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Adam Neely explores unique and interesting ideas that pertain to music theory, composition, and instrument technique. He has an interesting take on particular musical concepts and offers various ways in which they can be explored creatively.

Adam Neely explores unique and interesting ideas that pertain to music theory, composition, and instrument technique. He has an interesting take on particular musical concepts and offers various ways in which they can be explored creatively.

A great article showing how to take a well known tune and teach students how to compose their own melody. The article goes through the process of how to teach it. First you help students to write a base line, have them improvise a rhythm, then they can discover the notes of each chord, and write their own melody using chord tones.

Some great tips for teaching songwriting on this teaching post. The post includes a detailed lesson plan with a step-by-step sequence. The lesson includes brainstorming tips, lyric writing, rhyming, and music composition. It also suggests incorporating technology to record and playback your collaborative creations.

This website from PBS gives students (K-5) an opportunity to play games associated with different types of music.  Art and music are combined in some instances to appeal to this age group.  Non-traditional composition is also covered in these games in particular genres of music.

This is a fun and interactive way for pre-school or lower elementary aged kids to learn about music. They can explore many timbres of sound with familiar characters. I use this with my own children and it's a hit!

This website has a wide selection of music games for the young musician. Games are flash-based and are in a variety of musical genres. Many games require the user to compose in a specific style. Would work well on Chromebooks or computer lab.

This website from Smithsonian Jazz gives teachers resources for teaching jazz education to students.  There are free lesson plans and recordings for teachers to utilize.  In some instances, lesson plans are organized by age groups.

This site is created to provide an American historical view of jazz. It offers exhibits and collections as well as items for jazz appreciation.

This site is a resource for jazz composers, Composition, Media examples, and Jazz events. 

This site links every computer key to a unique sound and visual effect. It could be used as a lead in for composition, especially relating to digitally created beats.

This is the mentoring initiative for young composers that Dr. Bauer referred to in Chapter 3 of the textbook. There are online professional development resources here and also a guide to how to include your young composer students in this program.

This looks like a composition app that was designed with child development in mind. Can't wait to try it!

Music Education and Technology Blog created by music teacher Samuel Wright. The purpose of this resource is to share students' projects, apps reviews, iBook's, web lessons, compositions, arrangements, music videos and podcast among other resources used by Wright in his teaching.

SBMP has the best selection of interesting and moving choral compositions and arrangements. Check out the advanced catalogue search. Music is sorted by difficulty as well as voicings.

Composerizer is a interactive website that allows the user to compose in 3/4 time with preprogramed measures. Would be great introduction to composition in music classes.

Admittedly, I'm a total geek for the "old classics", but I find this website absolutely amazing! In about 3 minutes time I was able to locate about a half dozen pieces that I've been looking for at some point or another since I started teaching. I think there are resources that every band director could use here.

Public Domain town band music library. Would be great for so many things - especially playing marches at MPA that aren't overdone.

This is another invaluable resource of Public Domain compositions for the Band World. So many of the old marches and waltzes are out of print and difficult to come by, but this website has an extensive list of great works that are all public domain. A great resource not only for finding pieces to play, but also for doing some traditional score study.

World Music Composer provides listening samples of instruments from around the world. With those sounds, students can create a personal music composition. Works well when introducing instruments of the world & music from other cultures.

Music transcription software

ScoreCloud is a free notational software. There is also a paid version, but the free version is fully functional. This program allows for MIDI input, traditional computer notation input, and also translates live music performance into notation. The online features of this program allow for sharing of files with others through email and social media. ScoreCloud is downloadable as a computer program and application for IOS devices. This program could be used to help teach music creativity, music literacy, and music response.

ScoreCloud is a free notational software. There is also a paid version, but the free version is fully functional. This program allows for MIDI input, traditional computer notation input, and also translates live music performance into notation. The online features of this program allow for sharing of files with others through email and social media. ScoreCloud is downloadable as a computer program and application for IOS devices. This program could be used to help teach music creativity, music literacy, and music response.

The Clarinet Institute web site is the most detailed educational resource for clarinet.  Users can find recordings, videos, and free sheet music to use for educational purposes.  Many etude books, method books, duets, ensemble compositions, and solo literature can be accessed here.  The videos and recordings offer a catalog of solo and chamber performances for students to listen to and watch.

This project is committed with providing children of underserved populations with computers that include a series of open software, including Csound (a powerful audio software for algorithmic composition).

The Music and Sound Design Platform is a new approach to making electronic and electro-acoustic music. Music_SDP uses many of the same tools and processes that are found in your favorite music software, but introduces a new paradigm for exploring sounds, performing songs, and writing electro-acoustic compositions.

This is Google's free experimental sequencer, created in 2018. There is very little verbal information - it is intuitive, simple and easy, and could be used with very young students. It also could be used by someone who doesn't read English.

This is another great, simple, web-based music sequencer that can be used to allow students to experiment with composition without needing to know anything about reading music or writing music notation. There is a large amount of sounds available and the sounds are of high quality. It is very simple to use and students can start composing right away using this site.

Similar to Soundtrap.com; this online DAW is a great resource for student to create music with loops. I've used this in a technology class and students enjoy the variety of loops.

Soundation is a fully functioning cloud-based DAW, similar to Soundtrap. The look is darker and more professional, and the effects processing is more sophisticated. This could be a good option for college-level recording and collaboration, whereas Soundtrap's colorful look and simplicity would be more appropriate for middle- and high-school use.

Soundation is a Digital Audio Workstation similar to sound trap though soundation appears more professional, and the effects are more sophisticated. With soundation, students learn to do recording, editing, mixing, instrument patches, and MIDI input. Soundation is good for university level whereas Soundtrap's simplicity is good for middle and high school. Like soundtrap, it has a free one month trial with limited accessibility and to access the full premium, one has to pay. Soundation helps students acquire the 4Cs i.e Collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking. It is a good resource for teaching studio composition and for enhancing the musicianship of non traditional music students.