ipad frozen - what do I do?

[LaBelleDameSansPatience]

I have a problem ... my ipad2 froze today while DD was playing a game. Sure there are lots of programs open since I rarely remember to close them.If it were my laptop, I would turn it off and on again ... I don't know how to do that on the ipad! There seem to be three buttons on the outside; one adjusts the volume, one 'turns the ringer off' (or so it tells me) and one turns the screen black but obviously doesn't turn it off, as I can still hear the music playing
What can I do? I have tried googling in various forums, but they suggest using 'settings' or the 'back button', which I can't access.

Press and hold the home button for a few seconds until it resets?

To turn it off completely hold in the button on the top that you said turns the screen black. After a few seconds you should get the option to swipe to switch off.
When it's gone off completely hold the same button again until the apple appears to turn it on again.

Home button doesn't work ... I can turn the screen black with the button at the top but then can't see where to swipe. When I press the button the screen comes back on, as frozen as before.

If you hold down that top button for long enough you should get the option to swipe and power off.

Hold down the home button and top button at the same time. Keep holding down until the apple comes up. It takes a few seconds for the apple to appear just keep holding both buttons to reboot.

You need to press the home button and the button at the top down at the same time for as long as it takes to turn off. This should reboot it and it will be back to normal when you turn it back on.

It worked!! The two buttons together did the trick ... thank you so much. Must now spend some time working out how the thing functions before there's another crisis. Thank you, all.