Group items tagged

This is a wonderful article on motivating middle school students and keeping them invested.

Steve Weiss is my go-to when buying percussion equipment. This page in particular is a guide to help music directors purchase high-quality percussion instruments if you don't know much or anything about percussion. The list also is split between elementary, middle school, and high school to ensure that you get appropriate instruments for the playing level and budget.

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."

School Website Music Classes

MusicTech is music technology (music production) website that shows and details all new and reviewed music technologies. Besides articles and reviews, there is a great Tutorials page that includes DAW how-to and interviews.

This site provides arrangement license purchases, music rentals, dramatic rights, and a library of already created arrangements.

This is a website that provides assistance and support for obtaining music licensing, an distribution.

This website is a great resource for band students to better understand note names, fingerings, and musical terms.  It is structured as a flash card game.  Students are racing to get all answers correct and into the Top 50.  If students answer incorrectly, the correct answer is shown to help students learn the correct answer. Students must answer all questions correctly in a certain time to move on to the next level.

This website is speed game for reinforcing terms, note names, or fingerings for students. It can be specialized to different instruments and has an option for teachers to keep track of scores by school.

Music racer is a tool to help users practice their note names and/or fingerings. Users select which instrument they would like to practice, and are given eight questions per round. Scoring is based on both speed and accuracy.

Improvisation games that can be used for icebreakers and teambuilding exercises. They are mostly non-musical, or at least they do not require musical instruments, only the voice. Could be a good introduction to musical improvisation unit.

This website focuses on jazz history and music. Activities are designed for ages 8-13 or 12-15. Each famous jazz musician or historical page includes the story behind the composition, recordings, and suggested activities that engage students in the listening selection.

This website provides information related to jazz and jazz history. This website, under the education tab, provides multiple jazz recordings. Additionally, lesson plans are provided to help align the tracks with classroom activities.

Resource for band directors 

Banddirector.com offers a multitude of resources for instrumental educators. Band directors can contribute articles on various topics including fund raising, trips, and marching drill. The forums on this website allow educators to share best practices across multiple settings. This website would be most useful for instrumental educators. 

This website is a fantastic resource for band directors. Their are resources for marching, travel, fundraising, conducting, and product comparisons just to name a few. This site has just about anything a band director will ever need.

A great (old) article on how we view the arts. Asks the question: What value is the arts if they don't make money?

This is a blog that focuses on elementary music education, specifically songs and games that teach simple musical elements. The blog is very well organized and easy to access.

Articles about training, and new approaches within the Suzuki methodology. While the website is intended to offer help to teachers and families; it is also useful as a pedagogy aid to engage in discussion with peers from across the USA.