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Fantastic supplemental online resource for any of the EE method books. It allows students to practice along with customized accompaniments. Teachers can create assignments and students submit them through this platform.

Essential Elements Interactive is a website that pairs with the Essential Elements string method book. On this site, students can play exercises from the book along with accompaniment, track their practice time, and view assignments as well as a class calendar. The teacher and parents can communicate easily through this site as well.

The link to the program Essential Elements Interactive, a software that allows students to practice with play along tracks at varying tempos with or without melody. Students can record themselves multiple times and submit their favorite to the teacher for evaluation.

This website is a supplement to the Essential Elements 1 & 2 method books. All students that own their own copy of the book can use the program. Teachers can set up assignments, grade recordings, and offer feedback to their students.

This website is a supplement to the Essential Elements 1 & 2 method books. All students that own their own copy of the book can use the program. Teachers can set up assignments, grade recordings, and offer feedback to their students.

This website is a supplement to the Essential Elements 1 & 2 method books. All students that own their own copy of the book can use the program. Teachers can set up assignments, grade recordings, and offer feedback to their students.

This is the sectional of the Texas Administrative Code that pertains to the Essential Knowledge and Skills for Fine Arts Grade k-12.

This is the sectional of the Texas Administrative Code that pertains to the Essential Knowledge and Skills for Fine Arts Grade k-12.

This is a great resource for any percussionist looking to improve or refine their rudiments. Vic Firth has put together a website that includes demonstration videos, play-along tracks at different tempi, and lessons for each rudiment. As a non-percussionist, this website helps my percussionists with rudiments more than I can.

This link is the Vic Firth page over the 40 Essential Rudiments for snare drum. Vic Firth is a fantastic resource for anything percussion, but their rudiment page is my favorite because it breaks down each rudiment for the students and they demonstrate each rudiment open-closed-open. This is a great resource to to send with students so they are sure to practice rudiments correctly on their own.

The Percussive Arts Society Resource Library is a site full of educational content from posters, to media, to essential listening lists.

Percussive Arts Society (PAS) is a great source for all things percussion. While some items (articles, videos) at the website require PAS membership, there are several items that are available to all. Some useful items for everyone include the rudiments, "The PAS Educators' Companion," and "Essential Listening for Drum Set."

A website that offers some of the best professional music video lessons from various artists. While the videos do cost money, they offer tremendous insight into a specific artist's process. It is essentially the same as getting a one on one lesson for a fraction of the cost.

A website that offers some of the best professional music video lessons from various artists. While the videos do cost money, they offer tremendous insight into a specific artist's process. It is essentially the same as getting a one on one lesson for a fraction of the cost.

This is a list of overarching Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions for the New National Standards. I use this as a reminder of what meaning goals I truly want my students to be learning!

Article containing large playlist of essential jazz pieces and links to historical and contemporary writing about jazz

A review site of free music education software. A great resource for Music teachers.

Excellent tool for percussionists to HEAR what the 40 essential rudiments are supposed to sound like and gives a very good methodology for practicing them slowly and gradually improving. The one downside (and it is significant in my philosophy) is that many of the illustrations use traditional grip, whereas I teach only match grip.

This page is a one stop shop for all snare drum rudiments. Each rudiment has a video showing the proper technique. In addition, there is a written out version of each rudiment as well as different tempi with which it can be practiced. This is a great resource to share with all percussion students, especially those preparing for auditions.

Great website for teachers who are not percussionist. Rudiments are hard for anyone to memorize if you are not using them everyday. This site is also great for students who are still learning rudiments. One can easily click on a rudiment and can hear what it is supposed to sound like at different tempos, and what it looks like in standard notation.

Recording students is an essential part of feedback, and is a great way to assess yourself as a teacher as well. Using this app, you don't have to buy expensive hardware and it can be used even for immediate feedback in class. This app is usually at a cost, but here it is free!

I found this to be a very interesting read/listen. She discusses how to foster creativity in the classrooms. In music, composing is an essential skill and the ultimate creative activity. However, I find myself sometimes nervous to let the kids compose. What if they are not successful? What if they talk too much or get too loud? But Goodwin really gives me the courage to start small and grow from there. It's not about having the kids write a symphony, but to show what they learned by creating something new.

Instrument Cleaning and Maintenance Regular cleaning and maintenance is essential to keeping your student's instrument in proper working order. It is recommended to have your instrument inspected and serviced by a repair technician during the Christmas holiday and over the Summer break. The inspection may not result in any work being needed. However, just like an automobile it is recommended that a repair technician perform a tune-up as necessary to keep your instrument in proper working order.

Pandora radio offers free customized radio stations that play songs relating to certain genres or artists. Listening is essential for musical development and understanding.  Students can access everything from jazz and classical, to Latin and opera.  

Auralia5 and Musition5 are very good soft wares for a music classroom. Auralia is for ear training, while Musition is for music theory. These softwares enhance a student's musicianship through very interesting activities of listening, composing, notating music, and sight reading/playing. A school has to purchase the software, though it is cloud based. The teacher adds students to different classes in the groups so that when assignments are set, they are easily submitted to the class where they belong. Teachers can create and assign worksheets, tests, and courses, and grade his/her students online as well. Tracking allows the teachers to run exams with high quality content that students love. Reports are also created in the software and parents can access their children's performance. Auralia and Musition are perfect for students of all ages and abilities. Auralia has a clean, easy to use interface designed to keep students focused on their essential ear training task.

Learn Jazz Standards is an online jazz resource for musicians. We specialize in helping musicians learn jazz repertoire and become better jazz players. The Learn Jazz Standards website has two main components: the Blog and our Jazz Standards.

This is the hub for the Learn Jazz Standards podcasts and YouTube videos. This is a great resource for learning jazz theory, ear training and approaches to improvisation.

The Learn Jazz Standards website contains a comprehensive list of jazz standards, including lead sheets (in different transposing keys), essential and/or original recordings, and a recording of a rhythm section playing through the chord changes several times (a la Jamey Abersold). Often, these "jazz minus one" rhythm section recordings are offered in a few different keys. The site also includes a blog, podcast, and a list of articles on the topic of jazz. This resource is especially helpful for melodic instrument jazz players, giving them practice with chord changes, and I use this site frequently in my jazz classes.

The 2014 Music Standards are the new standards to follow and are available through the National Association for Music Education Music Standards (NAfME). There are links available to the various standards which include PK-8 General Music, Composition/Theory, Music Technology, Guitar/Keyboard/Harmonizing Instruments, and Ensemble. Included with the standards are the categories of create, perform, respond, and connect. There are also links to a glossary and enduring understanding, essential questions, and definitions about the new standards.

This site lists all bugle calls. The site provides the sheet music while also describing what each call is for. This is essential for all trumpet players.

Created by the people of Jazz at Lincoln Center, this site is dedicated to spreading jazz education to every school in the country. Jazz Academy has a few different programs, some of which cost money. However, Essentially Ellington is free and member directors get access to a number of resources and free Duke Ellington charts, some of which are accessible at the middle school level.

Understanding by Design Framework is an essential resource when writing and creating curriculum, assessment, and instruction. The stages are explained as well as examples given for each stage. Questions are also asked/given at the end of the article and other resources are listed as well.