, Pacelli Catholic Schools, Apple Lane Childcare and the Community Learning Center (part of Austin Public Schools).

There has been growth in private lessons at MacPhail, too, teachers agreed. Younger students — “as young as five or six,” said teacher Erin Grush — are able to handle different instruments, including the flute.

The Woodson exploration was a success, Zavoral said.

“It gives kids a nice break from the winter … a great change of pace for the little kids,” Zavoral said.